Are Tanzanian Farmers Stupid?

A Tanzanian farmer on his power tiller.

The advices given to small-scale farmers sometimes make we wonder what planet Tanzania’s politicians and the public officials are from. I thought of it again this morning when I came across an article in the Citizen, inspired by a District Commissioner in Mvomero District, who was complaining about farmers being backward. Allegedly they prefer the hand hoe over using a power tiller when preparing their fields. Therefore, so the story goes, the farmers are to blame for the failure of the President’s high profile initiative to increase agricultural production, Kilimo Kwanza.

Tanzanian farmers may be conservative. But to my knowledge, they are not stupid. Based on my intuition, being the son of a farmer myself (though not a Tanzanian one), I shall suggest that the district commissioner takes a closer look at the economy of the farmers in her district. Farmers where I come from, being confronted with new government schemes, usually ask, whether they pay off. I imagine that Tanzanian farmers may ask the same question. They do, after all, not farm for President Kikwete. They farm for themselves and their families.

Farmers may have good reasons for not using power tillers. I can think of several reasons; they cannot afford the fuel; it is cheaper (for those who can afford it) to hire manual labourer; their plots of land are too small; the risk is too high. Concerning the latter, I would suspect that the risk is quite high. In case a power tiller breaks down in a remote area, a farmer may have to wait long for spare parts. Maybe there is no fuel around. In case of drought he or she may loose a big investment. Etc.

In a remote village I once visited, I was told that the district agricultural extension officer had passed by recently. He had advised people to use tractors. I was amazed. The previous year, that village had been hunger struck because of draught. Their biggest problem was water. Or the lack of drought resistant crops. Or the bad road, which made it difficult for them to get to town with their produce…

If you ask small-scale farmers in Tanzania what they need the most to increase their production, they would probably make a long wish-list before they started thinking of power tillers and tractors. It could be an interesting exercise by the way. What would happen if politicians and public officials started asking farmers what they need instead of telling them what to do?

Comments

[swahilistreet]

nice. a supply side approach is handy if you a) don't want to think to much about the issues b)bossing people around is your default approach to things and c) you are looking to stitch together a tens of millions of dollars tractor deal with India....

[swahilistreet]

an editorial in the citizen this week: the farmer in your picture should be careful - he could be arrested.

http://thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/19-editorial-comments/8506-curb-misuse-of-tillers

[Rasmus]

‘My farmer’ should be safe – to my knowledge he uses his power tiller correctly. But the story, in a way, supports the argument that politicians and bureaucrats can not dictate farmers how to farm. But they can support the farmers in achieving their own goals, which is probably a more feasible way to achieve growth. Such a demand side approach (i.e. with farmers expressing their needs) has proved successful elsewhere. Read about experiences from Soroti District in Uganda here: http://www.share4dev.info/kb/documents/3434.pdf

[Steve]

In Kilwa District, some villages made a big windfall from a big land sale to a biofuels company. They spent some of their proceedings on a tractor, proving that at least some farmers do want one. Two years later the tractor is no more functional than the now bankrupt biofuels investment.

Some local farmers have bought the KK power-tillers. But they are using them for local transport rather more than tilling the earth.

[Rasmus]

An interesting example. I guess that it shows that power tillers, in themselves, are not likely to spur economic growth...?

[Steve]

They seem to be spurring growth in inter-village transport. There are probably better solutions to fill this need, but it doesn't make the power tillers a complete waste of time. On the other hand it does show the lack of understanding of rural livelihoods issues by GoT.