Change agents for Sustainable Development between ujamaa, Ubuntu, and globalization: Insights from Tanzanian ecological smallholder farmers' realities of life

The agricultural sector is one major driver of overshooting the planetary boundaries. Agriculture thus needs to be transformed in sustainable ways according to the principles of intra- and intergenerational justice. As ethnographic research reveals, Tanzanian smallholder farmers practicing agroecology are torn between the principles of Ubuntu and ujamaa on the one hand, and globalization and individualism on the other. They either try to unite the two worlds in their own way and individually profit which then also supports the community, or they try to adapt to the spirit of globalization by focusing on community values. However, for all of them certain principles of African socialism and community are important. Considering these findings and possible politics supporting these smallholder farmers, Tanzanian smallholder farmers could not only contribute to a more sustainable agriculture, but they could also make Tanzania a case example for a sustainable agricultural transformation.