Policy, milk and the Dar es Salaam peri-urban zone: a new future for an old development theme?

This paper provides an analysis of 50 years of policy aimed at ensuring an adequate milk supply to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Despite a variety of policy approaches and initiatives, providing the city with milk continues to be problematic. The use of the peri-urban zone for dairy production is one of several recurring themes, however, even with an expanding market there has been relatively little development of commercial dairying in this zone. This history is used to assess the more recent interest in the potential contribution of the peri-urban zone to sustainable urban food supplies. The paper argues that policy and development initiatives along these lines must specifically consider the relative suitability of the peri-urban zone vis-à-vis the production of specific commodities as well as potential market opportunities. Those interested in promoting peri-urban agriculture as an element of more sustainable cities cannot afford to take a narrow view that ignores either agro-ecological, economic and regional realities.