Governing Food Distribution Resilience: Infrastructure Coordination between Busokelo District and Mbeya City, Tanzania

Abstract

Rural and urban food systems depend on infrastructure, markets, and actor networks that cross administrative boundaries. In Tanzania, however, rural production, feeder roads, storage, urban markets, and drainage are governed through separate sectoral and jurisdictional mandates. Failure at one infrastructure node can therefore delay commodity movement, increase post-harvest losses and transport costs, reduce rural incomes, and constrain urban food availability and affordability. This study examined how coupled infrastructure and territorial governance shape food distribution resilience between Lwangwa Ward in Busokelo District and Ruanda Ward in Mbeya City. A convergent mixed-methods case study combined a household survey (n = 100), five key-informant interviews, field observation, document review, and geospatial mapping. Quantitative and qualitative evidence was analysed separately and integrated. Results showed that 56% of respondents rated roads as poor or very poor (n = 100), 95.2% of valid respondents reported rainy-season access difficulties (n = 42), and 61% lacked nearby storage (n = 100). The household-perceived distribution-resilience index was low (mean = 2.31/5; 46.2%), while mean recovery speed was 1.33/5. Road, storage, aggregation, market, and drainage weaknesses interacted as a coupled system. Disruptions exposed rural households to production, income, and market-access risks, while urban households experienced supply contraction and higher prices. Informal traders sustained flows, but channels for incorporating their knowledge into district-city planning, maintenance, information sharing, and seasonal preparedness were absent. The study conceptualises resilience as a problem of institutional fit and territorial inclusion and recommends corridor-wide planning that coordinates infrastructure, market governance, actor participation, route redundancy, and seasonal preparedness.