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The roots of erosion in a Tanzanian village

Meddelanden series B 94 Department of Human Geography Stockholm University VESA-MATTI LOISKE

THE VILLAC-E THAT VANISHED

The roots of erosion in a Tanzanian village Doctoral dissertation 1995 Department of Human Geography University of Stockholm S-706 91 Stockholm

ABSTRACT

In the village'of Citing in the northern highlands of Tanzania, the factors: social stratification, land tenure, production strategies, investment patterns and the economic uncertainties of society are studied and their relationship to land degradation is examined. The main assumption of the study is that the causes of land degradation are so complex that a methodology that emphasises contextualisation has to be used. A methodological framework that considers inter-link- ages between all these factors is developed and tested. The result of the test shows that contextualisation gives a more in-depth and complex explanation than conventional, positivist research. The study gives a detailed account of the relationship that various wealth groups have to land and land degradation in the village. It is found that all wealth groups are destructive to the land but in varying ways. The rich farmers are over-cultivating land marginal to agriculture, the middle peasants have too many cattle in the village while the poor peasants are so marginalised socially that they hardly influence land management. Those identified as having economic as well as social incentives to maintain soil fertility are the middle peasants, while the rich farmers are shown to be consciously soil-mining the former grazing areas.

C2 1995: Vesa-Matti Loiske Cover illustration: lraqw elder by Rune Beckeus lSBN 91-7153-365-6 ISSN 0585-3508 Arash Tryck h Fblag, Stockholm 1995 Acknowledgements

I would like to sincerely thank the following groups and inchviduals.

Those who have financed this study: SAREC (Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with developing countries), SIDA (Swedish International Development Authority), Mannerfeldts fond, Stiftelsen Futura, Lagrelius fond, Stockholms universitets donationsstipendier, Stockholms universitet, Mturgeografiska institutionen

%se who have supervised and supported me: Ulf Sporrong, Gunilla Andrae, Mats Widgren, Car1 Christiansson, Wilhelm Ostberg, Idris Khla, Claude Mung'ong'o, Pius Yanda

For intellectual ademotional support: My wife Lena, our children, Hanna, Karin, Lasse och Hugo, Mansgruppen and humerable friends.

For providing the infrastructure: Henrik Miettinen, Rayrnond Blomqvist, Sonja Bergentz, Jan Murray

For help in the Tanzanian &h: Ndugu Mdundo, Ndugu Muhale, Ndugu Churry, Ndugu Batulaine

Andfinally all those who gladly sufered my impertinances: The peoples of Giting, Katesh, Mama Isara and all my colleagues.

Stockholm den 4 maj 1995 Vesa-Matti Loiske LIST OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 4 The study area ...... 7 Climate. agricultural conditions and soil erosion ...... 7 Rainfall ...... 7 Atmospheric circulation ...... 9 Temperature ...... 10 Geomorphology and soils ...... 10 Drainage ...... 11 Natural vegetation ...... 11 Length of the vegetation period ...... 11 Summary of the physical features ...... 13 The peoples and history of the area ...... 14 The history and agricultural practices of the lraqw ...... 21 Traditional agriculture among the lraqw ...... 24 Agriculture ...... 24 Wet Season Cropping ...... 25 Dry Season Cropping ...... 25 Livestock raising ...... 26 Communal Grazing ...... 28 Manure ...... 29 Summary of the Iraqw agricultural history ...... 29

Chapter2 Methodology Systems approaches ...... 31 Decision-makingmodels ...... 32 StructutalhistoricaI approaches ...... 32 Paradigm crisis ...... 33 The new paradigm ...... 34 The present study as an integration of the old and the new ...... 35 Land degradation research -the way forward? ...... 40 Operationalizing "scientific realism" ...... 43 The land manager ...... 45 Land degradation ...... 46 Social and economic stratification ...... 48 Land tenure and general social and economic insecurity ...... 50 Production strategies and investment patterns ...... 52 The interview study ...... 52 The secondary sources ...... 55 The limitations of the study ...... 55 Summary of the methodology ...... 56 The structure of the dissertation ...... 57 Chapter 3 Social stratification in Giting Methodology ...... 59 In retrospect ...... 60 Results of the wealth ranking ...... 65 Chapter 3 continued Description of the wealth groups ...... 66 Differences in social stratificationbetween sub-villages ...... 72 The people of Giting village ...... 75 Access to land and productive resources ...... 78 Summary ...... 83 Chapter 4 Land Tenure. Land use and Land degradation ...... 85 From the turn of the century to villagisation ...... 06 The villagisation programme ...... 91 The aftermath of the villagisation ...... 92 Formalising village leadership ...... 95 The struggle for land ...... 97 .Land use ...... 99 Soil degradation and conservation ...... 102 Conclusions ...... 106 Chapter 5 Investment patterns and the erosion of communal assets ...... 109 Methodological problems ...... 109 Private investments Se~ceand trade ...... 111 AgriculbJre ...... 112 The geography of prlvete investments ...... 114 Effects of private Investments on land use ...... 114 Communal investments in the village ...... 115 Vlllage leadership and the wasteof capltal ...... 115 Power by Manlpulatlanand lntlmldatlon ...... 116 Leadership Accountablllty ...... 117 The loss of Investment incentives ...... 118 Chapter 6 Analysis and Contextualisation ...... 119

Surnrnaryand analysls ...... 119 The Story of Resource Erosion in the Village of Giting ...... 123 From the turn of the century to vlllaglsatlon ...... 123 VillagLsatlon ...... 121 Middle peasants at the helm and the start of field eroslon ...... 126 The rich fannersc~meto power and dtsmantle the public sector ...... 131 Chapter 6 continued Lessons ...... 140 The Marxist model ...... 140 Man Land inter-relations...... 143 Core and expansion area relationship ...... 144 The methodology ...... 146 Written References ...... 149 Other References ...... 155

List of maps. tables. figures and diagrams

Maps

l . Tanzania with the research area indicated ...... 2 2 . Mbulu District. Orientation map ...... 6 3. Mbulu district. rainfall distribution ...... g 4 . Soil erosion in Giting village 1990191 ...... 12 5. lraqw expansion. 18th century - 1962 ...... 16 6. Settlement pattern Giting 1990191 ...... 72 7. Cultivated flelds inthe Giting area, 1960 ...... 87 8. Settlement pattern in the Giting area, 1960 ...... 88 9 . Cultivation field pattern. Giting, 1990-91 ...... 94 l0 . Settlement pattern 1960 and 190191 in the Giting area ...... 126 11 . Cultivation in Giting 1960 and 1990/91 ...... 131

Tables

Major ethnic groups in Mbutu district 1957 ...... 15 Population increase in divisions in Mbulu district 1948-1967 ...... 20 The old and the new paradigm ...... 34 Number of Land-Managers in wealth groups, Giting 1991 - 92 ...... 65 Number of intervieweees In wealth groups, Giting 1991-92 ...... 75 Characteristicsof the inte~ewedland managers, 1991 - 92 ...... 75 Housingstandardin wealth groups, Giting 1991-92 ...... 76 Inheritance preferences in wealth groups, Giting 1 991 - 92 ...... i7 Distriblrtion of land according to wealth groups, Giting 1991 - 92 ...... 78 Real distribution of land inside and outside giting. 1991-92 ...... 79 Access to resources outside Giting, by wealth group, 1991-92 ...... 79 Farm implements in wealth groups, Giting 1991 - 92 ...... 80 Leasers and lesees of land in wealth groups in Giting, 1991 - 92 ...... 80 Agricultural tilling methods and preferences in wealth groups. Gitlng 1991-92 ...... 81 Distributionof cultivation methods in wealth groups, Giting 1991-92 ...... 99 Crops grown by percent of land managers in each wealth group, Gltlng 1991 - 92 ...... 101 17. Percentage distribution ot fields of varylng steepness by wealth group. Giting. 1991-92 ...... 103 18 . Perceived land degradation by percentage of land managers in each wealth group. Giting 1991-92 ...... 104 IQ. Soil conservation measures taken in percent of land managers per wealth group. Giting 1991-92 ...... 105

Figures

1. Core and expanslon Interrelations among the lraqw ...... 18 2. Simplified sketch of cultivation practices of Mama lsara farms ...... 27 3 . Man-landInterrelations according to the political ecology approach ...... 37 4 . The structure of the study ...... 42 5 . The chain of explanation ...... 44 6 . Neighbourhood In Giting In the late 1960's ...... 89

Diagrams

1. Percentage of land managers per wealth group. Giting 1991. 92 ...... _ ...... 67 2. Percentage of land managers per wealth group. Gocho A 1991. 92 ...... 73 3. Percentage of land managers per wealth group. Gocho B 1991. 92 ...... 73 4 . Percentage of land managers per wealth group, Gocho C1991- 92 ...... 74

5 . Percentage of land managers per wealth group, Bagara 1991W 92 ...... 74 6. Percentage of land managers per wealth group. Hanang 19gl- 92 ...... 74 7. Distributionof cultivated land and land managers In wealth groups, Giting 1991- 92 ...... 97

Swahili words are in underlined jtalim while lraqw words are bold and italics. the village that vanished

Map l chapter l

Chapter I

THAT VANISHED

n the surrounding villages, Giting, a village in the northern Highlands of Tan- zania, is regarded as being rich. Most years it does produce a grain surplus and the rainfall is relatively high. Paying a visit there would confirm this impression of prosperity. Tractors rush by enveloped in clouds of dust. Lomes loaded with sacks of maize, ox-carts and ox-ploughs are constantly on the move. Labourers with their hoes are at work in the fields, semi-completed houses push towards the sky and in the village shops there is a bustle of activity. But if the visitor stays a the village that vanished

while and takes the opportunity to look below this busy surface, another sadder aspect becomes apparent. The darker side of this rich village. One begins to notice the sick, the mentally- and physically-handicapped and the alcoholics. One sees people clad only in rags, single mothers without means of support and naked children. The dilapidated houses with lealung roofs and walls where the men that have lost their breadwinner status and the destitute families live. And high up on the mountain slope, as if a knife had sliced the landscape, angry red scars are visible, contrasting sharply with the lush green of the background. The smaller hills are barren and rocky giving the impression of a grey moonscape. Some of the fields are divided into irregular halves by snake-like black fissures and most of the cultivated land is criss-crossed by shallow dry canals of varying widths. Caught and trapped in the flat parts of the valleys are eroded soils of several hues like a red, white and black banner struggling to be lifted by the wind but only giving rise to dust-devils that choke the breath and blind the eye.

This study aims at explaining why the people of Giting in cultivating their land, degrade it. AD the natural preconditions seem to exist there for high, .sustainableagricultural production even if the weather conditions same years give rise to diminished harvests.

The increasingly visible soil erosion of the village can hardly be attributed to a lack of knowledge of the physical effects of cultivation practices. The population is predominantly composed of the agro-pastoral Iraqw people who began moving there at the beginning of the century. They originated from an area with a 200 hundred year old tradition of agriculture and where indeed an intensive sustainable form of agriculture is still practised. Many of the older Iraqw in Giting are first generation immigrants with first-hand experience of this agricultural form. Arguably many of Giting's inhabitants have both the knowledge and the skills required for developing sustainable agriculture.

Anthropological studies of the haqw people characterise them as "egalitarian" with little sociaI and economic stratification. Studies carried out in the 1940's and 1950's found areas outside the Iraqw heartland to be also relatively socially equitable. Other studies conducted in the 1970's in the heartland, Mama Isara, some 120 km north of Giting reported a relatively egalitarian society that still seems to exist. These findings contrast starkly with the situation in Giting today. The social and economic range of the village population, extreme compared to the picture given by these other studies, shows a small rich class, the large majority that manage quite well and the many who lead a hand to mouth existence. chapter I

Land tenure has undergone many changes since the first colonial land laws of the 1920's. Uncertainty about the laws governing ownership and tenure has been rife particularly in the period following Tanzania's independence. To the best of their ability the villagers of Giting have vied to adapt to the many, sometimes sweeping, changes in land ownership. The will and fortuity to take long term care of the land has undoubtedly been affected by insecurity of tenure.

The Giting villagers are also confronted with other uncertainties. It has become increasingly difficult to defend one's rjghts in the courts, the police sometimes fail to perform their duties and the social networks and communal resources so laboriously built during the 1970's, have been, in effect, dismantled. This erosion of societal structures has mainly affected the poor strata in the village.

Further, socio-economic stratification in Giting has lead to a differentiation of production strategies. The richest strata in Giting are not restricted to agriculture. Di- versification into urban sectors, transport and trade are common. These production strategies affect, in turn, land use and the need for land conservation. In the spectrum of potential investment areas, agriculture becomes just one possibility among many. ~iversifiedproduction has an important relationship to land use and sustainable agricultural production, as some of the income from agriculture is hverted, invested elsewhere and thus not used to maintain the productivity of the land.

To give a dynamic explanation of why and how the above mentioned changes in socio-economic stratification, land use, land tenure, increased uncertainty and changes in production strategies have come about it is important to study the historical roots of these processes. To achieve a sufficiently extensive explanation of land degradation in the village all these factors have been included in this study.

A more detailed object of the study, then, is to probe the mutual correlation between socio-economic stratification, land tenure, land use, the general social and economic uncertainty, production strategies and investment patterns and then show how all these factors combine in affecting the will and ability of the villagers of Giting to maintain their land. A secondary object is to explain the origins of the processes that have been shown to be detrimental to sustainable agriculture.

To give the reader an opportunity to follow the arguments in the coming chapters a brief presentation of the study area will be given in the next section. Th~swill be followed by a general history of the region. Finally some important traits in the traditional culture of the Iraqw will be given as well as a description of their tradtional agricultural system the village that vanished

Mbulu District Orientation map

30h

arm Mdrlon.

- ClsMctbth1960 amASlad bcr& 4 m - Mciorrocxl FUestRtge9-a D- * UHaee 0 T~rrJ~ m Tg*n hacsPllb.lluMn '' h1BM Mrvia V'. ~l~M(lDllrtin &z,?;-k-j-1.i:- Mnlohnmolroo

Map 2

6 chapter I

The study area

The research area selected is the village of Giting. Located jn the northern highlands of Tanzania in the Hanang District, the villagers use the northeastern slopes of the Hanang Mountain, mostly for agnculture. Giting can hardly be considered an average Tanzanian village as it is comparatively rich and involved in cash-crop production. Being richer and more "developed" than the average Tanzanian village it can be expected that the social stratification will be more pronounced and competition for land resources greater. It was because of these specific characteristics that Giting was chosen.

The descriptions presented here, physical, social and historical, cover a larger area than the village of Giting. The social processes that have occurred in the area and its ecologically concurrent zones make it necessary to describe the region in which the village of Giting is located. The initial descriptions will, therefore, be made for the three districts Mbulu, Hanang and Babati. Before 1969 these three districts made up the district Mbulu. It was then divided into two and Hanang district was created. In 1985 Hanang district was in turn split into two and Babati district was created. The three districts have thus a common administrative history.

The main source of information about the physical characteristics of the area is a study made by the German bio-geographer Schultz who wrote a regional geography of the former Mbulu ~istrictin the 1960's. In hs studies, (Schultz, 1967, 1971), a wealth of instructive maps were published. Schultz also studied the social processes with emphasis on agriculture in the area. In the description of the history of the area the works of both Schultz (1971) and the anthropologist Thornton (1980) are used as well as additional sources. Climate, agricultural conditions and soil erosion

Rainfall

The rainfall stations in the three districts are widely scattered. The nearest rainfall stations with complete series of rainfall data are in Babati, Mbulu town, Kainarn, Karatu, Yambi and Kondoa. None are in the present Hanang district. There are some shorter, incomplete rainfall measurements at some of the wheat schemes west of Hanang mountain and at Haydom mission. Local variations in rainfall in this semi- the village that vanished arid climate make it impossible to generalise rainfall data over large areas. Another way of estimating rainfall however, is to consider the water requirements of the natural vegetation. This has been done by Schultz (1971 :34)who compiled a map of the approximate yearly rainfall for the former Mbulu Distnct. The rainfall of the area varies between less than 400 and more than 1.000 mm annually (Map 3).

The driest part of the former Mbulu distnct is the Yaida valley in the west, close to Lake Eyasi, with an annual rainfall less than 400 mm. On the Mangati plain and in Tarangire national park in the south and east of the district the precipitation varies between 500 and 700 mm per year. More rain falls on the higher central areas, the Iraqw highlands, and the two mountains Hanang and Ufiome with an annual precipitation varying between 800 and more than 1,000 mm per year. In the north, close to Oldeani and Ngorongoro, the rainfall exceeds 1,000 mm per year, due to the high elevation.

A closer look at the area around Hanang mountain, where Giting village is located, reveals that the Hanang mountain forest reserve, which includes a mountainous rain forest, has a relatively high rainfall exceeding 1,000 mm per year. The western and northern part of the mountain, located in rajn shadow, have a considerably lower rainfall. The village of Giting is located on the northeastern slope of the mountain (Map 3) with an annual rainfall ranging from 600 to 1,000 mm. The present Hanang district is characterised by a big variation in rainfall both in volume and in distribution over the year (Schultz, 1971:40).

The lack of reliable, long-term rainfall data at the local level makes it difficult to estimate the erosive forces due to the rainfall. It is, however, probable that the rainfall pattern is closely connected to the semi-arid conditions prevailing in large parts of the area. The semi-arid rainfall regime is characterised by short and intense showers often exceeding 100 mm/ hour. The energy created by these heavy showers increases the risk of erosion through rain splash, overland flow, sheet erosion and gullying (Hudson, 198 1:48-59). Especially during times without protective vegetation cover, for example at the beginning of the rainy season when cultivated land is newly ploughed, these phenomena may seriously increase land degradation.

