This study extends the analysis of local complexity to the sphere of the division of labour. The main argument is that the rural producers tend to diversify into multiple sources of income, and generate innovative strategies of straddling between these incomes sources. The main part of this volume consists of the ethnographic analysis of a case study conducted in Lindi district. It is a thought-provoking and theoretically challenging work which reveals how cultural issues penetrate economic practices and modify the outcome of any economic interventions.