Vijana FM recently heard from Marika Mura (28) from Sardinia, Italy and requested an interview with her. Marika lived in Kwala, Tanzania for over a year between 2010 and 2011, teaching English in a secondary school while working as project director for Newton Tanzania Collaborative. In October 2011, Marika started her PhD at the University of Warwick on food security and farmers’ perspectives in rural Tanzania. She revisited Kwala for 3 months in 2012 and plans to return again soon. Here is what we asked her about her research and its application to young people.
1. What is the gap in knowledge about food security and small scale Tanzanian farmers that your PhD is addressing?
My PhD aims at analyzing why despite being farmers, the rural communities in Tanzania do not have enough food to feed their families. When I talk about enough food I also talk about differentiation. The main staple food in Tanzania (at least in the area where I conducted my research in Coast Region) is ugali and beans, while consumption of fruits and vegetables is scarce. While malnutrition and food security in rural areas has been documented by governmental and NGOs reports, stressing the importance of unreliable weather and lack of modern input, the political connection between food security in the countryside and government, or better the relationship between farmers and government, has been often neglected in the analysis.
My research aims at filling this gap by giving the farmers a voice. The farmers are at the centre of my analysis, as I want to understand what are their problems in everyday farming and what do they do to improve their current situation, what do they want and how does the government policy do to address their needs and demands.
2. How did you operationalize your research?
My research consists of a theoretical part, where the political history analysis of Tanzania plays a great role, and an empirical research part, conducted on field during 6 months. So far I have collected 88 interviews from farmers and local representatives in the Kibaha district, mainly in the villages of Kwala, Mwembengozi, Dutumi, Msua and Mperamumbi, and in my second part of fieldwork I expect to collect some more interviews from farmers in the Kilimanjaro Region and from national politicians. My research is the fruit of over a year and a half living in rural Tanzania and seeing the struggles of farmers and the difficulties students in rural areas have to face everyday as food is not enough and the lack of a proper nutrition limits their concentration and their school performance.
3. Can you share some highlights from your findings so far?
Many things have emerged from my research. Here are some quick insights:
– Concerning the relationship between the government and farmers: The complete lack of knowledge about the government agricultural policy from farmers in rural areas. Their diffidence with politicians and agricultural officers, their reticence in asking for help since “nothing has never changed here in the countryside”.
– Agriculture is still done with hoes and hands, and production is very low, not even enough to satisfy the family’s needs. Even when mechanization is available there are conflicts over who uses it first and often farmers lack the financial capital to pay the rent to use a tractor. In order to be able to purchase food farmers have to find off-farm jobs, that mostly consists in tree-cutting for the production of charcoal, with the consequent impoverishment of the forests, soils nearby, and water resources undergrounds (which contributes even more to poor harvests).
– Another important issue that has emerged is the unwillingness to work in a cooperative way. Farmers seem not to trust each other. Therefore, not only is there a controversial relationship between farmers and the government but also between farmers themselves.
– Problems with pastoral tribes: farmers are often in conflict with pastoral tribes of the area as their cattle ruins and eat their crops.
4. In a recent comment on Kilimo Kwanza 101, you mentioned the government should assist farmers more. What kind of assistance exactly is needed according to your findings?
Firstly, farmers need to have a voice in the policy making, and this is not possible if they are kept obscure of the current agricultural policy.
Secondly, no agricultural policy can be said to be successful if it is not part of a broader set of policies to improve the situation in rural areas. For example, if farmers have to pay for their children to go to school, their budget for food (or for agricultural inputs to improve the production) will be lower. Most families interviewed only have two meals per day. Students in school are hungry, they cannot concentrate, and performance in schools in rural areas is very low. Some students have to live by themselves since they are 13 years old, as they are sent in schools in villages to continue their secondary education. With no income, poor families to support them, they often have to find alternative ways to find the money. And this because school is expensive for poor families, and the government does not seem to have a scheme to provide food for free in schools’ canteens.
Proper irrigation scheme projects are also extremely important in order to help farmers to produce more. Moreover street infrastructures should also be part of a complete agricultural policy, since farmers need to access the market to sell their products and to get different varieties of food.
5. Where do young people fit into this picture? Do you have any recommendations for us?
Young people are the engine of Tanzania and the generation that will make of the country a better one. Therefore it is important that young people understand the importance of agriculture, because, despite at the moment this sector may look like a sector to run away from, there is great potential to be successful in agriculture with the right knowledge, support and inputs available.
In an attempt to get the young generation closer to this sector me and a friend of mine (also from Italy) started an agricultural project in the school of the village of Kwala. The project is sponsored by the Rotary Club Sedilo Marghine Centro Sardegna (in Italy), and brought forward by the second master of the school, Derick Ngimba with the help of another teacher, Hussein. The course consists in a theoretical course and a practical side, where a group of volunteer students take part and cultivate different vegetables and crops in the schools, in a sustainable yet efficient way. The produce of the garden is then shared and eaten at the school canteen, to enrich students diet and increase the consumption of vegetables. The project got also the approval and the help of the Rotary Club Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam, that provided a water tank and pipes to be used to facilitate the irrigation of the garden. Students are enthusiastic as they are learning useful skills that can be transferred to their parents, farmers. These kind of projects bring students together, and provide them with the right knowledge to be successful farmers in the future!
Vijana FM thanks Marika for sharing her ongoing research experience with our readers!
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