The effects of one heavy rainstorm at the beginning of the cropping season can be disastrous for crop yields if no measures are taken to arrest the overland flow, as seeds are washed away and top soil removed. A related problem is that crops in the lower lying areas will be covered by sediment when the speed of the overland flow is reduced and sedimentation occurs. On the other hand some fields in less sloping areas may receive nutrients through sedimentation of clay particles that may considerably increase agricultural output. Consequently some will make a loss on the process while higher crop yields may be obtained by others. - chapter l

Mbulu District Rainfall distribution

nual ralnfall In mm 1400 m700 - 800 1400 - 500 m 800 - 900

mm-600 900-1000

m600-700 m > 1000 After Schulb 197 1. p. 34. 0 %gFZrn

Map 3 Atmospheric circulation

The ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) is located over the former Mbulu district between October and January giving short rains. After January the weather is dominated by the NE monsoon that reaches the area from SW giving a short dry spell in January and February. The reason the NB monsoon comes from SE is that it is diverted by the semipermanent low pressure located around lake Nyanza. When ITCZ moves north its dominance is replaced by the SE trade-winds that come with the long rains in March. April and May. In May and June the temperature decreases while air pressure increases initiating the dry season. The winds are predominantly easterly (NE - SE) and vary considerably during the year. The most powerful winds occur during the dqseason as an effect of the SE trade-winds (Schultz,1971:35 ff). the village that vanished

The complicated combination of monsoon and convergence circutation in the area m.kes the climate rather unpredictable. Some years the short rains fail completely while flooding is frequent during rainier years. There is, as in other parts of Africa, a cyclical tendency with a frequency of about ten years between the driest periods (Sandstrom,I995,V:8). The Local rainfall variations are also, as already mentioned, considerable. During rain-rich years soil erosion will normally increase while it decreases during drier periods. It is important to consider these variations when assessing the speed, and severity of the land-degradation processes.

Temperature

The mean temperature varies by about 5°C between the hottest and coldest months. July is the coldest while November and December are the warmest. The diurnal temperature variation during the rainy season is about 10°C and up to lS°C during the dry season. The temperamre decreases 0.5"C per 100 metre increase of the elevation (Schultz, 1971:37). Actual temperatures in Giting have not been registered.

Geomorphology and soils

The geomorphology of the area is typical of the Rift Valley region. Several large fault lines cross the area from SW to NE. Between these fault lines plateaux of varying elevations have been formed. Volcano craters and volcanic ash cones are common features in the area. From the major volcanoes of the area, Ngorongoro, Oldeani, Manang and Ufiome volcanic material has been distributed in the surrounding areas and has given fertile neo-volcanic soils. The hlgher lying plateaux in the centre of the former Mulu district have less fertile soils of granitic origin. The lower lying areas are domjnated by alluvial soils. West of the Hanang mountain an area with lime rich tuff and, consequently, very feflile soils are utilised for large scale wheat production.

Giting village and its surroundings are dominated by the Hanang Mountain (3,667 m) an extinct volcano. The village is located on the Hanang - Mangati high plateau and has neo-volcanic soils. The basement is, however, of granitic origin with several inselbergs exposed by the erosion of the lava and pyrdasuc sediment. This has resulted in a patchy and complicated distrib~ltici;of soils of varying origin. Inselbergs and volcanic ash cones have formed small hills in the village. The valleys between these hills contain internal catchments without discharge.

The hills are very eroded, almost totally lacking natural vegetation. The pediments of these hisare often cultivated. The Manang mountain slope with its relatively thick soil cover is partly cultivated and grazed. Sheet wash and riu erosion are common in the cultivated parts wMe teracette chapter 1

erosion occurs on the grazed areas of the slope. The slope which is several kilometres long encourages surface nm off that further down concentrates into streams. During rains these streams wash seeds, topsoil and sometimes even plants away from the fields. More than hundred fields are every year affected by these intermittent streams. When they reach the valley bottoms they often induce gully erosion (Map 4.) The methods used to identify the erosion in the village are presented in cbap- ter 2.

Drainage

The area around Giting village is mainly drained by the Bagara river, a tributary of the Bubu river which in turn drains into the Bahi swamp of the Dodoma region. There are also, as already mentioned, several internal catchments without any discharge, These catchments form wetlands, termed Mbuaa. The Giting area also re- ceives water from the small rivers that flow down from the mountain (Schultz, 1971:44). An increasingly occurring land degradation process is stream bank erosion. When stream banks collapse due to undercutting by water flow the nearby fields are threatened. This kind of erosion is aggravated by the lack of natural vegetation on river beds due to cultivation and grazing. Some farmers in Giting have been given land in other parts of the village as compensation for stream bank erosion.

Natural vegetation

The natural vegetation in the village consist of various kinds of grass. Close to the mountain in the north-west of the village the grass Pennisetum Stramineum dominates whereas the south-west is so affected by cultivation that natural vegetation is difficult to identify, The rest of the village is dominated by the grass species Diphchne Fusca. Cloris Guyana, Odyssea Jaegeri and Spomblus ssp. indicating soil salinity. The most common grass species on the is Pennisetum Mezianum (Schultz, 1971: map in pocket). Trees have never formed any essential part of the natural vegetation, according to Schultz, which is surprising as the rainfall and the fertile soils should be able to maintain forest vegetation.

Length of the vegetation period ,

In the northern and central parts of the former Mbulu district and on the Hanang and Ufiome mountains the vegetation period is 12 months a year. It decreases, however, rapidly with increased distance to the higher lying areas of the mountains and the central hgh plateau. The semi arid area south and west of Hanang mountain has a vegetation period of six to seven months per annum. Only the driest area, the Yaida the villaae that vanished

Soil erosion in Giting village 1990/91

I Map 4

The erosion shown on this map was identified by analysing aerial photos from December 1990. This was a rainy agricultural season and overland flow may have been more forceful than in seasons with less rain but according to interviews the small seams created by overland flow occur every rainy season. even if the overland flow varies. Only features clearly seen on the photos are included. Minor erosion forms, especially the spatial distribution of rill erosion, are underestimated in the map. See also comments in chapter 2. chapter l valley in the west, has a period of plant growth shorter than five months (Schultz, 1971:40).

Evapotranspiration, the evaporation from soil and the transpiration from plants, also affects the cropping conditions and the length of the vegetation period. It varies with the temperature which in turn is influenced by the elevation. An estimate of the potential evapotranspiration shows that parts of Giting village have a positive water balance (Schultz, 197 1:38).

The vegetation period in Giting village ranges from eight to twelve months. The lower lying areas of the village have a totally different climate than those closer to the mountain so preconditions for cultivation vary considerably. The lower lying areas of the village can produce only one crop annually whereas where the period of plant growth exceeds I0 months two crops can be harvested. Perennial species can be cultivated if the annual vegetation period exceeds eleven months (Schultz, 1971:42).

Soil erosion is also affected by the length of the vegetation period and its variations due to rainfall. During periods of drought the protective vegetation cover diminishes, especially in areas with intensive grazing and cultivation. When the first rains come the soil is bare and the dry soil surface less permeable. Surface run off increases causing erosion. The length of the vegetation period also restricts the possibility of cultivating perennial crops such as trees that would reduce soil erosion. Even the most enthusiastic tree grower is discouraged by the added tasks of watering and protecting the new seedlings from predators.

Summary of the physical features

The village lies between 1,600 and 2,100 m. above sea level giving a climate that is relatively cool. There is for example no malaria in the village. The cool climate makes the average rainfall higher than the average evapotranspiration over the year in parts of the village. The soils are of neo-volcanic origin and contain volcanic ashes making the land mineral-rich and fertile. In the wetlands very stiff clay soils, Bhck Conon Soils or Vertisols have been developed. Most soils in the village are relatively resistant to erosion, but where water flows have been created during heavy rains gullies have been induced in the vertisols (Dr. Robert Payton, personal communication). Another important factor affecting cultivation and erosion is the soil depth. The long slope of the Hanang mountain and the valley bottoms have a hcksoil layer whereas the small hills have a thin soil layer. Most soils on these hills have, furthermore, been washed away due to intensive grazing and a lack of protective vegetation. the village that vanished

The main visible erosion in the village are overland flow, riIls and gullying. More than hundred fields suffer from overland flow every year. hlls occur on sloping cultivated land. Gullying is not widespread but in some of the lower lying areas with erosion prone soils gullies of several hundred metres have been created. The heavily grazed areas have bare, rocky and vegetation free ground.

Compared to other villages in the region Giting is well endowed with physical resources. Rainfall is relatively high and the vegetation period is fairly long. The soils are of neo-voIcanic origin and hence more fertile and less erodible than in most other rain rich parts of the area. The village is, furthermore, tsetse free and has no malaria. The Hanang mountain constantly provides parts of the village with pre- cious water which in fortunate locations allows for two crops each year. Perennial crops can be cultivated in parts of the village.

The peoples and history of the area

This section presents the history of the various ethnic groups in the former Mbulu district, giving a brief background to how Giting village came to be inhabited and a picture of the migrations and conflicts between various actors in the area incluhng major interventions from the colonial governments. It is essential to understand the historical processes that have influenced land use and the social, cultural and agncultural traditions brought to the area by the different ethnic groups in order to explain land degradation. Primary sources have been Schultz (1971), and Thornton (1980) as mentioned earlier. As history is not a main theme in this study it will be kept very brief.

The former Mbulu District is highly multi-ethnic. All four major African language families are represented. TabIe l shows the ethnic groups in the area from the 1957 census that was the last that registered ethnic affiliation. At that time these ethnic groups made up 91% of tbe total population in Mbulu distnct.

The Datoga, a Nilotic pastoral ethnic group, of which the most important subgroup today is the Barabaig, originated from the proto-Southern Nilotes related to the Kalenjin in Kenya (Nand). They have lived in the area since 1000 AD (Ehret, 197056 ff). According to oral history they settled close to the Ma'ang'watay area, probably in the present Kondoa District, where the Cushitic, ago-pastoral Iraqw people already lived. Due to unrest in the Ma'ang'watay area the Iraqw were forced to move northwards into what became the MbuIu district sometime in the mid or late 18th century. The Zraqw were split into two groups, one that came to settle in the Kainam area between the Nou and Marang forests and one that settled between . Babati, Bonga and the Bubu river. This is considered to have occurred sometime chapter 1

l Major ethnic groups in Mbulu District, 1957 l Linguistic family Ethnic group l Bantu MW I

Cushits , raqw, Gorowa ! 1 Nilots Datoga, (Barabaigj i Khoisan (Click-speakers) bdza I I I I source: Schultz. 1971, p 145 Table 1 between 1770 and 1800. The northern group came to be called Iraqw while the southern group is called Gorowa. These two groups are, consequenrly, closely related to each other and understand each others' languages (Schultz, 1971:90-93). When the Gorowa group came to the Babati area a group of Bantu agriculturalists lived there. Due to the Gorowa migration some moved to the dry area east of Lake Manyara that today is called Mbugwe, while others moved southwards and formed the Rangi community in present Kondoa District. This happened some 200 hundred years ago. The most expansive group at the time was the Datoga that dominated large parts of former Mbulu District (Schultz, 1971:90-93, Ehret, 197056 ff). The Khoisan Hadza have probably lived in the very dry Yaida valley for thousands of years. They live in hunter and gatherer communities of about 50 individuals and their ethnic history is not known (Schultz, 1971:90-93, Ingold et a1 1991:31ff).

In the early 19th century the Nilotic pastoral Maasai started to migrate southwards from Kenya (Kjaerby, 1979: 10). The Datoga were forced to settle closer to each other in marginal areas in order to be able to defend themselves against the Maasai. The Datoga expansion ended. The Iraqw, due to the Maasai pressure became totally enclosed in the Kainam area. Increased demands on the land resources, due to isolation and an increased population, forced them to develop an intensive agriculture in the area (Schultz, 1971:179 ff). The Mbugwe people were forced, as were the Datoga, to move closer to each other and to more remote areas (Schultz, 1971:93- 94)

The Great Rinderpest started about 1880 and was followed by a smallpox epidemic in 1892 (Koponen, 1988:159 m. This weakened the Maasai who were forced to move back north. Bagshawe (1926:62) reported that the Iraqw were suffering from smallpox and famine well before the amval of the Germans. The Maasai are said to have lost 90% of their cattle (Kjaerby, 1979: 10). This was followed by the German colonisation that effectively "pacified" the Maasai and other ethnic groups in the area. The Germans gained full control over the former Mbulu District in 1906 (Talle, 1974:lO). The Iraqw had already in 1904 started to move out from Mama Isara to what became Mbulu town, Tlawi and Daudi all located on the Mbulu hgh plateaux the village that vanished

(Kjaerby, 1983:23). These new circumstances, with dominance of the Maasai and the Barabaig on the plains decreasing, made it possible for the Iraqw to leave their enclosed area.

The British continued the colonisation after the German withdrawal from the area in 1922. They established Native Authorities there in 1925 and created the Bara- baig, Iraqw-, Mbugwe- and Gorowa chiefdoms in Mbulu district (map 2). This administrative division formed part of their strategy of "indirect rule". The Giting area came to be situated in the Barabaig chiefdom (Kjaerby, 1979:14). lraqw expansion, l 8th century - 1962

Settlement area in

Present District

Map 5 The admin~strationof the Giting area was moved from the Barabaig Chieidom to rhe iraqw Chiefdom by rhe British in 1933 after pressure from the Iraqw. The move was motivated by rhe many Iraqw settlers (90%) in the village. The change meant that local power was moved from the Barabaig to the Iraqw elders. hotests from - the Barabaig forced, however, the administration to reallocate the area to the Barabaig L Chiefdom two years iater (Talle, 1974:12).

From the beginning of this century up to the present day the Iraqw have become the dominant ethnic group in the whole former Mbulu district (Cf. Map 5) and have increasingly marginalised the Barabaig (Schultz, 197 1 : 108- 109; Lane, 1990; Talle, 1974; Kjaerby, 1979). The Iraqw changed their mode of production and began to cultivate and graze more extensively than in Mama Isara. According to Schultz (1 97 1 :94- 100) tlus explained their widespread expansion. Wada ( 1969:1 17) on the other hand credits the Iraqw inheritance system for their expansion. Only heyoungest son inherits the paternal farm, so called ultimogeniture, which meant that all the other sons had to find other areas for settlement.

This is closely connected to another process that seems to be general in North Central Tanzania, namely the heartlandlexpansion area interaction. The hstory of the Iraqw shows that high population pressure, initiated by external threats, helped to develop sustainable agriculture in Mama Isara. When tbe Iraqw were given the opportunity to expand their territory to the surrounding areas they quickly adopted an extensive agropastoral way of production with less emphasis on land management (Heartly, 1938:66). The local social and cultural system that regulates agriculture and grazing in Mama Esara was abandoned when land resources allowed an extension of cultivation and grazing. The new way of production in the expansion areas also probably reduced the amount of necessary labour to provide subsistence for the families. Social cohesion counteracted economic stratification in Mama Isara. In the expansion areas such as Giting these customs were abandoned.

As suggested in figure 6 (p. 18) the expansion process can be seen as divided into historical phases. Giting being settled by the Iraqw in the second wave of expansion. I suggest that intensity of cultivation and grazing decrease with increased distance to the heartland. The latest expansion area taken into production also has the lowest intensity. The southern part of Hanang dismct, the present expansion area, is dominated by pastoralism as was the case with Giting up to the 1950's. This also reflects the varying natural environments in the area. Expansion goes from areas with high rainfall towards increasingly drier areas. The parts of the District with rainfall ranging from 600 - > 1.000 mm annually is sealed fust while areas with typical semi-arid environments are utilised later.

The Lraqw have successfully competed with the other ethnic groups in the area and increasingly taken over their lands. lksis especially true for the pastoral Barabaig the village that vanished

Fig 1 chapter 1

(Talle,1974:2) who have failed to compete successfully with the Iraqw. Therefore the Iraqw have been considered by many (Hartley, 1938; Schultz, l97 1; Kjaerby, 1987) as having a more diversified strategy, having more options open and more innovative (during colonial times it would have been more "intelligent") than others in the area. In combining agriculture and pastoralism the Iraqw can utilise both the sub- humid and the semi-arid environments and be more competitive than pure agriculturalists or pastoralists. Their strategy of creating satellite dwellings in pastoralist areas, spearheading a later sedentary process where land is being permanently alienated from the original holders has been very successful (Schultz, 1971, maps 10- 16). This strategy is also used by other agropastoral communities in Tanzania (Ostbet-g, 1986:30-31). Agro-pastoralism therefore seems to be more competitive than other ways of production in the semi-arid areas of central Tanzania.

Perhaps as a result of the epidemics in the late 19th century, trypanosorniasis (sleeping sickness) started to spread in the area. When large tracts of previously grazed or cultivated land became uninhabited, the bush and tree species that were breeding grounds for the tsetse fly, regenerated. In 1924 earlier tsetse-free areas were affected (Kjaerby, 1979:15 ff). The spread of tsetse was quick and threatened to empty large areas of their human populations. In the vast tsetse-ridden miombo forests where mostly the Barabaig had been forced to move due to the hqw expansion the tsetse infliction became so strong that cattle and humans had to concentrate in small tsetse free areas. The concentration of cattle led to increased over-grazing and land degradation in some parts of the district (Mbulu District Development Plan 1948). The spatial spread of the tsetse reached its peak during the 1930s when the government started to combat it seriously (Schultz, 1971:lOO-106. map 14, p.101).

The eradication of tsetse started in the late 1920's with minor bush and forest clearings of the species that accommodate the tsetse flies. The major tsetse clearings in the area started after the impleme$ation of the "Mbulu Development Plan" in 1948. The plan had three aims, to open up new areas for habitation, decrease the number of cattle in the Mbulu highlands and improve land use in the agricultural areas through soil conservation measures (Kjaerby. 1979:19). Three large areas were cleared of tsetse and opened up for expansion during the 1950's, one north, one southwest, and one south of the Mbulu highlands (Ibid:20 ff.). The Iraqw were encouraged by the authorities to move out from their "over populated" area. Affor- estation campaigns were introduced in the Mbulu highlands as well as mechanical soil conservation measures.

An effort by the colonial government to create an indigenous middle class of farmers to counteract the increasing demands for independence also helped this process (Shivji, 197652). Some successful Iraqw farmers grabbed large cultivation areas and were given credit in the expansion areas. The newly opened areas were rapidly taken over by the Iraqw who carried out their second expansion since the colonial the village that vanished

Po~ulationincrease in divisions, Mbulu District, 1948 to 1967

Pop. growth (5%) Growth ratelyear (%)

1 Division 48-57 57-67 48-67 1 48-57 57-67 48-67 1

Iraqw* +26.2 N.Iraqw* ? C.IT~~W* ? S.Iraqw* ? Mbugwe -0.9 Gorowa +19.6 Barabaig +32.7 Mbulu Dist.+24.4

" In 4948 Norlh, Central and South lraqw were the same dlvislon, Iraqw, Table 2 Source: after Schultz, 1971 p. 136.

pacification (Cf. map 5 and fig. 1). The Barabaig became increasingly marginallsed in the process (Schultz, 1971: 106-120; Talle, 1974:28 ff; Kjaerby, 1979:138 ff; Shivji &E Tenga, 1985).

