“Traditionally, small towns have been viewed as an extension of the exploitative arm of state capitalism and an instrument of rural under-development, draining cheaply obtained resources from the rural areas to the large cities. This study takes a different view, that small towns may have a positive role in the development of the surrounding rural areas. The practice, in many African
countries, of urban households having strong ties with their original rural homes, and, often, having other households in the rural areas, with the accompanying rural-urban, and urban-rural flows of cash and goods, justify this position. Small towns also have a potentially positive role in rural transformation through the provision of goods and services that act as vital inputs into agricultural or mining processes; they provide a market for these commodities, and link the hinterland to national and international markets. This study,therefore, looks into the reciprocal rural-urban and urban rural relationships adopted by households in Ifakara, Tanzania, in their survival and accumulation strategies.”
