INTRODUCTION
       One of the mest recurrent      topics in Tanzania today is the low level of
production in many sectors      of the economy. It is no longer a secret,        for
example, that many important public corporations             are operating at a loss.
The frequent change:,; in top managerial positions,          the dissolution ~f some
corporations and the decentraIisation         of others,   are some of the measures
taken to try to rectify the situation.     A lot of emphasis has also been placed
on political education of workers and leaders          of key production sectors.    The
low level of production has been experienced in both the industrial and
agricultural sectors.    For the latter,     it could be argued that adverse weather
conditions have aggravated matters.         But even with favourable weather
conditions, the situation,    in both food and cash crop production, remains
gloomy. It is with all these fadors       in mind that we decided to have as the
theme of this issue of UTAFTTI, "The Productivity Crisis".              We wanted our
authors to address themselve$ to this problem, and to try and analyse the
caUses of this crisis,   and suggest possible solutions. It could very well be
that we have been applying the wrong medicine because the disease has not
been properly diagnosed.
       In "Financial  Performance      of Public Corporations",      H. P. B. Moshi
looks at the fate at the District     Development Corporations,        (DDCs). To those
wholive in Dr ban centres,      performance of the DDCs has been a cause for
embarrassment,     especially   because at their inception they were generally
hailed as a positive step towards controlling essential services and business
enterprises for the benefit of the general public. The fact that most of them
were unable to survive effectively calls for a serious re-evaluation of the
role of public corporations     in Tanzania.      The facts and figul':"eswhich Moshi
quotes in his paper will definitely leave a lot of questions in readers'          minds
as to why the Government,       as the overseer,      allowed the situation to get so
muchout of hand. If it is true,      as Moshi argues, that the basic problem is
financial mismanagement, then there is need to re-examine the whole field
of training of high-level manpower in the country.           Or if, as the article in-
dicates, the problem is one of lack of commitmenton the part of workers
(of all categories) in public corporations,        then there is need to change our
strategy of "Politicisation".     These and other issues are discussed in the
paper.
       B. Swai's article   "Crisis   in Colonial Agriculture" deals with the
problems of soil erosion in Tanganyika during the inter-war years,             and
howthese were intricately      related to colonial land policy, colonial need
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for raw materials,    as well as to the introduction of cash economy based on
cash crops which led to the destruction of the natural f0.1:'+   nity of soils.  Hp
analyses the measures which were taken to deu~ WitIl the sit~at~JI1 anci con-
sludes that very little was done when it was already too late.       The article
comes at an opportune time when the problems of soil erosion in Tanzania
have again surfaced as a major issue in agricultural       production.    Maybe
the agricultural planners can dr~w lessons from the colonial pf'riod and
avoid the mistakes that were made then.
      In "Agricultural   Producti~ity and Surplus Production in Tanzania",
Finn Kjaerby takes a critical look at the "Implications of Villagisation,
Fertilisers   and Mixed Farming". Sometimes planners and policy makers
take it for granted that certain measures,      such as villagisation. will always
produce positive results.   It is only when these res1!-lts are not forthcoming
that everyone starts to panick. In a vast country like Tanzania,         with suc~
diverse climatic conditions and soil types it becomes necessary         to weigh
carefully the merits and demerits of every programme. Kjaerby shows very
 convincingly that even the use of fertilisers    which peasants have been given
to understand will multiply their crop yields many times can hiwe yery
 adverse effects on soils and lead to a drastic reduction in production.        The
paper also discusses the peasants responses to all the measures taken, and
points out possible alternatives   which could lead to increased productioP.
       D. Bryceson's artiCle, though of amore theoretical        nature,  is still
within the range of 0ur theme. In "Primitive Accumulation and Imperialism
in relation to the Reproduction of Third World Peasantries"         she discusses
the surviviil of Third' World Peasantries     in the Imperialist epoch. She con-
sistently draws the distinction between the process of primitive accumulation
"w:hichoperated to destroy the feudal peasantries       during the 15th _ 18th
Centuries in Europe", with that which i~ at present operating in conjunction
with imperialism on Third World Peasantries.         She further argues,    byevaluatill~
a number of studies by prominent people such as Marx, Lenin, Kay, etc. that
 although it is important to understand the processes      of primitive
accumulation and imperialism as combined historical        processes     which
provide a framework in which concrete analyses can be made, they should
not be interpreted as the ultimate causes of specific developmental problems
 or social contradictions.
       The last article in this issue deals with one of those current topiCS
which nobody is able or even willing to ignore. We would first of aU like to
register   our joy at the way things have turned out in Zimbabwe. Not onlY has
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the victory o{ the Zimbar"'" people been a great blow to imperialism every-
where, it has,    Jr.. <" S L Importantly, proved to the world that Africa .s are a
 serious pe':jJle and that left alone to make their owh free judgements, they
alwl"_Ys 1< lOW where their interests       lie.    We therefore congratulate Our valiant
comrades in Zimbabwe for taking it upon themselves to restore the honour of
Africa. It is in this spirit that we include the contribution from a person who
has been very close to the Liber.ation Struggle.             lbbo MaIl.dazain "Imperialism,
the Frontline States and the Zimbabwe Problem", takes us back to tqe tangle
of the war of Liberation in Zimbabwe and the role that imperialism plays in
Southern Africa.         Although written befor.e the dramatic events of March 1980,
it offers a good analysis of the situation that prevailed before the elections,
espe~ially the run-up to the London Constitutional talks. His analysis will
help readers to weigh and evaluate imperialism's              actions and reactions after
March, as it has so much at stake in the whole isg'ue. It is important to
remember that the ellemies of freedom for the underprivileged will never give
in of their own frel will and the struggling people must always be on the look-
out for them and be prepared to hit back.
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