After the independence in 1961, the new government wanted to "civilise" the Mbugwe, Barabaig and Hadza peoples. The Mbugwe ware forced to move to another area. Great pressure was put on the Barabaig and the Hadza to settle perrna- nently and become cultivators. Large areas around Basuto, formerly used by the Barabaig as dry season gruing, were converted into large-scale wheat farms un- connected to the local production systems (Schultz, 1971:llO-113;Talle 1974:33; Kjaerby 1979:33 ff).

Mbulu District consisted of six divisions up to 1969 when it was divided. The population increase in these divisions indicates the effects of the Iraqw migrations in the area.Table 2 shows that Central Iraqw, where the Iraqw core area is located, had a relatively small population increase between 1948 and 1967 while the Barabaig division, the present Hanang District, has had a high growth rate as has the North- em "aqw Division. These two former divisions contain the three expansion areas that ;vc::ce cleared of tsetse after the implementation of the Mbulu Development Plan in 1948. chapter 1

The history and agricultural practices of the Iraqw

The present inhabitants of Giting are descendants of the early Iraqw migrants who moved there in the first wave of expansion at the beginning of this century. The Giting Iraqw have, consequently, well-established contacts with their core area, Mama Isara. The more precise origin of the Iraqw people is not known, but linguis- tically they are related to the peoples living on the Horn of Africa.

The purpose of this this summary of Iraqw history is to give a background to the traditions that may affect land use today. Thornton (1980) made a detailed study of the traditional culture of the Iraqw who now inhabit Giting village. The historical account of the Iraqw below is based primarily on his work. Rekdahl (1991) also studied the Iraqw in the western part of the district. Despite his critjcal view of Thorntons work they are largely in agreement as to the historical developments. Furthermore several studies have been conducted by Japanese anthropologists from Kyoto University (Fukui, 1969, 1970a, 1970b; Huzioka, 1968, 1973; Ishige, 1969; Tanaka, 1969; Tornikawa, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1978, 1979; Tomita.1966; Umesao, 1966, 1969; Wada, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1984; Wazaki, 1966, 1970; Yoneyarna, 1970). Of these studies, the work of Wada, who has done some work in Giting, is the most profound.

Due to conflicts with their neighbours the Iraqw were forced to move from the Ma'ang'watay area which according to legend was rich in resources. The group that originally spoke Iraqw was small and only three clans today trace their origins back to the Ma'ang'watay area.

The Iraqw people in Mama Isara, as their new home area later was named, came to consist of people of varying ethnic origins, who like the Iraqw moved to Mama Isara due to unrest in the surrounding area. The culture has, therefore, been provided with ideas and traditions from several areas in Tanzania while the language has remained Lraqw. Other groups deserving mention whose agricultural and soil conservation skills have contributed to the creation of the specific social and cultural conditions in Mama Isara are the Ihanzu, with their core area on Ukerewe Island in Lake Nyanza, the Datoga (Barabaig) from around the Hanang Mountain, the Maasai that came from the north plus a smaller number of migrants from ethnic groups as the Alagwa, Burunge, Rangi, Gorowa and Gogo (Thornton 1980:203 ff).

The first group of people to move to the area were, according to legend, led by Haymu Tipe. He was a ritual expert (qwmlarnno)in Ma'ang'watay. It is recounted among the Iraqw that the young men in Ma'ang'watay wanted to fight their neighbours, the Datoga, but that their plans were stopped by the elders. The conflict the village that vanished

between the young men and the elders resulted in Haymu Tipe's son being kid- napped by the youngsters. With the son as hostage they demanded to be allowed to fight the Datoga. Haymu Tipe betrayed the youngsters by leading the Datoga warri- ors to their hideout and many were lulled. This betrayal forced Haymu Tipe to leave Ma'ang'watay.

After a long journey Haymu Tipe and his followers came to the forests in what later came to be called Mama Isara. New problems awaited the newcomers. The area was, according to the legend, guarded by a big Tiitu tree (Ficus spp.) and covered with water. Thanks to Haymu's ritual powers he managed to drain the area and kill the guarding tree and he and his followers could start cultivating. This legend gives, according to Thornton (1980:205-211) three important features of the traditional Iraqw culture; the contradiction between the generations, the importance of the external evil and the key role given to the ritual experts.

The young generation in the Iraqw culture have pioneered spatial expansion. They have often been expelled from, or voluntarily left, the established settlements and created new dwellings in the vicinity. Several institutions that regulate the expul- sion of individuals have been created. The most important being the afore mentioned inheritance system - ultimogenirure. People can also be expelled for such reasons as being recalcitrant to the elders, drawing blood on fellow tribesman, getting a woman pregnant before marriage, etc. Whole households could also be expelled from the neighbourhood if they repeatedly broke the rules of the society. It was usually young people who were excluded from their community. This institu- tion is considered a way of regulating population pressure (Thornton, 1980:239 ff; W~nther1968:26, 1962501, 504). When the resources became too scanty in the local community, part of the population simply had to find new areas for settlement.

The Iraqw place all evil outside their own group. External forces are seen as stronger than the Iraqw's own and the experiences of the Zraqw throughout history; the conflicts with the Datoga and the Maasai, the German and the British colonialists' involvement in their internal affairs, etc., are considered to have increased the social cohesion in Mama Isara. Against the external forces, the kaqw mobilise ritual experts (Thornton. 1980:203 ff).

One of the most important rituals in the Iraqw society is the so called masay ritual. It protects the community against external evil forces and establishes the spatial boundaries. The ritual is performed by the qwaslanno who at the moment is considered to have the strongest power. The ritual takes two days where the first day ritually protects the largest spatial entity, the aya (the village), and the second day protects the individual households in the aya. The may'ritual has been conducted in fairly the same way throughout the centuries and there are examples of similar rituals among other peoples of the region. The Iraqw in Giting have earlier con- chapter I

ducted the may ritual but its importance has diminished in recent decades. The qwashrmo comes often from other ethnic groups, because external forces are considered to be stronger than the internal ones. The masay ritual is also important for the spatial expansion. When the ritual is performed for the first time in an area, which, if it is uninhabited is called slaa (the wilderness), it is considered to become a part of the Iraqw world. If the crops fail or if the societies are threatened from outside the qwaslarmo that performed the latest masay ritual is considered too weak and a new ritual Leader is appointed. (Thornton, 1980185-128).

These cultural characteristics make the Iraqw spatially expansive and strengthen social cohesion in new settlement areas. The Iraqw have, and bring with them, a pattern of organisation and settlement system (neighbourhoods) that has made them successful participants in the regional history. This was also the case of Giting village (Wada, 1969:122). They have had no obvious need to change their mode of existence, and were therefore considered by the British colonial officers working in Iraqw areas as using passive resistance to externally imposed changes of their society (Bagshawe, 1926:64). Agriculture and cattle keeping are performed according to detailed regulations beneficial to all households. The result is that Mama Isara is a relatively egalitarian society (Thornton, 1980:s) and that land is managed in a sustainable way as will be further discussed in the coming section.

This is, however, only valid in the Iraqw core area. When the Iraqw migrate to other areas they adjust to the new conditions. In the expansion areas, as for example Giting, they use an extensive mode of production with larger cultivation areas and free grazing cattle. Already in 1938 a British agricultural officer, Heartley (1938:66) commented on the emigrant Iraqw that "he has become a miner instead of a farmer". Some farmers in Mama Isara also have access to grazing and cultivation areas outside the core area where they adopt an extensive and less soil managing strategy while maintaining the traditional way of production inside the core area (Schultz, 1971:179-185). the village that vanished

Traditional agriculture among the lraqw

The aim of this section is to give information about the traditional agriculture among the Iraqw and to show the intricate agricultural system of which all lraqw are fully aware, demonsuating that poor land management in Giting is not caused by igno- rance or lack of agricultural skills. It is based on the avaiIable sources concerning agriculture in the Mama Isara area. The main sources are Schultz, 1977, a few historical sources (Bagshawe, 1926; Heartley, 1938; Winther, 1968) and a shorter field visit conducted in 1993 where two group interviews with male elders were made.

Mama Isara is very dissected, located as it is in a mountainous area between the Marang and Nuo forests on the Mbulu high plateaux (Map 2). Cultivation is mainly carried out on the slopes and the valley bottoms. Rainfall is relatively high, 800 - 1,000 mm per year and evapotranspiration, due to the high elevation, low. The soils are of granitic origin and very leached. The area is relatively isolated because of its geographical location.

Agriculture

A household in Mama Isara ideally has land of four different types: the slope, the valley bottom, the household plot and the grazing area. These four different land types make it possible to grow all the crops needed for the subsistence of a family as well as providing milk and meat. NO survey of land distribution in the area has, however, been made. A subjective impression is that most households have access to all four different types of land. When labour-demanding tasks are to be performed in agriculture, a household invites it's neighbours to a "work party" where the participants are normally rewarded with beer. This is the traditional way of labour cooperation between households.

Agriculture in Mama Isara is very labour-intensive. Hand hoes are used for soiI preparation and soil conservation work. The soils need careful mulching and manuring to be productive. The peasants emphasise that if post-harvest grazing is allowed, or if manuring is not carried out properly, the yields will fall the following season. Manure is thus important in Mama Isara agriculture.

On the household plots, at the top of the hills, a variety of crops are grown. Finger milIet, cassava, bananas, sweet potatoes, fruit trees (avocado, orange, pears and guava) dominate, but Irish potatoes and sorghum are also sometimes cultivated here. Vegetables such as spinach and cabbage are also grown on the household plots. chapter 1

Wet Season Cropping

Mama 1sara.has two cultivation seasons. The slopes are planted in December, when the short rains start. Ridges are built to arrest moving water and divert it into the soil. The steeper the slope, the shorter the distance between the ridges. Crops are planted between the ridges in rows parallel to them. They serve as protection against sheet wash. At the time of soil preparation, crop residues are placed in the ridges and covered by soil. This technique counteracts the slow decomposition of the de- bris in this comparatively cold climate (Heartley, 1938:66). The crop residues are left in the fields after the harvest to prevent evaporation and to speed conversion to mulch. Crop residues are also used to enhance the ridges.

Crops are planted in rows in an inter-cropping system. Three varieties of beans and one variety of peas are inter-cropped with either maize or sorghum. The cropping sequence is: one row of maize or sorghum, one row of peas, one row of beans, one row of peas and one row of maize or sorghum. This means that three rows out of five contain nitrogen fixing crops. Sorghum and maize are not mixed in the same field. The cropping sequence is held constant, the only variation being that maize and sorghum are interchanged. According to reports from farmers in the area, the only change in the cropping system is that improved strains of maize are now used, and fewer seeds are planted in each pit. The use of improved strains has approxi- mately doubled the maize yields according to the elders.

On the upper edge of the fields, cut-off drains are constructed to prevent overland flow during heavy rains. These cut-off drains are connected to ditches draining excess water into the permanent water courses in the valley bottoms.

Depending on the length and the steepness of the slope one or several "cuts" are constructed on the upper side of the fields (fig 2 p. 27). These cuts are constructed while preparing the soil with hand hoe and will eventually form terrace edges. When a slope has been cultivated for many years it becomes levelled making the use of cut-off drains unnecessary. The age of the fields can be estimated by the height of these terrace edges. In 1938 twelve feet high terrace edges were observed in the area (Heartley, 1938:66).

Dry Season Cropping

In addition to the wet season cultivation, dry season cultivation is performed in Mama Isara as the permanent water courses provide enough water to cultivate the valley bottoms during the dry season (fig 2, p.27). The water courses are sometimes redirected to facilitate cropping close to them. The water courses originate in the forest catchments north and south of Mama Isara (map 2). the village that vanished

During the rainy season, the valley bottoms are flooded. In June when the rains have stopped. the fields in the valley bottoms are hoed and planted. Here maize is intercropped with beans and pumpkins. After three months, the pumpkins and the beans are ready for harvest. The maize remains in the field io mid January.

In the valley bottoms ditches are dug parallel to the runoff. They often serve as drainage during the wet season. In fortunate iocations, where the ditches have about the same elevation as the water courses, they also serve as water distribution channels 10 the fields. The valley bottoms are gradually levelled by the construction of terrace edges in the same way as the slopes to facilitate this kind of "jrrigation". The ditches also often demarcate the border between two fields or two farms. The drainage pattern looks approximarely as in figure 2.

Calebash irrigation is also common during the dry season. It is mainly used temporarily when the crops are suffering from lack of water. Rain harvesting techniques are also well developed in the area. All rain is caught by ditches or shallow canals and led into the fields via semi-circular basins that distribute the water into the fields.

Livestock raising

The balance between the number of cattle and the size of the cultivation area is taken into account by the peasants. Questions on this topic to a group of elders triggered off a detailed discussion resulting in the conclusion that 8 cows and 20 - 25 goats produced enough manure for two acres, provided that parts of the fields are left fallow every year. The fallow time is short, 1-3 seasons. The grass growing on the fallow is harvested and used as cattle fodder. Fallow has to be included in the agricultural system to keep the soil fertile and to provide fodder. The fallows are shorter today, people say, compared to the old days, due to increased areas under cultivation.

According to the elders, most households today keep about five cattle. They also point out that soils will, because of the fall in the number of cattle per household, be degraded in the long run. The main constraint on keeping cattle today is lack of grazing, more land being under cultivation now than before. Some people are trying to compensate the lack of manure by keeping pigs.

The fact that most households keep cattle does not neccessarily mean, however, that all households own their cattle. On the contrary, estimates made by Schultz (197 1: 18 l), suggested that only 5-20 % of the households actually owned cattle. The rest of the households "bokowed" them. chapter 1

A sirnplitied sketch of cultivation practices of Mama lsara farms. Wet season Figure' cropping on the slope and dry season cropping on the lower reaches.

Discussing "cattle" in the group interviews arranged to collect information on the local agricultural system, it seemed at first as if the elders were referring to human beings. The language they used when describing their cattle reflects the intimate relationship existing between cattle and people in the area. Asking why they do not use oxen for ploughing I was told that "Cows are not meantfor hard labour".

A small group of old men in Kajnam describing the way cattle were kept in Mama Isara when they were young, 50 years ago or more, said:

"Five o'clock in the morning the cattle were taken out from the house. The wife cleaned the floor and carried the manure to the wet pile. After cleaning the floor she also made a new bedding from the dry manure pile for the cows. The husband gave the cattle breayast that had been gathered the evening before.

After brenyast rhe wife brought the cattle inside again and milked the cows that had milk. The cows stayed inside while the family was working in the fields.

At ten o'clock the cows were taken by the children to feed in the grazing area near the house. At two o'clock the cows were brought close to the house to rest in the shade. The cows with milk were taken inside the house and milked a second time. All cows were then fed with collected grass once more. the village that vanished .

Around four o'clock the cows were sent to the grazing area again At six o'clock all cows were brought home and the cows with milk were then milked a third time. This rime they were nor fed and had to wait for break- fast. All cows were kept inside the house during the night. "

This system is no longer in use. The elders complained about the modem way with less stall feeding and more grazing. Less time can be devoted to the cattle as most households spend more time and effort on cultivation. In the quotation above the elders stated that "chldren" brought the cattle to the grazing area. Today, the children go to school and the cattle are therefore often taken care of by the women. The most laborious part of the traditional cattle keeping is when cattle are fed with collected grass at the homestead. Currently the cattle are not taken home in the middle of the day and are consequently milked only twice. Due to this, the amount of manure collected close to the house has decreased, disturbing the manure/cultivation area balance.

Communal Grazing Grazing is performed communal~y.The section containing about four ridge communities consisting of four to ten households each, forms the communal grazing unit. The households in the section share the responsibility of grazing cattle and maintaining the communal grazing grounds. Grass is not planted, but undesirable herbs, grasses and bush are removed to maintain the quality of the grazing (Winther, 1968:4-5). The grazing areas are normally located higher up on the slope than the cultivation area whlle water is available only in the valley bottoms. The cattle, thus, have to pass through the cropped area to be watered. The construction and the maintenance of the cattle throughways are also communal undertakings. The cattle paths going downhrll are often enclosed by wooden fences, a rare sight elsewhere in northern Tanzania.

All households have a small grazing area close to the house (fig 2). Cattle that need special care are kept there and the others when taken home from the communal grazing. The home grazing area is maintained by the household itself. Stall feeding has lost in importance, but is still common. Some households have planted El- ephant, Guatemala or Kikuyu grass on the edges of the terraces to get fodder for the cattle, but also to stabilise them. At night all cattle are kept in the house. The household members sleep on a "shelf' above the cattle, which protects them from the cold and prevents cattle theft. chapter I

Manure

As mentioned, manure is a key factor of the agricultural system in Mama Isara (Schultz, 1971: 180). In the above quotation about the traditional cattle keeping system the elders referred to two types of manure piles - the "wet and dry piles". As most crop residues are dug into the soil to boost the organic content, none are left to be used as bedding for the cows. Instead dried manure is used. The manure is sun- dried and stored in the "dry pile". After it has been used as bedding, it is moved to the "wet pile" where it is composted.

Using uncomposted manure as fehliser will decrease yields. The positive fertilis- ing effect will become apparent in the following season, when the manure has de- composed in the soil. According to the elders it is crucial for the composting process that the pile is kept wet, preferably by urine. If not, the manure will remain uncomposted.

Manuring is done twice a year. Before the rains in October the manure is spread on the upper reaches of the slopes. The rain transports the manure down-slope. Ac- corhng to the elders, this process is clearly visible. At the beginning of the cropping season, the crops on the upper fields are greener than those lower down. Later when the rains are over and the manure has spread down-slope, the crops at the bottom of the slope get greener.

In June, when the valley bottoms are prepared and planted, manure together with the maize seeds is spread in the planting pits. Manure is always taken from the bottom of the wet pile, where the composting process has been longer at work.

Summary of the lraqw agricultural history

An intricate, labour-intensive agricultural system has developed in Mama Isara. The limited land resources have forced the Iraqw to create a sustamable agncultural system incorporating many known soil conservation measures. To maintain this sustainability demands a certatn degree of cooperation between the peasants, producing a more egalitarian system than in areas where cooperation in agncultnre and cattle rearing is less necessary. The system has further benefited from confnbu- tions brought to the area by other ethnic groups. This wealth of knowledge of sustainable agricultural production is unique in the region. There are, however, other examples of sustarnable systems created in similar ways in other parts of Afiica (Reij, 1991:7-9).

chapter 2

Chapter 2

Methodology

s a methodological introduction an orientation in the theoretic tradition in which the study was undertaken, will be presented. As the primary object of the study was to provide a broad social-scientific explanation of why soil erosion occurs in a rural community, it is appropriate to place it within the discourse of the social sciences. The discussion and debate as to how rural communities develop and change naturally provide the background to this study of how natural resources are handled by the people of Giting, as the village is still in the throes of a dynamic period of change. The aim is not to provide a complete theoretical background to the last thirty years of discussions on rural development in the South but rather to orient the reader in the research perspectives. During the 19501s, 60's and 70's rural development research was dominated by three main approaches to the understanding of agrarian change; systems approaches, decision-making models and the smcturaVhistorical approaches (Harris, 1986:16-34).

