Despite the great strides by the government of Tanzania in bolstering access to electricity in rural areas under its Rural Energy Agency (REA), rural connection rates have remained low. A substantial fraction of households residing “under the grid” remains unconnected despite the considerable state subsidy of this program. This study investigates the reasons for low uptake of seemingly highly subsidized, productive and modern energy. Using both bivariate and multivariate logit, we find that the distance between the household and the nearest electric pole matters.

Agriculture is the means of livelihood for most rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order for small-scale farmers to meet the basic needs of their families and semi-large-scale farming for trading purposes, rural farmers seek to expand their output. To this end, the kind of input employed in the crop production process is very important. In terms of labour, most rural farmers employ their children or other family members and or members of the community where they use traditional farming tools. The use of energy and for that matter, electricity is very little.

Abstract