A Strategic Shift From 'Cash-Crops' to Food-Crops' Co-operative Marketing

Abstract

In situations Where the traditional 'income-earning' crops fail to generate the anticipated income, innovative farmers often resort to some alternative crops or other means of income generation. This was the case with regard to some banana farmers in Rungwe District - a district where coffee, a traditional 'income-earner', was mainly a men's domain. To supplement their income, then, women resorted to banana selling. But later on, men joined the bandwagon! This report describes the experiences that women and men went through before engaging in banana marketing in a 'cooperative' way.