Systems approaches

System theorists usualIy cite three factors that determine rural development. The physical environment (ecology), the level of technology and demography. An important contribution was made by Boserup in her Conditions of Agricultural Growth (1965) where demographic development was correlated to the level of technology in agriculture. She argued that increased population pressure lead to an agricultural intensification and therefore in the long run an improvement of sustainable agricultural production. the village that vanished

A well-known study from the school of system theory is Geertz' (1963) study of agriculture in Indonesia where he compares rural development in Java with that of the smaller islands in the periphery of Indonesia. He relates demographic development to the ecological and explains the differences between the two study areas. He even expands the perspective to include a historical analysis of colonialism and how it effects demography and agriculture. He coined the expression involution in the development of Javanese agriculture to cover tbe phenomenon where increased population pressure lead to an elaboration of the social and economic relationships between peasants in order to increase agricultural production, whereas in the outer islands traditional fanning methods broke down and greater changes occurred in the production system.

Another system theorjst, Kjekshus (1977) combined demographic and ecological aspects with historical perspectives in a study of Tanzania. Geographers have also been interested in the relationship between environment, technology and demography, a classic example being Farmer (1957) and his study of Sri Lanka. Prothero (1972) provides a compilation of system theoretical geograpkic studies where several of them take into acLount social and economic factors affecting the physical environment.

A study that relates system theory with decision-making models is Foster (1965) who argued that when the material conditions for peasants change the social and cultural conditions change as well, often resulting in behaviour that with Western eyes is seen as irrational.

Decision-making models

The decision-making models of the 1960's and 1970's consisted mainly of studies of peasant market responses and the economic advantages of agnculture. A series of these studies can be found in Wharton (1969) and for Afnca in general in Collinson (1972). But at the same time there were some anthropologists and sociologists who attempted to explain agricultural development by taking into account the way peasant's decisions &ected or were affected by macro-economic aspects (Barth, 1966; Long, 1977). The power of decision-making models lay more in explaining the decisions of individual peasants than describing the general processes at work in the development of agnculture.

StructuraMtistoricaI approaches

This approach builds more on Marxist and holistic principles. Among those who have Afnca as their study area, Bundy, 1979; Heyer et al., 1981; Kitching, 1980; Meillasoux, 1971; Mabogunje, 1980; can be mentioned as representatives for the Mmist/stucturalist approach. The studies of Hi11,1977; Hopkins,l973; and Wash- brook, 1976 were structuralist in discipline without being specifically Marxist. chapter 2

In this approach the peasant is regarded as an actor dialectically affecting and affected by the physical environment and the production system, where the peasants in combination with these two factors create and change the structure of society. The development of agriculture is seen as closely bound up with global capitalist development. The historical perspective is applied in order to identify general features in the development of agriculture from early non-capitalist forms to commercial agricultural production.

Ownership rights and the individual peasant's access to resources are considered to be important factors in understanding how agriculture develops. Another important area of study has been the identification of classes withn peasant society and the conflicts between them, as this is regarded by many Marxists as the driving force in social development (Bernstein, 1986). The stntcturalhstorical approach dominated rural development research in the 1970's.

Paradigm crisis

Rural development research carried out between 1950 and 1980 came to a crisis and as a response neo-liberal ideas began to be adopted both in the research field and in the national policies for rural development. One reason for the crisis was that social-science research could simply not keep abreast of the rapid developments in rural areas in the countries of the south (Chambers, 1993:2). Another, more important reason was that despite extensive research and related aid measures no improvements were apparent in the peasants' situation. On the contrary the gap between North and South and, in the South, between rich and poor widened. The change was rapid and decisive. Academic research seemed to be alienated from the complex realities of the peasant and furthermore unable to provide an- swers as to how rural development could be achieved.

The old research paradigm became untenable. " We never seemed to get there, or get there in time. We were always late, and out of date" (Chambers, 1993: 1). A further cause was instability in the academic world between the 1950's and 1970's "..academic luxuries could better be afforded. Many fashions had brief lives. In the social sciences, new development subjects ballooned- the diffusion of innova- tions, systems theory in political science, the development administration rnove- ment, the mode of production debate - with exponential explosions of erudite arti- cles, until those paper dinosaurs sank out of sight, dragged down by the weight of their footrtotes" (Ibid., p. 3). This self-critical wade from one of its own members indicates that the general and highly polemical debate at the time limited the possibility of expIaining the processes that lead to a development of rural areas. Paral- lel to this criticism a new paradigm began to take form, in reaction to the unstable, turbulent academic discussion that was essentially out of touch with reality. the village that vanished

The weaknesses of the old paradigm were characterised by Chambers (1993) in the following table:

The old and the new paradigm

Core or First Peripheral or Last

power weakness comfort discomfort wealth poverty core location peripheral location urban rural industrial agricultural things people clean, odourless dirty, smelly standardised diverse tidy untidy controlled uncontrolled certainty ' uncertainty source: Chambers, 1993:8 Table 3. In the column Core or First the criteria that characterised the old paradigm are gathered, not that this applied to al! research done but that these criteria, in Cham- bers opinion, dominated.

The new paradigm The new paradigm moved research towards the realities of the second column in table 3. In the reaction against the inability to deal with the problems of rural development, four interactive levels could be discerned. The normative, the conceptual, the empirical and the practical, the first three being of most interest for research.

At the normative level people-oriented research came to dominate over the study of material things. The poor and powerless should come before the less poor as Chambers (1993:10) said "It's right toput the lastfirst".

At the conceptual level the concept of development became diversified and was no longer entirely defined in the previous simplistic often enrocentric way. Develop- ment came to be regarded as a process of ongoing adaptation. Causality became more complex and circular rather than simple and linear as earlier research often assumed. (Ibid.)

At the empirical level the paradigm shift meant that the diversity and complexity of studies carried out increased. Instead of the more general studies that previously were done came smaller local studies, closer to the people and more in tune with chapter 2 the peasants' own views on development. The accelerating social, cultural and economic changes in agrarian societies in the South affecting populations required newer faster information-gathering techniques to keep abreast of events. (Cham- bers, 1993; McCracken et al., 1988). Another effect of the shift was that indigenous knowledge became revalued. The peasants themselves were seen to be best acquainted with their own environment and development (R~chards,1985; Chambers, 1993). Peasants in the South had often been regarded as unorganised and therefore without political power in their countries. Recent research has shown that peasants to greater extent than previously thought have organised themselves at local level (Johansson and Mlenge, 1993).

The new paradigm has had a great effect on recent research and many of the thoughts and ideas proposed by Chambers and others since the 1980's have gained accept- ance. Sometimes referred to as neo-populism as the utmost consequence of the new paradigm would be to reduce the role of the researcher to a peoples' consultant carrying out research assignments given by "the people" (Preston, 1993). This caused much lively debate in the academic world (Chnstiansson et al. 1993). A somewhat divergent stance was taken by Blaikje who regards the researcher as but a player among players in the research context (Ibjd).

Blaike has taken a position between the old and the new paradigm. In his earlier studies from Nepal he was regarded as a structuralist (Hmis, 1986:22, footnote 7; Blaikie et al. 1980). In his later research system theory, decision-making models and the historical-structuralist perspective were integrated (Blaikie, 1985, Blaikie & Brookfield, 1987). Aspects of the new paradigm have also been acknowledged by arguing for the use of pmcipatory research methods and demanding that research should be of relevance to the people involved (Christiansson et al., 1993). The present study as an integration of the old and the new

A lot of the research carried out between 1950 and the 1980's established theoreti- cally interesting models of how agrrcultural communities develop. Two models are of particular interest for this study:

1) The Marxist model of the transition between traditiond and capitalist agricultural production systems which is based on historical experiences from Europe. The Marxist model identifies some general traits that are discernible in this transition: a) A breakdown of the traditional ruIes and regulations that counteract inchvidual accumulation of wealth and cornrnodization of land and other common resources; b) competition between individual farmers ensuing from the breakdown of traditional rules initiating a social and economic differentiation between the peasants resulting in the creation of three main social groups, the big farmers, the middle the village that vanished peasants and the small peasants. The small peasants will eventually form a group of labourers working for the big farmers; c) economic and social subordination of the peasants under a capitalist state that initially exploit the peasants through primitive accumulation.

These three phases seem to be generally applicable in the transition of traditional agricultural systems to modem capitalist systems. This model will be further elaborated upon in chapter six.

2) Another important approach describing this transition is that of political ecology. Not discussed and debated as much as the Marxist model, it was originally developed in the 19703, partly in opposition to the Marxist view of rural development, and added important insights to the relationshjp between Man and environment. As it is comparatively unknown I will discuss the model at some length here. It was originally developed by Saetra (1973) and improved by Rees (1985) and Krokfors (1991).

When agricultural production changes from traditional towards capitalistic modes of production it is, in this model, seen as a transition from the "harvesting of flow resources" towards the "extraction of stock resources". Flow resources are defined as natural resources that are renewcd within a sufficientIy short time span to be of relevance to human beings. Land may be considered as a flow resource as long as it's physical capabilities are reproduced at the same pace as they are utilised. Stock resources are either abiotic or bjotic but once used, will not be renewed within in a foreseeable time-span (Saet~a,1973: 106- 1 1. Krokfors, 199 1:24).

If land degradation occurs stock resources are extracted while a sustainable use of the land may indicate that flow resources are harvested. If chemical fertilisers and insecticides are used in agriculture to sustain production levels stock resources are extracted. Land is, however, not only a physical resource, but also has societal capabilities. These in turn are determined by poIiticisation processes within a "population - environment totality". These capabilities are expressed in differing access qualifications to land. The higher the access qualifications are, the higher and more varying are the income opportunities of the land (Krokfors, 1991:24-25).

Households have varying entitlements (Sen, 198 1,1984) to land and other resources depending on their access qualifications. These entitlements have to be exercised according to certain rules of Iegtimacy accepted by the overall superstructure of society, but are often governed by political and economic powers at the local level. When shifts in entitlement occurs it often leads to the degradation of land and human resources (Krokfors, 199 1:24). Krokfors gives a graphic representation of the man-land inter-relationship (Ibid:25) that connects population and land resources at the Iocal level (fig 3). chapter 2

TOTAL POPULATION

I High I Ecaornb & polttical power, status 1 Low

/ Entitlements \

DECREASING LAND CAPABlLrrY II aAccess qualifications

Good Income opportunitlas Bad

High Sodetal capnbllitles Low $ High Physical capbllitlee Low

LAND RESOURCES From Krokfors, (1991:25) Fig. 3.

One of the most commonly cited general reason to land degradation is poverty (UNEP 1987). The political ecology model also supports this common view. In fig. 3 bad income opportunities, low societal capabilities, and low physical capabilities of the land all contribute to a decreasing land capability (i.e. land degradation) which in tum is closely connected to increased poverty. The model implies that land degrada- the village that vanished

tion is a process that is initiated and sustained by marginalised, poor people. An- other statement in Krokfor's paper (1991:24) is:

"Land with poor physical capabilities (marginal areas, waste land, slopes, peri-urban land and the like) has low access qualifications. At the same time, this land is in high demand quantitatively, has low return, and is therefore easily over-used and degraded. Such difJeerential access to land is characteristic of most ofAfnca. " (My italics).

The general view, held by for example the UN and the Brundtiand Commission, (UNEP, 1987) that poverty is the main cause of environmental problems in general is probably true when studying the issue in a global, trans-national perspective. The reasoning of adherents of the political ecology approach, however, is that the poverty explanation is valid even at local levels: that poor people in Africa are more detrimental to the land than the rich (cf. fig. 3).

There are several arguments against this view in Africa. Ahca is a sparsely populated continent and in many countries substantial part of cultivable land is not utilised for agriculture. Tanzania is a case in point where only a minor part of the arable land is utilised (SW, 1980:3). The reasoning concerning access qualification to land may therefore be less valid in the African context than for example in Asia or Latin America.

Another important aspect is whether poor people have sufficient access qualification to move to marginal areas even if the access qudification there is low. There has been much discussion about so called "open access areas" to which poor people move when squeezed out horn areas with better agricultural conditions. Here access qualification is close to zero. They are often common lands considered to suffer from "the tragedy of the commons" (cf. Hardin, 1972). Are there in fact any areas in the sparsely populated Africa that can be freely settled and cultivated without cost? Tlus has not been studied thoroughly, but is often taken for granted. In Tanzania areas into which rich farmers expand cultivation and grazing though called "open access" areas require both resources and permission from local officials before cultivation can commence (cf. Mung'ong'o, in print). The issue of open access systems will be discussed further in chapter six where the assumptions mentioned above will be compared with the findings of this study.

My own position can be described as a middle way between the new paradigm and the old, somewhat alongside that of Blaikie. I would hesitate to sacrifice the achieve- ments made on the altar of neo-populism. Had I taken the role of "peoples consultant'' the environmental consequences of agriculture in Giting would hardly have remained the focus of my study, because for the villagers of Giting this is not the chapter 2 primary problem. I was however determined to allow their views, knowledge and experience play a major role in my study, and this participatory research methodology meant that it was often difficult to retain the original problem formulation. This will be elaborated upon in the following chapters.

Having chosen a relatively unproven methodology for my study proved to have consequences for the scientific verification and collection of data. This I will discuss at length in the next section, the village that vanished

Land degradation research - the way forward?

The methodology used to study the complex set of inter-related factors accounted for in the innoduction will be discussed in this section. One frequently occurring setback in the study of how socio-economic variables affect land degradation is the somewhat imprecise definition of the land degradation concept itself and the difficulty of distinguishing the purely human impact fiom the natural processes causing soil erosion. The present debate concerning the definition of land degradation is extensive and it would be beyond the scope of the study to go into great detail of the vast literature discussing the concept. A summary and discussion of the debate can be found in Dahlberg (1994).

BIaikie (1994:67 ff.) illustrates the essence of the debate using two examples of the way the scientific approach and the definition of the concept have changed in recent years. The first example is pastoralism in Southern Africa. The accepted view was that increasing human populations had given rise to larger cattle herds resulting in overgrazing and land degradation. Carrying capacity was considered easy to estimate (FAO, 1988) and gave outside experts the possibility to determine what constituted over-stocking. Today it is realised that carrying capacity varies considerably with seasons, over long tir-~eperiods and with various grazing strategies (Dahlberg, 1994, ch. 1). Estimating carrying capacity became very complex malung the definition of land degradation in pastoral societies difficult. To quote Blaikie (1994:67): "For example, the debate of population growth in humans and livestock with the resulting "over-stoclung" of rangelands in Southern Africa has been overtaken by a volte face. It is now realised that the determination of a rangeland's carrying capacity must take into account the management objectives of the user and not those presumed by the expert".

The second example, nowadays a classic, was the assumption that land degradation in the Himalayas due to the combined effects of increased population, shiftlng cultivation, deforestation, cultivation on steep slopes and diminishing grazing areas wouId inevitably lead to an eco-catastrophe (Eckholm, 1976~76ff.). This view was generally accepted until Thompson and Warburton (1985a, 1985b), when after studies in the area, challenged thls somewhat simplistic assumption with its attendant uncertainties. They demonstrated that, due to the ongoing up-lift of the Himalayas, the natural causes of erosion were of greater importance than previously thought. The view that land degradation in Nepal was due to increased populations and poor land management was, if not totally rejected, then at least intrinsically challenged (Blaikie & Brookfield, 1987:37 - 48). The lessons of these examples is that land degradation occurs in a context far more complex than researchers and others have previously thought. chapter 2

Much land degradation research has been, and still frequently is, conducted under the blanket concept positivism, giving simplistic explanations of complex social and economic processes. One of the basic characteristics of this research is that models or theories, often constructed by outside experts far away from the study areas, are tested against reality. To satisfy academic demands "hard data" are used to verify research findings.

Quantitative measurements of factors in land degradation studies are often distorted, not being neutral and should rather be recognised as statements in a political and economic milieu (Stocking, 1987:49 - 63), "results are but artefacts of how you measure" as Stocking once stated (Chnstiansson et al, I993:6). Many important factors are of a qualitative nature and difficult to convert to hard data. Such scientific approaches have seemingly reached the limits of their capabilities of explaining as well as measuring the causes of land degradation (Thompson et al, 1987).

Blaikie (1994:70) therefore, argues for the more pragmatic "scientific realism" together with Mearns (1991), Chambers (1993) and others who with their own reasoning, recommend alternatives to prevailing conventions. To come closer to real life conditions research should also consider the perceptions of resource users as to the causes of land degradation. By giving local resource users a chance to participate in research a more pluralistic approach will spontaneously be adopted.

Allowing real world conditions to influence research as suggested by the "scientific reaiism" approach, will surely give rise to new difficulties. The number of variables to consider would probably increase adding further complexity to the studies. A more pluralistic approach will also necessitate new avenues for verification. Modi- fications would be necessary and one possible path would be to verify findings through contextualisation. One method has been suggested by Vayda, progressive contextualisation, another is the chain of explanation propounded by Blaikie. See figure 5. (Vayda, 1983:277-78; Chstiansson et al, 1993:19; Blaikie, 1994:79). ho- gressive contextualisation is ... "Simply put, .... involve focusing on significant human activities or people-oriented interactions by placing them within progressively wider and denser contexts" (Vayda, 1983:267)

A graphic representation of the study as it came to be conducted methodologically is given in figure 4 (next page). The main phases are briefly stated in the black boxes and the methods applied are mentioned in the text to the right. The figure illustrates how tlus open-ended methodology with a people-oriented focus took shape.

This study is an attempt to develop and apply a "scientific realism" approach. It is a challenge as there are few examples to fbllow. The methodology used in this study, should therefore be seen as a test of this approach. the village that vanished

The structure of the study Aims Techniques used Secondarydata reviews, courses in various methods, training in RRA techniques, language courses, discussions with experienced researchers, analysis of maps and aerial photos, a visit to the field area

Group interviews, transect walk, pilot wealth ranking, interviews with officials at all levels of the local bureaucracy

A full scale weath ranking of all households in the village and selection of a 20% random sample of Giting households made for interviews

Semistructured, openended interviews made with the selected population of land managers in Giting

Group interviews with male lraqw elders in the heartland Mama lsara

Interviews with strategically chosen informantsandtriangulation of findings

Workshops and discussions with key informats in the area

Integration and analysis of the findings in various field reports and working papers and information from secondary sources.

