The most widespread information and communication technology (ICT) in developing countries today is the mobile phone. The majority of people in the least developed countries still live in rural areas and their livelihood depends on the primary industries. This study investigates the use of mobile phones among farmers in rural Tanzania in order to supply empirical data on the developmental role of this technology. The results show that the improved access to communication and information that mobile phones represent affects the entire cyclic farming life during the year and has resulted in considerable changes in the entire livelihood constructs, increased opportunities and reduced risks for rural farmers.

This article describes the various domains in which inequality manifests itself in Tanzania. It outlines the key drivers of inequalities as including wide income gaps, unemployment and a collusion between political and businesses elites that creates political capture and patronage, thus fuelling corruption and diverting resources from essential services. The article points out a correlation between access to education and income inequality, and highlights the fact that, despite marginal reduction in poverty, inequality is on the rise.

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Aid for agriculture development in sub Saharan Africa has increased in recent years, but little is known about which farmers are participating in the interventions, the production structures employed, and the foreseeable consequence on food security and agricultural development. This research draws insights from two projects in Tanzania funded by the United States under its Feed the Future initiative. The research examined the categories of farmers participating, production structure employed, and the implications for sustainable and inclusive food security and agricultural development. The research reveals that significant results of sustainable production can be found at individual level, but only a limited number of farmers with endowment of suitable land with access to water, and credit and some level of organization are participating. The UN rapporteur on the Right to Food has called for increasing food production where the poor and hungry live; we argue that current investment approaches oriented to increasing production, fail to adequately address the local specificity of hunger. As a result, substantial increases in aid inflows over the recent years may have limited effect on reducing the numbers of the hungry. The challenge to stakeholders is to spread the technologies to many more smallholder producers, particularly targeting the poor more precisely.