Governance structures in domestic value chain of nonindustrial timber in Njombe district, Tanzania.
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Although governance structure of the value chain influences the incomes of chain actors, it has received
limited attention in domestic value chains literature. To bridge the gap, this paper is set to analyse the
governance structure of non-industrial timber in Njombe district in Tanzania. Non-industrial private
forestry (NIPF) is the main livelihood activity among smallholders in Njombe district and a heart of
district’s revenue. The research adopted an exploratory cross-sectional study design where purposive and
snowball sampling was used to obtain respondents. Data were collected through observation, semistructured in-depth interviews with key informants and the respondents. Analysis was done using deductive
thematic analysis. Study findings show that value chain actors of non-industrial timber use both vertical
and horizontal governance structures. While smallholders earn more income when a combination of
structures is used, modular governance gives more returns when one structure is used. Market
uncertainty, incentive to spread risk, institutional environment, trust and financial capability of both the
buyers and suppliers determine the governance patterns. In addition, findings show that even though a
centralized or global governance structure is absent, informal quality standards are emerging and have
far-reaching implication to the incomes of chain actors. The paper concludes that both vertical and
horizontal governance structures play an important role of linking value chain actors to markets.
Therefore, efforts to improve smallholders’ income should be geared toward improving both vertical and
horizontal structures because they play a complementary role.
Description
Proceedings, pp. 422-438
Keywords
Non-industrial timber, Value chains, Governance, Tanzania