I Fig 4 chapter 2

Operationalixing "scientific realism"

he treatment of complexities and uncertainties in this study owe much to the writings and thought of Piers Blaikie who has given the inspiration to test the "scientific realism" approach. Complexity arising from diverse pieces of information gathered from various sources, levels of explanation and time scales have been handled through contextualisation. This has been done with the help of "the chain of explanation in land degradation" as perceived by Blaikie (Christiansson et al, 1993, p 27-31, Blailue 8r Brookfield, 1987:27, Blailue 1994:77- 79). This can be regarded as a checklist of the factors at work affecting land use at the local level. The chain (Fig 5) is essentially ... " but a path of explamtions, and causal links can go either way between the boxes. " (Blaikie, 1993, p.13.) Breaks in the chain may likewise occur when interlinhng the various conceptual modes in the boxes. A comprehensive understanding of the causes of land degradation demands a multi-disciplinary approach that includes all levels affecting land use in a society and will therefore require effective interdisciplinary co-operation between a team of researchers (Blaikre 1993:27; Christiansson et al. 1993:lO-11).

Blailue's chain of explanation has been used in identifying relevant factors and levels of explanation for the purpose of analysing land degradation in Giting. Not all boxes in the chain are equally relevant in ths study, some therefore will play a smaller part than others and besides "...a researcher trained in a single discipline will only be competent to analyse the issues associated with one or two boxes" (Blaikie, 1993:27). In this study mainly socjo-economic factors at the local resource user level have been studied empirically. The important factors identified in the course of the study are: socio-economic stratification, land tenure, land use, the general social and economic insecurity, production strategies and investment patterns. This means that most of the empirical work ends up in Box D. The other boxes have been used when needed, mostly for contextualising information derived from secondary sources.

The methodology of this study was open-ended allowing the perceptions of local resource users to influence it, in accordance with the "scientific realism" approach. Participatory pilot studies were made initially, providing a pluralistic framework and understanding of the poor land management in the village. These comprised shorter group interviews with village women and youths, rich and poor villagers and village government members as well as a pilot wealth ranking. The judge, district and Party officials were also interviewed at the district headquarters. This preliminary work helped to develop the methodology of the study. the village that vanished

F~gure5 "THE CHAIN OF EXPLANATION" the causes of eoll eroelon after P~ersBla~kte (Chnsbansson et al. 1993:28) chapter 2

The first field work was introduced by what is termed a transect walk through the village, which later proved to have been important for the study. A trusting relation was quickly established and many villagers got an idea of the aims of the study and why they were expected to contribute with their knowledge. These initial techniques and the dialogues held at workshops concluding each field work, inspired many villagers to participate enthusiastically in the study.

The land manager

The units of analysis are the decision makers that Blaikie terms the "land rnanag- ! ers" rather than the households. The land manager is, says Blaihe and Brookfield, (1987:74), "a generalised decision maker in a specific social stratum, al a specific place, during a specific time, with specific social relations, involved in agricultural production". This somewhat diffuse concept thus includes even those heads of households who are only marginally involved in agriculture, but has the advantage of taking into account all those that affect the iand, even the poor day-labourer. 1 On social relations, Blaikie and Brookfield has this to say: "These social relations are primarily defined by who has control of land, labour, implements, inputs and outputs; who decides upon cropping and grazing strategy, and upon investments, including .....the creation of landesque capital, imgation, tree planting and the like; and the type and rate of surplus creation and extraction through rents in labour services, cash or kind, usury, or through the employment of wage labour. These relations are often under- pinned by particular property rights". (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987:74).

The land manager in each household was identified by aslung for the head of the I household. In most cases it was quite clear who the land manager was. Though in some cases it was difficult to identify the land manager. If the land manager had just died for example and no heir had been designated. Using this concept ensured that the person interviewed was the household's decision maker in farming matters. But as most land-managers were grown men it is likely that intra-household relationships were left out as were structural gender differences and the childparent relationship (Chnstiansson et al, 1993:16, Preston 1993:36 - 38).

There were two main reasons for the choice of land manager as focus for the study. Firstly, the alternative to interview several household members, was reject4 at an wly stage as the household is &if'&cu\tto dehe and consequent\y, to use (Chris- tiansson et al, 1993:16). Some Giting households have several houses, both in the village itself and elsewhere and whole businesses are sometimes built up around them. If the concept household is defined too narrowly many important links to production and social life are lost. If defined too widely for example in polygamous the village that vanished families where wives often inhabit different houses, the concept looses its strin- gency. Secondly in land degradation studies the views of the decision makers seems to be more valid than the views of other sub-ordinate household members.

Using the land manager concept created, however, some difficulties. It did not correspond with the definition of household used by the national population census in 1988. There was consequently no statistical material with which to compare the results of the study. The local perception of household was better adjusted to the land manager concept. The names of those who were allocated household plots and corresponding fields during a land reform in 1974 are still used when referring to that household even if it has been inherited by a son. Most of these are still alive and the off-spring are considered locally to be sub-ordinate even if they have a house of their own. Also a wife's resources in a polygamous mamage are considered to belong to her husband. This meant that the number of land managers identified by this study and as perceived by the villagers in Giting, was much smaller than the number of households identified by the authorities.

Land degradation

The starting point of this study is that a land degradation problem does exist in Giting. Land degradation is defined here as human activities that have negatively affected the condition of the land leading to dminished agricultural or grazing production. Land degradation may lead to visible soil erosion but can also be in- cipient to reducing production levels. TO study this is not without complications.

In previous studies we find two main approaches in the measurement of land degradation. One concentrates on changes of the physical properties of the land while the other monitors changes in the production levels of agriculture and grazing (Chris- tiansson, 1981; FAO, 1979). The methodological problems are immense:

Soil analyses will ascertain the mineral and organic content and the structure and texture of the soil, indicating its fertility but provide no information on how fertility has changed over time. To be able to do this, if time-consuming longitudinal studies cannot be carried out, comparative studies must be made with soils that are similar but have not been farmed. Finding such soils is a well nigh impossible task. Another standard way of estimating erosion is to measure the amount of sediment in rivers or the silt in lakes and dams (Christiansson, 1981). In this case reliable measurements can be made of the average soil-loss in the catchment area, with the reserva- tion that some of the sediment may be trapped in shallow areas on the way down to the waterway or in the waterway itself. One obtains an approximate minimum measure of the average soil loss that is, however, unrelated to how the land is used. chapter 2

Many factors other than land degradation affect production levels. In the area inves- tjgated here, it is primarily the climate. Normal rainfall giving good harvests and production statistics will therefore often reflect climatic variations rather than the extent of land degradation. Yields may also be indicative of a farmer's economic capability to use better cultivation methods and inputs and lus ability to adapt ploughing techniques rather than of the effects of soil improvement or depletion. The farmer's economy may vary from year to year and give further rise to uneven production levels. Even if the erosion is visible, for example gully erosion, it does not necessarily lead to a fall in production. Degraded land can be compensated for by intensifying cultivation in unaffected areas.

Factors that are decisive for the size of the harvest include:

soil fertility inter-cropping or monocropping fallowing the timing of and method used for weeding insect- and fungus-damage damage caused by wild birds and other animals use of insecticides, fungicides, compost, chemical fertilisers and manure ploughing techniques giving different root depths, infiltration ability and distances between plants.

To ascertain trends in production levels over time reliance must be made on the farmers' memories as there are often no reliable records kept. This is yet another source of unreliability in the data. Further some crops are harvested as they ripen, or even before they ripen, without records being kept of the yield. Most farmers use sacks for storage and transport of the crops giving a usefui unit of measure for the harvest, but others use baskets malung assessment difficult. These factors also increase the difficulties in monitoring production changes as indicators on land degradation.

Resilience of the soils may create a considerable time-lag between the point when land is over-used and when physical symptoms of land degradation occur. There is therefore no direct link between existing land use and land degradation, further frustrating the assessment of the causes of physical changes of the land.

The list of methodological problems involved in quantifying land degradation could be made much longer. (Stocking, 1987:49-63). The degree of uncertainty makes it rather pointless to attempt a quantification of land degradation in this study. In order to ascertain whether land degradation existed in the village, an assessment of the visible erosion was made from aerial photographs taken during the 1990191 cultivation season. Visual controls were carried out in the field (Map 4). This analy- the village that vanished sis was then used as a basis for part of an interview study that was conducted with 15% of Citing's land managers. Some interviewees had difficulty in distinguishng between the effects of erosion itself and the effects of the other factors, mostly mentioned above. Many who had visible erosion on their fields and seen seeds or plants being washed away, or lost parts of their fields to gully or stream bank erosion could distinguish the phenomenon of land degradation from the effects of climate, insect attacks, ploughing methods, etc.

Social and economic stratification

The object of studying social and economic stratification in Giting was to relate it to land use and land degradation. This involved the classification of every land manager in the village into groups reflecting their land use. In the traditional method, the criteria that say something about social and economic stratification, are identified by the researcher. A randoin sample of villagers are then interviewed to elaborate their social differences. (Djurfeldt, 1975; Kjaexby, 1987). The risk here is that small but significant socio-economic groups with very special criteria in the social and economic hierarchy may be excluded.

Another weakness of tlus method is that it is difficult for the researcher to identify the criteria to be used as a basis for classification. These criteria are of paramount importance if a correct description of the local socio-economic stratification is to be given. There is considerable confusion as to how the groups in peasant societies are to be identified, described and analysed. Usually sociaI and economic stratification means the hierarchic classification of people in a society according to predetermined criteria (Stavenhagen, 1977:21). These criteria can be quantitative or qualitative. The quantitative criteria such as income and education can be measured and graded. The qualitative criteria can be objective, such as access to resources, type of work, exercise of leading or subordinate functions in society, etc., or they can be based on subjective values such as prestige or ethnicity (Ibid, p 23). These criteria can be used either to identify social groups or 10 identify the status of an individual. If stratification describes individual status only, a structural perspective that allows a broader social analysis is excluded. To make a more structural analysis of a society a further dimension must be added to the stratification concept.

Primarily it is the political power dimension that must be identified for every social group if a more general analysis of a society's way of functioning is to be made. Social stratification varies throughout a nation and a general nation-wide stratification into social groups is difficult to apply. One must distinguish between urban and nual populations at least when considering countries in the South. (Ibid, p 23). chapter 2

Here again the researcher faces a problem. What methods are available that provide a true picture of stratification locally by placing individuals into status groups and, at the same time, give a structural division into social groups by power?

Following the above model would demand much time and work to identify the classification criteria for both individuals and social groups. Then an extensive series of interviews must be carried out to quantify group size. Due to the criteria used a certain measure of uncertainty woutd remain as to the relevance of the stratification study (Ibid, p 22).

Considerable confusion exists on how to conduct a study of social and economic stratification that provides a comprehensive view of the situation locally. Time consuming in-depth studies would give a view of the stratification based on the researchers own percepti~nbut would still be fraught with much uncertainty.

To somewhat stem the confusion a completely different method was used to identify the socio-economic stratification in Giting. This method, wealth ranking, uses the villagers' conception of the social stratification. It has been developed by Basbara Grandin (1983, 1987) and has often been used by IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), SIDA and institutes working with applied research, (McCracken et al., 1988). It is further described in chapter 3.

The use of the method poses some principal questions.

To what extent is it analytically useful?

What is actually learnt about stratification?

When informants classify their neighbours they assume a holistic view of the neighbouring land manager. Both positive and negative factors are weighed in and are related to the other village land managers. The classification is therefore relative, all land managers being compared to each other. This would be impossible with predetermined criteria.

In Grandin's model the criteria used by the informants are subsequently documented by interviews. The interviews provide a number of criteria that are then listed. A list is of necessity reductive in nature as the overall view that the classification is based on cannot be shown in mere list form. However the picture of reality obtained is more likely to be truer and more detailed than if the researchers own criteria had been used. In addition, a picture of how the different groups perceive stratification locally is given. Grandin's earlier studies (1983) show that there are variations in classification when carried out by, e.g. women, the poor, youth, the educated, etc. The criteria of the groups are not, however, changed significantly. the village that vanished

Information on socio-economic stratification derived from wealth ranlung is not easy to process statistically. The number of groupings and criteria used often vary from informer to informer. To get verifiable statistical information that was simpler to use, a random sample of 20% of the land managers in each of the wealth-ranked groups was made. Then semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted with as many as was .;'enquiredto interview 15% or more of the land managers in each wealth group. The results of the wealth rankings were then compared with the interviews. More about these interviews later in the chapter. Detailed discussion of the weath ranlung procedures of this study will made in chapter 3.

Land tenure and general social and economic insecurity insecurity in land tenure rights was postulated as being an important factor affecting land management in the village. At first sight land renure in Giting seems a simple matter to grasp. Officially every household has a one-acre plot as a kitchen garden and four acres of farmland. In addition there is communal land in the village for the benefit of everybody: common pasture lmds, the village field, smaller fields for the school, church and for administrative staff living there. This is also the account given by the villagers and officials when asked.

The object of the land tenure study was to establish the extent of each social group's cultivation mind correlate this with the degree of degradation, answering the question whether some groups take better care cf their land than others. The next step would be to analyse and explain each group's relationship to the land.

A pilot study camed out using RRA techniques (McCracken et al. 1988) showed that land tenure was actually quite complex. Another W-technique, conducted in 1991, field hstories, (James Eddell, personal comm.) - where an informant is taken to hs fieIds and asked about their history- showed that:

Most villagers had at some time swapped fields with neighbours to get land closer to home. This meant that correlating land degradation with social group would be impossible. Some had swapped land several hessince the Land Refom of 1974. chapter 2

It was quite customary for the poorer peasants to allow richer peasants to cultivate part of their land in return for ploughing services. This made correlation of degradation with social group even more difficult. Furthermore new arrangements of this kind occurred every season to avoid loosing the right of tenure to the peasant actually farming the land.

Some of the wealthier farmers, in defiance of the Land Use Plan in the village ploughed up grazing land for cultivation. These areas had been set aside for grazing purposes because having shallow soils or being on steep slopes, they were considered unsuitable for cultivation.

Laws and local bye-laws governing land use and tenure were seldom enforced and there was a limited security of tenure.

These four factors together made it impossible to carry out the proposed study of the correlation between wealth group, land use and land degradation. Instead these aspects were dealt with in the section of the interviews concerning the concrete measures taken to' improve soil quality and prevent erosion.

As the study progressed the importance of the generat lack of stability in this society became increasingly apparent as far as land use was concerned. As the ability of the Tanzanian state to control the distribution of resources and maintain essential functions such as the judicial system, education, health care and infrastructure had declined considerably over the last ten years (Booth et al. 1993:80-95) the equalis- ing role of the state had been replaced by local laissez-faire structures where the economically powerful had the advantage. In the case of Giting this process was most apparent by the fact that the poorer groups no longer had access to the communal resources that they themselves had helped to build up during the 70's and early 80's. Marginalisation of poorer groups grew and independent farmers were increasingly forced to become day-labourers leading to a hand-to-mouth existence.

This erosion of human resources is hard to quantify. Many aspects of a persons life are affected by this lack of stability and there are many players in the game. During the study systematic notes were made of social events that occurred during the field works. Many were of a sensitive nature such as corruption and difficult to verify. l Some events when confirmed by several independent sources were included in the study. Marginalisation and general social instability have such a significant relationship to land use that triangulated information, that is to say information verified from more than three independent sources, has been allowed a place in the study. It is mainly the ability to work and thereby maintain the productivity of the land that is diminished by these factors. The land managers' ability to maintain their land in a soil caring way is also affected. the village that vanished

Production strategies and investment patterns

A general view of production strategies in counmes in the South is that poverty leads to multi-active household strategies (Krokfors, 1991:30; Booth et al. 1993:30) There is a widespread view that poor households will get more access to resources by spreading their members' activities to several economic sectors especially in places where land is scarce. In Giting, the pilot study showed, that it was the richer famiIies who were more likely to adopt multi-active behaviour whereas the poor remained in the village increasingly poverty-stricken with little means of even getting their daily bread (cf. Holm, 1993:130ff.). Many of them became day labourers and more or less ceased to cultivate their own fm.

Being multi-active also involves investing large parts of the income from agriculture in other sectors. Several methodological problems were encountered in trying to ascertain patterns of investment and production strategies. Primarily a reluctance on the part of the rich farmers to divulge information. More about this in chapter 5.

Finding out about income and profits from various ventures, and how the proceeds are spent merits really its own special study. As this was not possible due to restrictions in time a more qualitative approach was adopted. Information about the in- comes and investments made was derived from third party sources and verified by others in the know. Some of the rich fanners were interviewed in a special study of these questions, but due to their reticence these were abandoned.

The interview study

As mentioned earlier a random sample was made of informants from the wealth groups identified by the wealth radung. 20% of the households were chosen using a table of random numbers. Of these sufficient were interviewed to attain a 15% coverage. The figure 20% was chosen to compensate in advance for any non-responses. In all 94 respondents were interviewed. The interviews were serni-structured but open-ended so the responses were widely different in character. Some informants merely dutihlly answered the questions given and others volunteered so much information that they had to be interviewed several times.

The interviews were conducted with the earlier &fined land managers. Interviews were carried out with the help of an interpreter. Most men in Giting speak Swahili quite well but the women usually only speak the local language Kiiraqw. On occa- sion two interpreters were required, one for translation from English to Swahli, and another for translation from Kiswahili to Kiiraqw. The language difficulty is a handicap especially in the first interviews. Later as my knowledge of Swahlli im- chapter 2 proved, I couId understand most of the informants responses and even judge the interpreters performance. The choice of field assistants proved to be excellent and only on a few occasions were interruptions for complementary questions called for. One field assistant, a native of the village was at the time of the study working with bee-keeping at division level, another had upheld the post of forester in the village since 1978. Both had a good command of the village affairs, knew most of the villagers personally, and spoke both Kiiraqw and Swahili. The field assistant who interpreted from English to Swahili was a district officer at the Natural Resources Office originating from the Pare area in the north east of the country. He had a certificate in bee-keeping and was well educated. With these skilful interpreters end results could not have been affected by misunderstandings during translation. The interview contained five groups of questions to be answered by all informants.

