Malnutrition among children of school-going age is a challenge of serious concern in developing countries especially Sub-Saharan Africa. Many programs focus on mothers and under-5-year-old children, leaving the school going age unattended. It has been shown that school meals can reduce school absenteeism, improve concentration in class and reduce early dropouts. In Tanzania, successful home-grown school feeding programs are localized in few areas but have not been scaled-out. The objective of this study was to analyze the policy and organizational environment which enables or promotes home-grown school feeding approaches. The study consisted of a systematic review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions in Arumeru and Babati Districts, Tanzania. In total, 21 key informant interviews with 27 participants and 27 focus group discussions with 217 participants were conducted. The results show that Tanzania lacks a clear policy on school feeding; there are no guidelines for school meal quality, participation in school feeding programs is not mandatory, leading to many students being left out and going hungry. Students in private schools tend to be better off than those in public schools in terms of provision and quality of school meals. We recommend that policies and practices are developed based on positive experiences of home-grown school feeding programs implemented in Tanzania by the World Food Programme and Project Concern International and emphasize that these policies need to be developed in a multi-sectoral manner. A conceptual framework for improving home-grown school feeding in public schools in Tanzania highlights four critical components: leadership and public awareness; operational modalities; contributions from parents; and meal diversity and nutrition. The home-grown school feeding model provides mechanisms to improve diversity of meals and their nutritional value, increase participation of communities and inclusion of students. Parents will still be responsible for the largest part of food supplies, but the model also requires participation of multiple stakeholders, and provision of natural resources such as land and water by the local government for production of nutritious food for young students. Minimum levels of social protection are recommended to ensure that no student is denied school meals.

According to the standard economic theory that treats a person as a maximising agent of short run profit, it would be expected that farmers would select round potato varieties with the highest profit potential. However, previous studies treated round potato as one variety and other adoption studies often assumed that profitability was not important in the adoption of improved varieties. Therefore, this study analysed the profitability of round potato and the implications for variety selections by using a sample of 510 farmers drawn from three districts of the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The main question was whether smallholder round potato farmers considered profit potentials or are there other factors in variety selections? The results showed that Kagiri was the most profitable variety and there were significant differences in profitability among varieties. However, not many farmers produced Kagiri because they used their own criteria in order to make profit. Such criteria included the availability of seed tubers, preferences of the local consumers and processors, common practices, yield, and suitability for home consumption. It was recommended that the role of plant breeders should go beyond the crop characteristics, such as, yield potential, response to inputs, and tolerance to diseases, so as to include both farmers and consumers' preferences.

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The subsistence production is chosen by farmers because it is subjectively the best option. However, subsistence farming on small and fragmented plots risks not reaching even farmers' own food requirements, let alone producing a surplus. Therefore, it would have been expected that farmers would be commercialising production of profitable food crops. One of the more profitable food crops than many others as studies show is round potato (Solanum tuberosum). Nonetheless, the extent to which farmers have commercialised round potato production was not known. This study was then undertaken to fill this knowledge gap by analysing the proportion of land allotted to round potato production and the extent to which the crop was oriented towards the market by using the commercialisation index. A sample of 510 farmers was visited from three districts of the southern highlands of Tanzania. Results showed that round potato production was highly commercialised. This was evidenced by the proportion of land that was allotted for round potato cultivation and the commercialisation index. About 20 to 67% of the total land under cultivation was allotted to round potato production and 88% of the produce was sold. However, both the cultivated land and output per capita were small.

Inadequately planned transport systems result to traffic congestion, a challenge that has for long been a thorn in Dar es Salaam, the city most affected in Tanzania. Although traffic congestion has been a major concern in Dar es Salaam, marked reluctance has been noticed in taking measures towards a lasting solution thus, it is of diminutive surprise that limited studies and documentations on the same are in existence. Therefore, this study assesses traffic congestion in Dar es Salaam and particularly its implications for workers’ productivity. Travel time and productivity indexes were established from a sample of 96 workers who used public transport along Morogoro and Mandela Roads. Travel time index (TTI) is the ratio of the average travel time during peak period to the travel time during off-peak period. Findings reveal that TTI was 2.19. Workers spent about 2 times of the average commuting time to work and 3 times of the same commuting from work to their various residences. About 2.5 hours were lost on traffic jam per day and that people worked 1.4 times less than the required time due to traffic congestion. It was further established that in 10 working days, almost 3 days were lost to traffic congestion. Since there are ongoing efforts to improve the transport system through the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, it remains to be seen as to what extent traffic congestion will be reduced. In either case, this study provides a benchmark for comparisons.