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The Symbiotic Food System: An ‘Alternative’ Agri-Food System Already Working at Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Marc C. A. Wegerif

    (Rural Sociology Group and Sociology of Development and Change Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands
    Institute for Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)

  • Paul Hebinck

    (Sociology of Development and Change Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands
    Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension. University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa)

Abstract

This article is an analysis of the agri-food system that feeds most of the over four million residents of the fast growing city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. It is based on qualitative research that has traced the sources of some important foods from urban eaters back through retailers, processors and transporters to the primary producers. Particular attention is given to the functioning of the market places and how new actors enter into the food system. These reveal that more important to the system than competition are various forms of collaboration. Of particular interest is how a wide range of small-scale and interdependent actors produce the food and get it to urban eaters at a city feeding scale without large vertically- or horizontally-integrated corporate structures. This “symbiotic food system” is an existing alternative to the corporate-dominated agri-business food system; it can and does deliver at scale and in a way that better responds to the needs of people in poverty who are buying food and the interests of food producers. It is not perfect in Dar es Salaam, but the food system is working and is a model that should be built on.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc C. A. Wegerif & Paul Hebinck, 2016. "The Symbiotic Food System: An ‘Alternative’ Agri-Food System Already Working at Scale," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:6:y:2016:i:3:p:40-:d:76659
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc C. A. Wegerif, 2014. "Exploring Sustainable Urban Food Provisioning: The Case of Eggs in Dar es Salaam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-33, June.
    2. Henk Renting & Terry K Marsden & Jo Banks, 2003. "Understanding Alternative Food Networks: Exploring the Role of Short Food Supply Chains in Rural Development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(3), pages 393-411, March.
    3. Elinor Ostrom, 2010. "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 641-672, June.
    4. Beckert, Jens, 2007. "The social order of markets," MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/15, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Deborah Potts, 2008. "The urban informal sector in sub-Saharan Africa: from bad to good (and back again?)," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 151-167.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marc C. A. Wegerif & Johannes S. C. Wiskerke, 2017. "Exploring the Staple Foodscape of Dar es Salaam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Marc C. A. Wegerif & Arantxa Guereña, 2020. "Land Inequality Trends and Drivers," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Giaime Berti, 2020. "Sustainable Agri-Food Economies: Re-Territorialising Farming Practices, Markets, Supply Chains, and Policies," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-9, March.

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