Basic facts about the household. The number of members and houses. How many wives (if the respondent was male). The number of children. The age of the head of the household and his place of birth. A question- naire would really have sufficed for this part. There were seldom problems apart from some patent untruths about the number of wives. See further chapter three.

@ This section covered farming and took considerable time as it often lead to detailed discussions. It centred on agriculture, production levels, the pro's and cons of different farming methods, measures for increasing yields, the use of fertilisers and insecticides and the extent of acreage under cultivation. One omission when talking about crops was forgetting to mention the women's crops, pumpkin for example, when men were being interviewed. This section also covered the historical aspects of farming; which crops had been raised, fields used and how the soils were prepared in times gone by. Some of the difficulties encountered here were reticence about production levels and the cause of low yields and a reluctance to answering any questions about resources in villages other than Giting. The latter problem was solved by asking other informants who had a knowledge of the household's land ownership, when later confronted with the particulars, these in most cases proved to be correct.

As a natural follow-on to agriculture came questions about cattle keeping. In some cases this took no time at all as the poorest had none. Other cases developed into complex discussions on the role played by cattle in the production system. Apart from supplying the family with milk and meat, cattle are a sign of family status and furthermore have the function of bank, being sold when times are hard and bought in periods of affluence. They are also of importance in the relationship between rich and poor. The rich families lend cattle to the poor. Queries about cattle own- the village that vanished

ership were, in this study as in many others, the most difficult for infonnants to answer. Responses were vague. Again third parties acquainted with the facts were asked and the informants confronted with the results. Even then they would seldom admit to the true number and control questions were answered just as vaguely. The figures arrived at in this study are probably on the low side. This is certainly true of the richer families whose animals are widely spread to a large number of families beyond the ken of their neighbours. On two occasions there was a fear of even discussing cattle - they are considered to be detrimental to the land and the area has been subject to several "de-stocking" campaigns throughout the years.

The fourth group of question covered land care and degradation. Cer- tain basic facts were established; where the fields were situated, the col- our of the earth, if fields were eroded, whether land care measures had been undertaken and whether grazing occurred after harvest. Time was spent explaining the difference between degradation as such and other factors affecting yield levels such as rainfall levels, insect attacks, flooding and the use of fertilisers and insecticides. If the informant claimed conservation measures had been taken, this was checked in the field. In some serious cases of overland flow, stream bank erosion and gullying, inspections of the affected fields were made.

In this last section the informants made a number of rankings. A soil ranking, where they were asked where in the village they would prefer to have the fields. A problem ranking where the most serious problems for agriculture were rated and a preference ranking where the respondent was asked to rate he best soil preparation methods and cultivation methods. Finally who would inherit the farm. Even here the responses varied, it was often more difficult (not always) for the poorer peasants to imag- ine any other reality than the one they confronted daily. The concept of having access to land in other parts of the village was particularly difficult for them to grasp. Only half of them could give an answer. Inforrn- ants from other groups had already considered such possibilities and could readily account for their choices.

The results of the interviews were compiled in a data base which came to en- compass 154 different factors. Some of these are presented in the results section in chapters 3 and 4. However the most important result of the interview study was not the structured information compiled in the data base. The facts and information gathered laterally proved to have an important effect on the progress of the study leading to the inclusion of investigations into investment patterns, production strategies and the effects of the general social insecuritgr. chapter 2

The secondary sources

In addition to the techniques mentioned so far, there were secondary sources providing information on the natural preconditions and history of the area. As is often the case in Africa these were few and mostly general in character. The reliability of these sources varied. Several documents and historical accounts were written by colonial officials in the course of their duties. These often contained important observations of the situation as a whole, seen in a colonial perspective. Other sources are of a scientific nature and more elaborate. The sources have been consulted with care and any observation from one source has whenever possible been corroborated with others before being used. Certain historical events have perhaps more the character of legend being backed up by sources that refer to each other for support. The history of the area is still shrouded in mystery and further study is required before the definitive history can be written.

The village maps have been derived from aerial photos. These have not been corrected to allow detailed measurements and are therefore used rather as illustrations. As the photos differ in both scale and projection and are not corrected the village borders on all the maps are approximate and identification of the borders were made by Giting villagers only. People in the surrounding villages may have other perceptions of the location of the borders.

The limitations of the study

Land tenure and social and economic stratification were postulated to have a major impact on land use and land degradation before any field work was conducted. The pilot studies and the interview study added general social and economic uncertainty, production strategies and investment patterns as important factors in acquiring an understanding of the processes that have led to changes in land use and land degradation in the village. These processes were, furthermore, linked to each other in very complex ways. In order to conduct sufficiently deep studies of this complexity and include the perception and participation of the villagers within the existing time and resource limits it was decided that one village was more than enough to study. the village that vanished

Summary of the methodology

The methodology of this study can be likened to an impressionist painting, composed of many small, colourful dots. Regarded in isolation the individual dots are perhaps pretty, but meaningless. The challenge of this work is that with the aid of these coloured dots be able to perceive an understandable picture of the social causes of land degradation in a Tanzanian village. To place the dots within an understandable structure the various scattered data were contextualised and analysed with the help of BIailue's "chain of explanation." The analysis is conducted chronologicdly, starting at the turn of the century and ending in early 1994.

Six field-work sessions ranging from two to five months in length were conducted. Each field-work session ended with a workshop where results were presented to a selection of the participants. Field work results were thus discussed immediately with those that had provided information. This procedure proved to be very effective and any misunderstandings could be quickly cleared up before getting written into field reports and working papers. chapter 2

The structure of the dissertation

It is no easy task to present the results of a study based on contextualisation and integration between a number of factors in a logical and structured written form. After many trials and tribulations it was decided that each main factor in the study should command its' own section presenting the relevant data. As the data are una- voidably inter-linked this meant that a certain amount of repetition would have to be accepted. After the methodology presentation in this chapter the rest of the dissertation will have the folIowing disposition:

In chapter three an examination of the extent of socio-economic stratification in the village is described as well as the social situation of the villagers including most of the results from the interview study.

Land tenure and land use is presented in chapter four.

The insecure economic and social situation, the investment patterns and the production strategies of the various social strata are accounted for in chapter five.

* The main contextualisation and analysis of the links between the factors identified in the study are presented in chapter six. Finally some theoretical considerations are outlined.

Chapter 3

Social stratification in Giting

iting village differs considerably in social structure from Mama Isara. In this chapter a most characteristic feature of Giting village, its social strati- G fication, will be described. The stratification study is based on the Land Manager concept and subordinate individuals are considered as belonging to the same social category.

Methodology

Most stuhes of the social stratification in peasant societies have followed the transition from traditional agricultural systems, which were regarded as static, to the more dynamic capitalist system. The peasant mode of production, as it was termed, was characterised by the fact that the peasant family farmed independently regardless of whether they owned the land or not. The family members worked to provide for the family's subsistence. The capitalist farmer on the other hand considered labour and land as production factors in an agricultural venture with the aim of creating profit (Shanin, 1979:2) In the 1970's this classification of peasants and farmers caused great controversy, the peasant mode of production debate. For a division of African peasants into different modes of production, typical for this period, see Rudengren (1981152,table 2:l). As social stratification was regarded as a consequence of the transition from a peasant mode of production to a capitalist mode a large part of social stratification research was conducted as part of the study of this transition. the village that vanished

In retrospect

The social stratification of peasant societies in Europe first drew attention in the nineteenth century and has been stuhed and debated ever since. Lenin (1 899) studied the Russian peasant society and stated that the peasants were subject to a process of "depeasantising" dominated by outward social mobility. Peasants were increasingly divided into two social classes, the rural bourgeoisie and the rural proletariat. The reason for thls dichotomy of the peasant society was that by now, it was commohty producing. Peasants were, according to Lenin, completely suborbnate to the market. He asserted that as the peasants were incorporated into a commodity economy, they were subject to the same kinds of antagonistic pressures as other economic sectors under a capitalist system; competition, the struggle for economic independence, the grabbing of land, the concentration of production in the hands of a minority, the forcing of the majority into the ranks of the proletariat, the exploitation by a minority through the medium of merchants' capital and the hiring of farm labourers. These antagonisms lead to the initiation and rise of social stratification. Lenin assumed that the peasantry would disappear to be replaced by large agrarian industrial complexes analogous to other economic operations under capitalism.

Chayanov (1966) argued in turn that social mobility had always been present in peasant society. He equated sociaI status in peasant society with the size of the peasant family's cultivated lands. When a newly married peasant family began farrn- ing they needed little food and consequently only a small area was farmed. As the family grew and had children the need for more food increased the area under cultivation and with it their social status. Later when the children grew up and left home, the parents decreased the amount of land under cultivation and their social status &minished accordingly. Social mobility was, said Chayanov, a natural ele- ment in the reproduction of the peasant family and cyclical in nature.

Kautsky (1988) found a dualism in the social stratification of the peasants he studied, with both outward and inward social mobility present. Outward social mobility he explained in more or less the same way as had Lenin, but he discerned a tendency for the middle peasants to improve their position within peasant society. For thls he gave the explanation that they were better at competing with other economic sectors as they had a flexibility lacking in the poor and rich peasant classes. They could increase labour input without increased costs and increase production levels without having to cultivate more land. Kautsky saw no advantages of scale in agriculture as there were in other sectors and this Iead to the more differentiated view of the social stratification process termed multi-directional social mobility.

Social differentiation is seldom studied per se, but rather regarded as an effect of other causes or as an indcator of larger social changes. Studies of social stratification have therefore been politically charged, especially in Marxist literature, where chapter 3 social stratification is often studied in order to identify classes in peasant societies with the potential to change for example a capitalist system to a socialist one. Gen- erally earlier studies cf sociai stratification were carried out at aggregate levels and provided crude generalisations of the stratification process.

The picture of social stratification in a peasant society in transition has in the 1st few decades become jncreasingly complex. When specific local studies are canied out a number of variables have been exposed that were earlier hidden in the aggregate study levels. Some examples of this are the historic studies done in Scandina- via and England. Macfarlane (1978) who studied English peasant society from the 14th. century and onwards stated that peasant society was already undergoing major change ir, the MiddIe Ages and a specific peasant mode of production, if there was such a thing, did not exist at that time. Many farmers were even then dynamic individualists and highly socially mobile. Another local-level study within the time- geography tradition are the longitudinal studies of Hoppe and Langton (1986) who followed the livelihood positions of a number of peasants in nineteenth century Sweden. They found that the number of poor in the group in 1810 was relatively small rising dramatically to 1860. While the number of farms decreased from 124 to 83 between these dates, the numbers of landless in various groups increased between 30 and 50 percent.

In these studies peasant societies were seldom related to a larger structure where the effects of urbanization and industrialization or other important changes in the surrounding societies are taken into account. They tended to emphasize the differences between various social groups rather than their interdependencies. The more irnma- terial criteria were often excluded from these studies as they often demanded other more in-depth and time consuming methods.

Obviously the picture provided by social stratification studies at local levels is infi- nitely more rich and complex. Factors such as the way in which local society is organised socially and economically, the extent of contacts with other societies, the effects of external influences, the degree of dependency on agriculture all play their part in determining how social stratification develops. I have therefore chosen to study the social. stratification in the vilIage of Giting at land manager level

Stratification in this study has been compiled fiom a totally different point of de- parture using the local population's own perception of the stratification in their area. The technique is a modified form of "wealth ranking" often used in Rapid Rural Appraisals (W)(McCracken et al., 1987, Grandin, 1986). The technique is simple, the names of the households in the area are written on pieces of cardboard and informants are asked to place them into stacks according to wealth. When all the pieces of cardboard have been placed in stacks the informants are interviewed and asked about the criteria used in the classification. the village that vanished

When a number of ranlungs have been performed they are compiled statistically and an average ranking score is calculated for each household. These averages are then classified into groups according to the criteria given by the informants. Thls technique gives a relative view of the stratification but has the advantage that all households are included in the study and that the local perception of stratification is achieved.

An early example of the advantages of wealth ranlung was reported by Grandin (1983). A conventional stratification study had been performed among a group of Maasai in Kenya. Grandin made a wealth ranking in the same area and compared the results. The stratification study had failed to identify the poorest category in the Maasai group while the wealth ranking identified this group as fairly large.

A study of three villages in Hanang district made by Kjaerby (1987:114-115) also seems to have failed to identify the poorest strata. The stratification was based on access to land. He identified three groups, big-, middle- and small peasants while the group of vibarua (day-labourers) was hardly mentioned. His conclusion from that study was that the socialist policy of Tanzania had counteracted social stratification in the rural areas. The poorest group he identified was categorized as alcoholics and mentally disabled. This group was considered as smdI - no quantification was made. A comparison with this study some six years later in the same area strongly contradicts the findings of Kjaerby.

Getting information about the poorest groups at the local level is an acknowledged problem.(Chambers, 1983; Lindberg et al., 1993). Chambers (1983) plea in "Putting the Last First" more than ten years ago is only slowly gaining a real impact on research. Locally the poor are kept away from visiting researchers. Comments as "he know nothing - he is just a kibanuz" are frequently met Day-labourers are also usually at work and difficult to contact during the day time when most studies are conducted. Besides this they themselves often think that they have nothing to contribute and keep their distance.

Another reason for their invisibility, at least in Giting, is that they are seldom listed in the vilIage household register. If a random sample were made from the existing register of households the poorest groups would be under-represented. In Giting the household register was compiled during the land reform in 1974 and has not been properly revised since as the viIlage leadership had reason to try to hide the actual number of households as well as the population figures. A11 cuItivation land had been distributed to the households in 1974 and nothing was left to cater for a population increase. According to the village office the number of households in the village was the same in 1990 (600)as it was in 1974. The population was pegged at I 3,463 individuals by the village office in 1990 while it was 3,000 in 1974. In the chapter 3 population census of 1988 Giting village was considered to have 726 households and 4,884 indviduals.

This discrepancy between the village and the census led to a conflict with the regional authorities who demanded that the village should allocate land to the new households. The village leaders also feared that high population figures would lead to the village being split by the regional authorities. This would weaken the power of the existing Village Council and reduce the amount of resources under heir supervision.

There was, consequently, no reliable household register on which to base a wealth ranking. One list that was up to date was the so called ten cell leader list. The ten cell is the lowest level of the ruling party CCM (Charna cha Mapinduzi - the party of the revolution) representing about ten households (though in practice the number varies considerabIy). A pilot wealth ranking was made by five informants of the ten cell leaders. The rankings corresponded well with each other as well as the criteria the informants had used. It was decided worthwhile to try a wealth ranking of all the households in the village and a household list was therefore compiled from aerial photos from 1990. The name of the land manager of every household plot seen on the aerial photo was identified and a register compiled.

In Giting 632 land managers were identified from the aerial photos. This corresponds fairly well with the number of households that existed in 1974. The reason to this is that the land manager concept used in this study defines households differ- ently than the census. A later calculation, based on interviews with 15% of the land managers, estimated the number of villagers included in this study to be 4.350. Officially all households have access to land and only 15 families failed to get land during villagisation. These 15 families are the only officially considered landless in the village. Most yibarua do actually have access to land. The number of villagers included in the random sampling is therefore estimated to 4.350 whereas in reality the number is higher.

This study differs considerably from the figures of the population census for several reasons. Firstly there was a falling off of 23 households in the wealth ranhng that consequently were excluded in the 15 random sampling. At the time of the census labourers from outside the village were present increasing the village population. Furthermore, those without a household plot of their own such as teachers, extension workers, foresters, missionaries, health workers, people employed by the party, etc., were excluded. Finally, the census enumeration areas in Giting did not correspond with the borders identified by the villagers in this study. Both the number of villagers involved in agriculture and the total population of the viIlage is therefore underestimated in this study. A qualified guess is that the census gave a fairly valid the village that vanished

figure of the total population of the village in 1988 whereas the number of villagers in 1990 involved in agriculture was somewhere between 4,700 and 4,800.

When the.land manager list was compiled a wealth ranking was made by 18 informants. Already after five ranlungs they started to correspond with each other and when no new information could be derived by including more informants into the ranking it was considered that 18 informants were enough to get a comprehensive view of social stratification in the viIlage. In a ranking covering a whole village of 632 households the number of possible informants grows small. With the huge number of households it would have been cumbersome to use pieces of cardboard in the ranking as recommended by Grandin. Instead the complete household register was used. This meant that the informants had to be both literate and have good knowledge of the whole village. They were all male, aged between 25 and 45 years and mostly from the middle peasant category.

This may have given a specific view of social stratification in the village. The literate women who live in the village were not considered to have a good command of the whole village. The material criteria given for the various wealth groups by the informants were later checked by interviews that corresponded well with the ranking criteria. Welbourn, in a study from Malawi observed that there are systematic differences between how men and women rank households (199 1:20). Which households were ranked in what category may have been influenced by this, though hardly the categories themselves.

No instructions about how many groups or what criteria should be used in the ranking were given to the informants. They were asked to rank according to wealth (in ~wahllithe expression ywezo was used which means capability and capacity) which produced 4 - 14 wealth categories. The informants were interviewed afterwards and the criteria they used to classify theit neighbours were noted. After the ranlung and the interviews further analysis identified seven wealth groups giving a good picture of the social and economic stratification of Giting. Instead of treating the results of the ranking statistically, the informants who had made a too narrow a ranlung were asked to rank more in detail. If the ranking was too detailed groups were merged together to achieve the seven groups.

In the ranking 23 households were omitted. The informants could not identify them or rank them as they were unknown or too new in the village. Five of these households were fi-om outside the village who just had stayed on in the village after the cropping- season. They lived in houses that were built by well-off farmers outside residential areas and consequently were identified as holders of household plots in the aerial photo interpretation. Fifteen of the households had newly taken over their fathers' farm, or the father had recently died and no heir had yet been designated, and according to the informants it was too early to rank them. Three household plots were abandoned and the whereabouts of the holders unknown. Later, chapter 3

two of these households were said to have moved to another village, Dirma, due to lack of grazing in the village. The whereabouts of the third household is stiIl unknown to the author. The ranking therefore included 609 households distributed in seven wealth groups.

Number of land managers in wealth groups (wg), Giting 1991-92

wg1 wg2 wg3 wg4 wg5 wg6 wg7 Total

5 6 18 106 116 163 195 609

Table 4. When the ranking was ready a random sampling of 20 per cent of the households in each wealth group was made (N= 122) and 94 of these were interviewed in so called semi-smctured interviews. The interviews served as a verification of the wealth ranking. The criteria given in the ranlung corresponded well with those found in the later interviews md giving at the same time some statistical information which could not be derived from the wealth ranking.

