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Ileje: Living on Bamboo trees
2006-10-28 07:35:20
By Bilal Abdul-Aziz
Ileje District is located in the southwestern part of Mbeya region. It covers an area of about 1,908 square kilometres and has a population of about 109,847 in 2002 and the average population growth rate is about 2.2 per cent per annum.
Plateaus and highlands dominate the topography of the district, which is known for bamboo production in the country.
Bamboo is very important to the district economy and economic analysts believe that any sustainable development of bamboo trade would promote and diversify the economy of a remote and less developed district in the country.
The relationship between poverty and resource utilization in Ileje district started in the early 20th century when over-utilization of resources like land in the Undali Hills led to population pressure and heavy out migration of the population to areas with better land for settlement and employment opportunities in the plantations and mines such as Mbozi and Mbeya.
Generally, this problem is still persisting in the district because as a periphery district in the country, it has low agricultural production, per capita income and employment opportunities (per capita income of about 75,000/-).
A study was recently carried to investigate the impact of bamboo economy on poverty alleviation in the district. The reason was that it is universally believed that there is a strong relationship between resource utilization and poverty alleviation.
Various studies have shown that a sustainable utilization of resources has a big impact on the development of any community. This is because sustainable utilization of resources leads to sustainable development.
On the other hand, deep-rooted poverty leading to a dependency on a single resource for livelihood undermines the capacity of the population to have sustainable resource management.
This problem is more critical in developing countries where rapid population growth coupled with agricultural stagnation leads to invasion of marginal lands, environmental degradation and poverty.
This study by Milline Mbonile on behalf of Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) investigates among other things, the relationship between bamboo trade and sustainable resource management in Ileje District.
The reason behind it is that Ileje District is among the leading districts in bamboo trade in Mbeya region and probably the whole country.
Hence in order to cope up with this endemic problem, the people in Ileje district have adopted several coping up mechanisms or strategies.
First, the most popular strategy has been the exploitation ~trade in the major natural resources in the district such as Bamboo’s.
The immediate out-come of this strategy has been poverty alleviation among households engaged in bamboo trade.
Moreover, it has exposed the people of Ileje district to the rest of the world, because bamboo goods are marketed in the whole country and abroad.
Nonetheless, despite this widespread network of trade, most of the traders remain small scale because they have adopted the ’hawking approach’ type of trade of tirelessly moving with bamboo commodities from one place to another.
On the other hand, the introduction of internal and external market of bamboo goods is more likely to alleviate the poverty by raising the standard of living of the people of Ileje District and in turn minimize out-migration.
Secondly, the other major strategy of poverty alleviation in periphery districts like Ileje is the out-migration of young population to various places in the country, particularly to major urban centres such as Mbeya and Dar es Salaam.
Whatever they earn in these areas of destination, they alleviate their poverty and that, of the district through remittances.
The third strategy has been the establishment of petty trade especially in minor settlements such as Isongole and Itumba (the district headquarters).
Intra-district trade also has led to the emergence of several weekly markets in centres such as Isoko, Bulanga, Ibungu, Luswisi and Mtula.
As indicated by the Ileje District Socio-economic Profile the fourth strategy has been the introduction of cash crops in areas where there were no cash crops. For instance, in Bulambya Division, coffee has been introduced while in areas that border Mbeya District, pyrethrum has been introduced.
Nonetheless, this strategy is thwarted by the problem of low price in the world market of cash crops like coffee and pyrethrum, thus forcing local communities to search for other alternative sources of income.
Focal group discussions with households producing bamboo showed that the production of bamboo goods started a long period ago when people from Ileje produced them locally for domestic use and sold them through barter trade to neighbouring districts like Kyela and Rungwe Districts.
The bamboo goods were exchanged with commodities like rice, beans and millet that were easily stored. There are two major sources of bamboos in Ileje District that include forest reserves in the highlands and along river valleys.
The other source of bamboos is plot lets where most of them are grown very close to the households especially near river valleys.
Commercial production of bamboo goods is concentrated in Undali Division and in few wards like Ikinga, Kafule and Malangali.
However, there is a big potential of this technology to spread Bulambya Division because the division has a big coverage of bamboo forests and plot-lets.
Also, most households indicated that they acquired the skills of making bamboo goods by inheriting from parents and grandparents (54.2per cent) and others acquired through training after realising that bamboo goods trade is profitable (45per cent).
The most popular period for making and marketing bamboo goods is in the dry season when the agricultural activities have been reduced to a minimum.
That is the period when there is plenty of sunshine to dry the bamboos and in a semi landlocked district like Ileje the dry season has more reliable transport.
They produce one or two types bamboo products such as winnowing-baskets (nyungo in Kiswahili) or baskets (kikapu in Kiswahili).
However, the most popular bamboo product that is marketed all over the country and abroad is the winnowing basket.
Winnowing-baskets are popular because they are used for winnowing grains as well as being ornaments. Recently, however, some bamboo goods weaver produces special decorated bamboo goods.
Although the marketing of bamboo goods within Ileje is limited (21.1 per cent) it has to certain extent promoted the growth of internal trade. Bamboo goods are marketed in major trading centers and in weekly markets.
The other main market of bamboo goods is Mbeya region (12.5per cent). At national level, the marketing of bamboo goods is done in most of the regions especially in major urban centres such as Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Zanzibar.
Internationally, bamboo traders market these commodities in countries like Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Kenya. The reason behind it is that tbere is good road transport network and easy foreign exchange policy.
For instance in Malawi the marketing can be done in Tanzanian shillings or Malawi kwacha or dollars.
Other traders prefer to exchange their bamboo goods with commodities such as radios, clothes and soap rather than cash that can be easily stolen or confiscated by custom officers in border areas.
It was also reported that some of the long distance bamboo traders are marketing these bamboo commodities as far as Dubai.
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