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Rural folk needs capacity building
2006-02-20 07:04:14
By Deodatus Mfugale writing for JET
The striking thing as we moved from one homestead to another was the meticulous way in which the residents effectively utilized almost every patch of land to grow crops.
Talk of mixed farming and the villages of Mgeta, Nyandira and Langali are typical examples of how communities can effectively use a piece of land by growing food-crops, vegetables and fruits and at the sometime maintain the soil fertility.
At one place we met a farmer and his wife working on two terraces. On it were healthy and flourishing crops of tomatoes, beans and Irish potatoes.
So on that small parcel of land, the family is able to meet its food needs. But one glaring omission was inevitably apparent; nowhere did I see a farm for cereals like maize, rice, millet or sorghum.
Surely the community cannot survive on fruits and vegatables alone.
’’We don’t have enough land here, as you can see. If we planted cereals which, take a long time to grow, we might not be able to earn enough money to meet our needs,’’ explained Roman Libuma.
He added that for this reason, the families plant vegetables and other short season crops that take mature and due for harvest at a maximum of two months.
After a bumper harvest, part of it is sold and the returns used to purchase cereals such as maize, rice and other requirements.
Even though, the increased production of vegetables is directly attributed to the development of the infrastructure in the area, namely a road that links the villages with Morogoro Municipality and beyond, and a market where villages can take their produce for sale.
The new interest in agriculture is also attributed to the rise of awareness on the use of natural resources, thank to the introduction of the National Network of Farmers’ Groups (MVIWATA) in the area.
The Network has helped small-scale farmers form groups so that can solve the problems they face in their day-to-day activities.
After almost a decade of working with MVIWATA, the small scale farmers in the area are environmentally conscious able to manage and conserve their natural resources like land, water, forests for their own benefit.
’’With a permanent road and reliable market that is accessed by many people, the youth in particular, have turned to farming.
Every piece of land has now been put to full use,’’explained Jonas Kobelo, the chairman of the Nyanda Market Board.
He was emphatic that as more people turned to farming, there was increased pressure on land leaving the resources more scarce for farming.
’’We don’t have a common cemetery in the village. People have to bury their dead on their compounds,’’ Kobelo noted.
To meet the demand for land, the farmers through their groups have started getting training in mountain farming techniques so that they can do some farming on the slopes without accelerating soil erosion.
Currently, some farmers have already started growing crops even between rocks where the soil has some degree of fertility.
The crops, mainly indigenous types of vegetables and legums are those which, mature within a short period of time and can fetch a ready market.
The idea is to make full use of the available arable land so as to enable the community earn a decent living without compromising the quality of the environment.
Yet the improved production of vegetables has created an opportunity for traders to swindle the small scale farmers.
The emergence of the middlemen has witnessed the raise of a cartel of bogus business people dictating the prices of some vegetables.
In the process, farmers have been swindled through underpayment of the products, far below the market rates.
This has in turn had a negative impact with the farmers backing out of its production.
’’Production of cabbage, for example has dropped as many farmers have stopped growing it.
Traders, particularly those from Dar es Salaam have formed a cartel so that at any given time there is only one buyer at the market who can thus dictate the buying price,’’ the market manager told the JET delegation.
He explained that the trick is that all traders who want to buy cabbage give the money to one person and set the buying price.
Since he will be the only buyer of the commodity, the farmers are forced to accept his bid and sell their products at a throw-away price.
According to the market manager, the situation is not so serious with other farm products.
As a result many farmers have opted not to grow cabbage ’’it is frustrating the farmers,’’ he said.
In the meantime, the small scale farmers have learned to manage well their resources and assets.
The Marketing Board, for example, has five members who represent the various groups including farmers, the road maintenance group, the credit society and the business community.
Members of the Board, the market manager and the market accountant have all been trained by MVIWATA in various disciplines – management, accounts, computer literacy among others.
This has armed them with modern management skills enabling them to manage the market well and collect revenue as planned.
The Board also acts as agent for the district council and must thus remit part of the revenue collected every month.
The small-scale farmers in Nyandira and other villages are set to make further developments in poverty alleviation but the guest for higher profits by traders might slow down this development.
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