Results of the wealth ranking

The result of the wealth ranking of the whole village shows that a majority of the land managers belong to the group that Kjaerby, (1987) six years earlier considered to be small.

The informants weighted all the landmanagers against each other when they grouped them which indicates that the groups should be seen as a continuum rather than distinct groups. There are, however, distinct criteria between some of the groups in this continuum. In the description below the criteria of each wealth group given by the informants is accounted for. The statistical information of each group is given later in the account of the interview study.

As is indicated in diagram 1 (next page) a majority of the land managers belonged to the poorest two wealth groups while the well-off group was small. If the number of household members in each wealth group was taken into account a different picture appears. The average household size for the middle peasants , group 4-5 , was 10,9 (ca. 2.409 individuals) while that of the two poor groups, groups 6-7 was 4,5 (ca. 1.616 individuals). The well-off farmers in group 1-3 had on average 11,2 household members which corresponded with ca. 325 individuals. The total number r of individuals in the study was 4,350. This means that a majority of the population belonged to the middle peasant group while the majority of the households belonged to the two poorest groups. the village that vanished

Dlsgram 1. Percentage of land managers per wealth group, Gltlng, 1991-92

Description of the wealth groups

To be able to distinguish the criteria given by the informants from own interpretation of them I will begin with a list of criteria that were given for each group by the informants. The catalogue provides information on how wealthl~we~is described or exemplified locally. The explanations of the criteria have gradually been concretised during the fieldwork and especially so during the interviews.

Group I - list of criteria: 1. The richest group 11. They have modern houses 2. Relatives of those who grabbed land 12. Two of them have generators and got credit in the 1950's 13. Two of them have semi-bred cows 3. They are powerful 14. One has a bio-gasification plant 4. No limitations whatsoever 15. Trade with crops 5. Good relations with district and 16. Employs many vibarua regional leaders 17. Lend money and maize to the poor 6. They are entrepreneurs rather than 18. They have pick-ups farmers (multi-active) 19. They have lomes 7. Farmek in Giting and other villages 20. They have tractors 8. They invade land 2 1. They own oxen 9. They sharecrop 22. Satellite dwellings in other villages 10. They have shops in Giting 23. Many head of cattle in other villages chapter 3

24. Real estate in towns 27.Trading with DSM, Arusha and 25. Shops in towns Mwanza 26. Guest houses in towns 28. Owns plots in Katesh and Babati

Interpretation

Wealth group l (five land managers) is the richest and economically most prosperous group. All are relatives of five families that appropiated land with the approval of the colonial authorities when an effort to create an indigenous middle class of farmers was made (Shivji, 1971 52) in the 1950's. Locally they form an elite and have big influence on the village life. ?hey are considered locally by all to have "no limitations whatsoever". They have good relationships with the political elite at the district as well as the regional level. They are more entrepreneurs than farmers with agriculture only a part of their economic activities.

In Giting they concentrate on agriculture. They rent, lease by ploughing contract and invade (local expression) land to increase their land holdings. They also own shops in the village. They provide services such as transport and ploughing to those who can afford that. They invest in their houses in the village and two of them have generators. One of them also has invested in a bio-gasification plant. Two of them have improved semi-bred cows that give good income from the sale of milk. They buy crops produced in the village, transpnrt them to the towns and make a good profit. They employ many vibarua from the village as well as from outside. Many poor farmers are dependent on them for their survival. They have a decisive influence on the village council.

In the nearby villages they concentrate mainly on cattle rearing, but they also cultivate large areas there. They have often satellite dwellings in other villages. Their cattle are kept by relatives in the satellite dwellings or widely distributed among fnends and relatives. They invest in real estate in towns and own shops and guest houses there. A family member or hend takes care of the town business. They trade with crops in the towns and may have trade with places as Dar es Salaam, hsha and Mwanza. They own plots in nearby towns where they speculate in increasing plot prices.

Group 2 - list of criteria 1. No lorries 7. They own oxen 2. No cars 8. They own cattle 3. They have tractors 9. Less powerful than group 1 4. Agriculture in Giting and other villages 10. Dependent on group 1 for transport 5. Small trade in towns 11. Satellite dwellings in other villages. 6. Own plots in Katesh and Babati 12. They employ vibarua the vi//agethat vanished

Interpretation

Those in wealth group 2 (6 land managers) resemble group I but have not acbeved the same elite position in the village. The most marked difference is that they do not own lorries or pick-ups making them dependent on group 1 for transport. They have not established themselves as firmly as group 1 in the towns but have small busk nesses and own plots there. They have access to tractors and are able to cultivate in other villages. They also use oxen for ploughing or renting. They have satellite dwelIings in other villages where they keep their cattle and employ vib~ruain agriculture.

Group 3 - list of criteria 1. Business in Giting 2. Agriculture in Giting 3. Became rich on black marketeering in the 1970's and 1980's 4. Dependent on group 1 for transport 5. They own tractors in common 6. They often plough with oxen 7. Some of them have diversified agriculture (Coffee, bananas, tilapia) 8. Cattle in other villages 9. Employs vibarw 10. Seldom cultivate in other villages

Interpretation

Group 3 (18 land managers) contains the newly rich businessmen in the village. They combine agriculture with business in Giting. Most of them made a fortune on the black market during the economic crisis in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The profits from these illegal activities have been invested in various businesses in the village. Some of them own tractors in common but most of them use oxen for ploughing. A few have diversified their agriculture, two have agro-forestry systems and one has a fish pond where tilapia is produced commercially. This group is also dependent on group 1 for transport to sell their crops and to transport goods to their shops in Giting. They have cattle in other villages but seldom cultivate there. They employ vibaw in agriculture and in business.

These three groups are considered to belong to the big farmers in the village, they constitute 4,8% of the land managers in the village. They own all the conspicious material goods; lorries, pick-ups, modem houses, etc. chapter 3

Group 4 - list of criteria

1. They manage to crop their fields 2. They lease some land through ploughing contracts 3. No tractors 4. Oxen 5. Keep most cattle in the village 6. Often polygamous 7. Have several traditional houses with tin-roof 8. Own oxploughs 9. Own oxcarts 10. Employ vibama in peak periods 11. No access to cultivation land outside Giting 12. Some have small businesses in town 13. They cooperate with each other 14. They manage even in drought

Interpretation

Group four (106 land managers) are the upper strata of what is locally considered as the middle peasants watu wa wastad. They manage to crop the land they have been allocated and a few additional acres. They do not own tractors but use oxen for ploughing. They have most of their cattle in the village, even if some of them due to lack of grazing have been forced to establish satellite dwellings in other villages. Their houses are traditional with tin roofs. Several of them have also additional houses in which wives or adult sons lives. They are the most polygamous group in the village. They own oxploughs and oxcarts. The labour force in the household is most often sufficient but they may employ day labourers during peak periods in agriculture. They have difficulties in getting additional land both in Giting and in other villages so they often lease land on ploughing contracts from poorer peasants. To compensate for lack of land some of them have started small businesses in towns to give married sons a chance of getting an own income. This group seldom faces problems and does not risk falling down the social ladder.

Group 5 - list of criteria 1. Manage to crop their land 2. They cooperate 3. Do not employ yibama 4. Traditional grass thatched houses - rarely with tin roofs but large and wellkept 5. Cattle kept in the village 6. No resources outside the village 7. They risk becoming destitute in times of hardship the village that vanished

Interpretation

The fifth group (116 land managers), who in the local perspective also belong to the middle peasants, manage to cultivate the land they have been allocated. They often cooperate to get access to an ox-team for ploughing. The labour in the household is sufficient provided they cooperate with other farmers as they can not afford to employ -. They live in fairly large mud houses with grass thatched roofs that are well maintained. They keep the cattle in the village and have no capacity to establish satellite dwellings. They are limited to the village resources. They risk becoming destitute in times of drought, lose their independence and forced to become day labourers.

Group 6 - list of criteria 1. Do not manage to cultivate their land every year 2. Often lease out their fields on ploughing contracts 3. They have small traditional grass thatched houses 4. They often borrow cattle 5. They work as vibarw 6. No oxen, no plough 7. They risk becoming totally destitute

Interpretation

This group consist of 163 land managers who some years may cultivate all the land they have been allocated but are often forced to rent or lease it out on a ploughng contract. They often borrow cattle horn some well-off farmer but may also own a few head of cattle. Their houses are traditional, small and grass thatched. They work as yibaw to make ends meet. They do not have access to oxen or oxploughs and have to rent ploughing from someone with overcapacity. They risk becoming destitute if someone falls ill or if the labour market fails due to drought for example. They often plough too late as they are dependent on others' oxen and because they are occupied with day labouring at the beginning of the rainy season when it is easy to get jobs. They also fail to weed properly and in right time and get smaller harvest than the average villager. chapter 3

Group 7 - list of criteria 1. They are totally destitute 2. They depend on vibarua most often done by the women 3. Many are alcohoIics, mentallylphysically ill, old, divorced or unmarried 4. Men are poor workers 5. They have difficulty leasing out their land 6. Their land is often in fallow

Interpretation

The 195 land managers in this group are totally destitute and live from hand to mouth. All are dependent on vibama for survival. Socially disabled, alcoholics, mentally disabled, physically disabled, old people without breadwinners, young people lacking the resources to marry, etc., belong to this group. The men are often alcoholics and the women do the day labouring. Many men in ths group are considered to be so poor labourers that they fail to get a job which often means that they have problems even leasing out their land. A large part of the land they control is therefore left fallow every year. They have also problems borrowing cattle as they are not considered reliable. the village that vanished

Differences in social stratifiation between sub-villages

Giting has five sub-villages or hamlets, vitonao~iin Swahili. There is a spatial differentiation between the vitongoji where some have a large proportion of specific sociaI strata. The creation of the vitongoji goes back to the Land Reform of 1974 (vilIagisation) when the scattered population in the area had to move into planned residential areas. Only the residential areas are located in sub-villages. The cultivation areas are not divided. A farmer in one hamlet may have the field close tn Settlement pattern, Giting 7 990191 8 chapter 3 another hamlet. The largest residential area Gocho is divided into three hamlets, Gocho A, B and C. In addition there are two less agglomerated hamlets called Hanang and Bagara (map 6). The distribution of social groups in per cent in 1991- 92 is shown in the following diagrams

As the diagrams indicate there are big differences between the hamlets. Gocho A and Gocho C have less pronounced differentiation while Gocho B and Bagara have a very skewed social composition, as many of those now living in Gocho A and C did so already before the land reform. Some families did not have to move and most households got cultivation land close to their household plot. This being a considerable advantage compared to those who had to move in 1974. These areas are considered to have the best soil in the village. Gocho B, Hanang and Bagara had a larger number of people who had to move and many were allocated fields far from their houses. Hanang has so many in the highest wealth groups as two of the rich farmers lived here before the land reform and managed in some way to stay.

Dlagram 2. Percentage of land managers per wealth group. Gacho A, 1Z)Ql-82 45

40 28,2 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 n

Dlagram 3. Percent of lend msnaQam per wealth group, Gocho B, 1991-82 41 ,O the village that vanished

Dlagrem 4. Percentege of land manegare per wealth group, Gocho C, 1991-92 45 i

Dlagrem 5. Percentage of land managers per wealth group, Bagara, 1 BST-Q2 40.0 4%

Dlagrnm 6. Percentage of land manegers per wealth group, Hanang, 1981-92 36,l 40"1 chapter 3

The people of Giting village

The Giting villagers will now be described using data from the interview study. Twenty per cent of the land managers in each wealth group were randomly sampled for the interview. The number interviewed was 94 distributed in the wealth groups as in table 5.

Number of interviewees in each wealth group, Gjting 1991-92

wgl wg2 wg3 wg4 wg5 wg6 wg7 Total

1 1 3 16 18 25 30 94

Table 5 In the following pages a number of commented tables with information about the Giting villagers will be presented. Groups 1-3 are amalgamated as the numbers interviewed were small.

Characteristics of the interviewed land managers, Giting 1991 - 92

WG Age* Sex Born in"' wives" Ethnicity Children H/ h.size 1-3 46 1000/0 M 100% Gltiig l.OO 20% Barabaig 8.4 11.2 8WIraqw

4 59 100% M 20% Giting 2.40 5% Barabalg 15.0 11.6 80% Mbulu 95% Iraqw

5 42 100%M 90% Giting 1.40 i0Wh lraqw 7.7 9.7 10% MbulU

8 38 20% WBO% M BWhG'iing 0.76 100% Iraqw - 5.0 5.2 20% MbUlU

7 40 21% W 79% M 71% Glllng 0.71 100% lraqw 4.2 4.0 29% Mbulu

* average age of the land manager in years, Table 6 " average number of wives of the land manager, (male) "* Mbulu means most often Mama lsara

Table 6 shows that Giting is ethnically very homogenous. A few of the land managers are of Barabaig origin but are, however, totally assimilated into the Iraqw community only their name indicating their origin. As mentioned before all the government staff and other people with non-agricultural professions have been excluded from the study. the village that vanished

In the richest group all are native to the village while most land managers in the upper strata of the middle peasants originate from Mbulu District, mainly from Mama Isara. This middle stratum therefore has a closer relation to the Iraqw traditions than others in the village. The rest of the social categories are fairly similar with ca. 20 per cent bom outside the village.

Polygamy is most common among the middle peasants while unmarried people are found in the two lowest strata. These figures have, however to be taken with a pinch of salt. One of the well-off farmers is for instance known to be polygamous but chose not to say so during the interviews. Religion, in this case Roman Catholic, may be a reason for concealing polygamy. Female land managers are only found in the two poorest social categories and are all unmarried (20 in group 6 and 21 in group 7) which is indicative of the social situation of women.

Housing Standard in Wealth Groups, Giting, 1991-92 average number of houses in Giting per land manager

Wealth Gr. Modem house Tin roofed house Traditional house

1-3 1.6 0.0 0.0

4 0.0 0.8 2.0

5 0.0 0.8 0.6

6 0.0 0.0 1.O

7 0.0 0.0 1 .o Table 7 The difference between types of houses is that the modem house is built of cement blocks or bricks, has windows with panes of glass, an inner ceiling and a tin roof. The tin roofed house has wattle walls plastered with mud alternatively double wattle walls where the space between them is filled with small stones and then plastered with cement or mud on the outside. The traditional houses are of two kinds, either rectangular with grass thatched roof or circular with grass thatched roof. There is also a so called fembe in the village. Tlus type of house is dug into a slope and was common when the Iraqw moved out from Mama Isara. (Fosbrooke, 1954).

As the table indicates most well-off fanners have more than one modern house in the village. The upper strata of the middle peasants generally have tin roofed houses but many also have traditional houses. They own the largest number of houses in the village because they are the most polygamous and being on average the oldest group with grown up sons in the village. More than half of the lower strata of the middle peasants have tin roofed houses, being less polygamous and younger. The poor peasants have small traditional houses. Those in group six generally maintain their houses while many in group seven neglect theirs. chapter 3

Inheritance preferences, Giting 1991-92.

Wealth Group Oldest son Youngast son Caretaker Don't know 1-3 40% 60%

4 22% 39% 39%

5 72% 28% 6 4% 24% 40% 32%

7 1 0% 30% 30% 30%

Table 8

Traditionally among the Iraqw the youngest son inherited the farm (Thornton 198 1;7). Today's modem society has, according to my findings, changed inheritance customs and land managers themselves decide who should inherit.

The general opinion on inheritance is that only one of the sons should inherit the farm. This is a crucial factor in restricting the splitting of land holdings, acting as a brake on overpopulation and reducing the pressure on land. Other belong- ings such as cattle and personal property may be inherited by all the siblings but the son inheriting the farm always gets enough to continue production. Only one female land manager said she would let her daughter inherit the farm commenting that it would actually be the daughter's husband that would benefit from the inheritance. The figures in table 8 are difficult to interpret without knowing that most often the male who takes care of the parents in their old age will be the heir. In some cases the oldest son has taken the responsibility and in some cases the youngest son. Some of the middle peasants expect the youngest son to care for them in their old age, as custom demands. The high figures for this group is a reflection of ths. To those with few worldly goods the issue is irrelevant. the village that vanished

Access to land and product Ive resources

Access to resources is decisive for farmers in managing their land. The following tables describe the situation in Giting. Beginning with the most important resource - land, table 9.

Distribution of tand according to wealth groups', Giting 1991-Q2

wg %of land managers % of total arable land % of cropped land

13 5 22 24 4 17 33 36

5 19 16 18

6 27 17 17

7 32 12 5 Total 100 100 100

Table 9

Officially, according to the asystem, all land managers have access to four acres of land. Some social categories have, however, managed to acquire more land than others. A comparison between the first and second columns of table 9 describes how access to land was de facw in 1991-92. Access to land here means what the interviewees said they could cultivate at the time of the interview. The well-off farmers had acquired four times more than they were officially allocated. The upper strata of the middle peasants had doubled their access to land while the lower strata of the middle peasants hardly managed to retain their share. Land managers in Group 6 had lost the access to nearly half of their land while group 7 was left with a third. Column three in the table indicates that only group 7 lacked the resources to crop the land they have access to. chapter 3

In regard to access to land outside the village the differences between wealth groups increase markedly: Real distribution of land inside and outside Gitina 1991-92 wg %of land managers %of total land* % of cropped land

7 32 a 3 Total 100 100 100

'of total cultivation land accessed by Giting villagers Table 10 Table 10 includes access to land outside Giting. As we can see, the well-off farmers had increased their acreage about eight times more than the average. It should be born in mind that agriculture forms only part of their total resources. Access to resources outside the village is even more socially skewed. Table 10 compiles the resource access outside Giting:

Access to resources outside Giting, by wealth group 1991-92 wg ~ieldsl cattle2 Satellites3 ~ealsstete4 BusineasS Town dwellers 6

]=average number of acres, 2=average number head of cattle Table t l

3=average number of satellite dwellings in other areas 3 4=average number of properties in towns, 5=% with business contacts outside the village, 6=% with family members living in towns. Access to resources outside Giting is restricted to the well-off farmers and the upper strata of the middle peasants. The lower strata of the middle peasants have only limited access to cultivation land and grazing. One of the destitute did actually have access to land outside the village sharing an eight acre field with his brother in the neighbouring village, Sabilo but as he failed to cultivate it, it was leased on a ploughing contract to a well-off farmer. Another, son of an unmarried woman and gravely alcoholic owned cattle in Dirma, that were "adopted" by relatives as he was unfit to take care of them. Two in group 7 were in Babati working as "check bobs" (coordi- nators of grain trade) at the time of the interview. The most usual reason given by the poor for being unable to farm their land was lack of farm implements. Table 12 covers access to farm implements. the village that vanished

Farm implements in Wealth Groups, Giting, 1991-92

wg oxen* %actor* Carhrry* Fertilizer*' pesticides** Oxcart* ~aehina***

13 8.0 1.0 0.4 0.8 0.6 1 .O 0.6

4 2.8 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 5 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0 .o 6 1.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

1 I l * average number per household, Table 12 ** average number of households using the input *** average number of owners of modern iractor-attachment other than plough per household

Four oxen constitute a team and only the well-off farmers have access to a full team without having to cooperate. They seldom used oxen themselves, except as a reserve when fuel or spare parts are scarce, but rented them out. Others have either to cooperate, buy the service or lease their field in retum for a ploughing contract. The leasing of land for ploughing contracts was becoming more frequent, according to the interviews.

Leasers and lessees in wealth groups in Giting 1991-92

% Leaser Lessee

1-3 100.0% 0.0% 4 18.7% 0.0%

5 22.2% 22.2%

7 0.0% 68.0%*

* 32 % did not manage to crop their land at all. Table 13

These contracts gave the rich farmers access to even more land. The middle peasants also leased land. The lower stratum of the middle peasants lease out as much land as they lease. Most poor farmers in group six and seven lease out their land an ploughng contracts except those in the lowest stratum who failed to lease out their land. chapter 3

Tilling methods vary between the social categories as do the methods preferred.

Agricultural tilling methods and preferences in wealth groups, Giting 1991-92

wg Hand Oxen Tractor Tractor+Oxen No preference

R P R P R P R P 1-3 0 20 40 20 20 0 40 60 0 4 0 19 38 38 3819 19 0 19 500 83 61 17 22 00 20 640 64 68 1220 20 4 4 700 73 50 13 43 13 0 7

R= real tilling method, P= preferred tilling method Table 14

As table 14 shows, very few land managers in Giting used a hand hoe in tilling their fields. The hoe is considered to be too laborious for most soil types and ineffective against weeds. The hoe was, however, often used on the household plots by women and for the first weeding. Oxen were used primarily by the middle peasants; the well off farmers often combine tractor and oxen.

The advantage of this combination is that a tractor ploughs fairly deeply increasing infiltration and root depth of the plants whereas the oxplough breaks up the top soils giving a better depth for the seeds sown during the second ploughing. The speed of the oxen is also preferred for sowing in the furrows. Sowing behind a tractor is called "marathon sowing" because the sower has to keep up. The disc plough commonly used on tractors has three or four discs to the oxploughs one, which means that several furrows have to been sown simultaneously when tractor ploughing. The spacing between the seeds varies more, as a result.

If an oxplough is used for both ploughings on the sticky vertisols that flood during rains the furrows will be too shallow. On the pediment slopes the ploughing depth is not so important. Another important factor in the choice of tilling method is how efficiently weeds are counteracted. The discploughs used in tractor ploughng kills weeds efficiently while the oxplough often fails to uproot the couch-grass (a and has to be uprooted by hand hoe. If this couch-grass has established itself in a large area even a tractor plough may faiI to plough it down. Before the start of ploughing many farmers in Giting are busy uprooting Sangari. Some well-off farmers will employ vibaw for hs. the village that vanished

Most farmers agree that tractor ploughing on the sloping pediments, because of the ploughing depth on the sensitive sandy soils, increases rill erosion and sheet wash. In the valley bottoms erosion hazard is less pronounced as the soils are sticky clay and flat. When tilling methods are chosen the availability and cost are more important than caring for eventual erosion. Some of the well-off farmers consider the hoe the best implement for tilling as it increases productivity and counteracts erosion, but too expensive and too time consuming.

Access to both tractor and oxen allows adjustment to the needs of the soils. It is, however, only the well-off farmers and to some degree the upper strata of the middle peasants that have this choice. The others have to use what they have. Table 14 also shows that part of the poor farmers land is ploughed by tractor, the part leased by the well-off farmers. The field is often ploughed only once and the sowing is done during ploughing. This is also the case with oxploughing of leased land. Plough- ing only once decreases yields as weeds encroach more. Infiltration is less if an oxplough is used.

The poorer the farmers the more they consider tractor ploughing only or ox ploughing only to 'increase production and counteract erosion while the more well-off prefer to combine the methods. There are big differences between both the actual tilling methods used and the preferred tilling methods between the social categories. chapter 3 Summary

The differences between rich and poor are considerable jn Giting. The findings show that differences in access to land, farm implements, etc., make the villagers cultivate the land in different ways with varying consequences on soil erosion and soil conservation respectively. All farmers in Giting are aware that they degrade the soil to some degree by their cultivation methods, but the large group of vibary~~can hardly influence the way lands are cultivated.

The middle peasants have an incentive to improve their land management. Land is scarce and they have relatively large families. Labour is therefore abundant and short term deficiencies can be temporarily compensated for by cooperation with others. As they have limited access to land and capital they use labour rather than labour-saving technology and aim at increased yields through intensification of agriculture. The more affluent middle peasants can increase their acreage through short-term ploughing contracts which are hardly conducive to good land management and maintain the marginalisation of the viburua group. The importance of cattle is emphasised pmcularly by the middle peasants who keep most of theirs in Giting as they cannot afford second homes outside the village. This increases the pressure on what little grazing land is left and contnbutes to the continuing destruction of the grazing lands. This also increases the tension between them and the group of rick farmers.

As more of the middle farmers have moved to the village from Mama Isara it can be assumed that their knowledge of traditional soil management practices is better than that of other groups in the village. The soil conservation measures taken by this group are, however, limited to their own fields. Cooperation between land managers in order to increase soil sustainability is unusual as more than half of the fields are cultivated by people other than the owners or they are left fallow. As will be shown later the most common soil conservation measure taken is the construction of sisal-reinforced mud walls for diverting water from ones fields to adjacent land. The need for improved management is clearly recognised by the middle peasants.

For the rich farmers of groups 1-3 reality is different. They are not entirely depend- ant on agriculture for their livelihood as are the middle peasants, being involved in other activities besides fanning and thus having diversified sources of income. If yields are poor the profits on trade are higher. The main problem for the rich farmers is finding sufficiently profitable investments. Their influence and economic power provide easy access to land and farm implements. In Giting, where agricultural the village that vanished

conditions are favourable they go in for cash crop production and try to limit cattle rearing. As they have good access to land there is no real incentive to increase the production per acre. Using modem farm implements they manage to cultivate vast areas of the village and beyond every season. The insecure land-tenure situation due to the fluctuating national land policies has effectively counteracted sustainable land use among the big farmers. The only exception being land that was allocated during the villagisation programme, these plots are generally well cared for. Trees are planted, fields are fertilised and production levels consequently high. When profits are made they are invested in cattle which are spread outside the village borders. The big farmers manage to establish second dwellings in other areas where the cattle are raised sometimes causing an expansion of cultivation on former grazing areas. These areas are often too dry to ensure good harvests every season but years with high rainfall give good yields, compensating for the bad years. To manage cultivation of these dry areas one must have other sources of income during the bad years, thereby making it impossible for the poorer peasants to move to these areas. The only sod conservation measures taken by the big farmers on expansion land are means to increase tenure security.

The appraisal of social stratification given here differs significantly from the conventional view of rural Tanzania being far more pronounced than shown by earlier studies, The method used in this study has surely contributed to a more detailed and accurate picture of social stratification than that achieved by conventional methods. chapter 4 Chapter 4

Land Tenure, Land use and Land degradation

n the introduction and in chapter 2 of hsstudy a hypothesis was made that land tenure and use were decisive factors affecting sustarnable land use. In thls chapter material gathered during the open-ended interviews as well as material from informal conversations with key informants from among the village elders will be integrated into a chronological review. As we approach the present it is apparent that as the struggle for land intensifies, tenure becomes increasingly insecure. The power of the State is gradually eroded allowing for the expansion of informal local actors. Regarding land use this has lead to an expansion of monocropping practices at the expense of crop diversity. These two factors together, insecurity of tenure and changing land use patterns, seriously threaten soil maintenance. the village that vanished

From the turn of the century to villagisation

When the Lraqw people began their move into the Giting area sometime at the beginning of this century, land tenure was regulated only by those resident, the Barabaig, the area being part of what came to be the Barabaig Chiefdom. During a 20 year period the Barabaig moved out of the area as cultivation increased. The first formal land law in what was then Tanganyika was introduced as late as in 1928. This Land Ordinance regulated tenure for the authorities and the white settlers mainly, whiIe tenure of the indigenous population fell under Customary Law. Local courts were established in the districts. Land disputes under Customary Law were adjudi- cated by the so called Native Authorities, established in 1925 by the British administration. The traditional land tenure system of the ethnic group in majority formed the basis for the Customary Law under the Native Authorities (Tanzania, 1994:9).

Giting came to be included in the Native Authority "Barabaig Chiefdom" (the present Hanang district) and was governed by a Barabaig appointed by the British administration, with the title "&&m", Under him was an && and at the local level there was a @mbe appointed by the (cf. Mung'ong'o in print). The tramtional land tenure system of the Barabaig did not cover sedentary agriculture. This was used to advantage by the Iraqw who established permanent settlements. Already by the 1920's the kaqw were a majority in the Giting area. The village remained predominantly agro-pastoral up to the 1950's, the areas under cultivation being small (map 6).

Map 6, which shows the areas under cultivation in 1960, is based on aerial photographs taken by the RAF (Royal Air Force) in July 1960. This is the time of the harvest so the fields are relatively easy to identify. They are of varying sizes but on average between one and four acres. What is not apparent on the map but clearly visible in the aerial photos is that most of the fields are on the slopes of the small hills or the long Hanang Mountain slope, probably adapted to the pattern of housing which was based on the traditional Iraqw neighbourhoods. These were built round the keeping of cattle so that the cultivated fields were far apart and with no agglomeraration. The photos also show how cultivation follows rainfall leveIs, most of the fields being on the higher ground near the Hanang Mountain where more rain falls and even the few fields in the lower-lying northern part of the village are in hollows, thus getting the benefit of the surface runoff from higher up. The village's large common grazing grounds are also visible on tbe map. Usually the low-lying northern part of the village was used for grazing but some smaller unused pockets of land can be seen in the southern, more cultivated part of the village.

Map 7 shows the pattern of settlements in 1960. The farms are relatively evenly spread throughout the village but with a concentration in the higher southern part chapter 4

Cultivated fields in the Giting area 1960

fjatbm?ed,?ak

I I l I I m -I 0 1 2 3 4Km the village that vanished

Seltiement pattern in the Giting area 1960 1 i I Hcusehdd(bomd) Hanang Race name before dllcglsdon

m* - m

Barakta r

The border shown here conesponds to the present day Gltlng In 1960 the village of Giting did not exist. chapter 4 where the conditions are better for cultivation. The agglomerations of settlements corresponding to the Iraqw neighbourhoods can be seen. A neighbourhood in Git- ing usually consisted of five or six farms (Wada, 1969:lll). Wada also gave a detailed description of the Giting neighbourhoods, lntlamo asearem, an Xraqwi expression meaning roughly- those who are familiar enough to borrow fire from each other. They form a community that support each other in several ways: defence, lending tools and equipment, help with farming and cattle and carrying out the traditional rituds together (Ibid.: 111-118). Figure 6 shows a neighbourhood in Gocho at the end of the 60's when Wada conducted hls fieldwork.

N to main mad 01 village

Fanland (m.4 lrrea) (1) and (3) are bmhre. (4) and (5) are bmhra m Qrarlrq land mm amther dan Road All larmhouuu are en- - dosed by mmfsnrsa hwm

After Wada, 1969:112 Fgure6 There were families from four different clans living in thls neighbourhood. In farms 1,2and 3 were members of the sumawe clan, in farms 4 and 5 the mayclan while clansmen from wagal were in farm 6 and tsanka in farm 7. Th~sshows that the neighbourhoods were not clan-based. Wada pointed out that though the sumwe clan was the biggest they had no dominance over the others. Proximity was of more importance than clan origin.

During the 1950's five Iraqw families, taking advantage of Customary Law, took over large land hollngs from the common grazing areas, with the tacit permission the village that vanished

of the British administration who wanted to create an African middle class among the peasants with the object of developing agriculture and counteracting TANU's (Tanganyika National Union) demands for independence (Shivji, 1967:52, Kauzeni, 1994:lO). In 1960 about 1,360 people were living in 223 households in the Giting area. Of these were 218 scattered households with small fields and five with hundreds of acres each. Normally each household had one to two acres of cultivation land (Cf.nap 6 and map 7) mainly located on the slopes of the Hanang mountain or in the hills close to their homesteads. The soils on the slopes were easier to till with the available implement, the hand hoe.

The five famiIies that had access to large tracts of land were also given credit to buy tractors so they could cultivate the stiff & soils in the valleys. Within a few years the Giting peasants had invested in more than 30 tractors with the profits made from vaIley cultivation. In 1967 a socialist development strategy was adopted accorhng to the Arusha Declaration (Coulson, 1982: 176-189). The policy was to give an equal share of the land to all rural households. The unjust colonial system of Iand distribution was to be substituted by a new egalitarian system.

In 1970 Party representatives initiated legal proceedings in the local court against several big farmers in Giting who had taken over other farmers' fields without 0%- cial permission (Kjaerby, 1987:35). The Party representatives lost their case as Cus- tomary law was still in operation. This was when the Party, now called CCM,tried to implement the policy (Coulson, 1982:235-262) on a voluntary basis. The big farmers in Giting, as indeed throughout the country, had every reason to resist the apolicy. The Party lost patience with the big fanners and decreed in 1973 that all rural inhabitants in the country should be moved to planned villages and that a land reform should be undertaken (Ibid, p. 249).

Giting was at the time split into several areas where people lived and farmed. Land degradation did not exist in the cultivated areas. Grazing areas had, though, suffered from overgrazing since the 1960's when former grazing areas were put under cultivation. chapter 4

The villagisation programme

Between 1374-76 most rural areas in the country were villagised. Every village household was given the same amount of private land for farming and local development was to be achieved with income from communal work. Part of the agricultural work should be performed communally and the profits from the communal cultivation used for village development (Coulson, 1982:249). in the Giting area the villagisation was implemented in 1974. The former Barakta, Bagara, Gocho, Hanang and Giting areas (map 7) were merged into the village of Giting. Five new residential areas were demarcated in the new village, Gocho A, B, C, Hanang and Bagara (map 5). A land use plan was made where residential areas, private n~ltivationareas, a village field, grazing areas, plots for a school, a dispensary, the mission, the commercial centre and roads were demarcated. When the plan was accepted by the Regional Planners, Giting was formally registered and acquired village status.

The reallocation of the homesteads was, however, made before the registration of the village. Each household in the village was registered by the ten cell leaders ( the lowest level of the Party) at the village office and a household list made. 600 households were registered. Gocho A and Hanang had 150 households each, while Bagara, Gocho B and C had 100 each. Every household got a one-acre plot in their residential area. People had to accept the plot they had been allocated and to move within two weeks.

When the houssholds had moved and started to erect new houses the farm land was distributed. All itiable land was allocated to agriculture with no allowance for future population increases, according to Regional Planners. Four acres were to be given to each household. The households getting land were called to a certain area in the village where officials were waiting with a rope. The rope had a specific length and was used to measure the four acre fields. Most people managed to get their four acres in one plot. During the allocation small parcels were left over and some unfortunate households got up to four different parcels in various places of the village.

The allocation of household plots and private fields was, at least according to the elders who performed the task In 1974, performed relatively fairly. A few of the ten cell leaders took, however, a levy for registering households (100 Tsh. was no small sum at the time). Some househoIds who could not dford the fee got no plot or a field, likewise some of those who were absent at registration time. It is estimated by Village Councillors that 15 households were left without land, and this has been the village that vanished verified by other villagers. The officials in charge of the demarcation of the four- acre fields could be bribed by promises of future favours. Some families managed to be allocated several plots and fields by registering several family members as households. Officially any male over 18 years old or unmarried female with children could register as a household. The polygamous households were allocated a household plot and a four-acre field for each wife. Only five female-headed households were allocated land during the villagisation.

Many families are said to have brought in relatives from less prosperous areas to Giting. The number of households did increase considerably during villagisation. There were 223 households in the area that became Giting in the 1960's. With an annual population increase of 3 per cent there should have been 340 households 14 years later. Between 1960 and 1974 about 260 households had been established in the village that can not be explained by natural population increase.

There were struggles to avoid the cost of moving. Several of the rich farmers managed to manipulate the original plan and avoided these costs. Many middle peasants in Gocho A and C managed to keep their cultivation land (see chapter 3, diagrams 2- 6).

Most households in Giting gained land in the villagisation process. The five families who had access to large cultivation areas as well as some who had managed to acquire land during the 1960's lost considerable amounts of theirs. One of the five that previously had 150 acres of land in Giting plus considerable amounts in other villages described the feeling he had when he lost his land as "like getting your head cut off'. As one object of villagisation was to give all equal access to land, it can be said that in thls respect it was a success.

f he aftermath of the villlagisation

Before the villagisation most households had cultivated 1-2 acres and concentrated on cattle keeping and many did not manage to cultivate their four-acre fields. The fields were moved from the slopes, where tilling with a hand hoe was easy, to the stiffer clay soils of the valleys. Most househoIds got two to three acres more to farm than they had before. On registration the village was considered an agricultural village (Kilimo) and a limit was put on the number of cattle allowed. The nine head of cattle allowed were not sufficient to continue the traditional agro-pastoral form of production. Many cattle were distributed to other villages considered as pastoral. Most households had therefore to change their production strategies. Households with sufficient manpower and cattle for ploughng managed to cultivate their four acres while those with less resources had to rely on the former big farmers plough- chapter 4

ing capacity. As they usually ploughed by tractor the limit on cattle affected them less. A verbal agreement was drawn up where the rich farmer ploughed the poor farmers' land in return for a part. In the most common contract the poor peasant was left with only haIf of the ploughed field to cultivate. Today it is not unusual for the poor farmer to be left with only a quarter.

The villagisation was performed during a drought period. Many informants have described the period as the worst in history. Those who managed to cultivate their four acres the first season lost almost'the entire yield in the drought. Many cattle died during these years. One newly married couple lost their whole initial capital of 20 head of cattle during the 1974175 season and have lived in poverty ever since. In several places in Giting dead cattle were burnt and buried during these years of hardship. It is remembered locally how different families became destitute and some have not managed to recover since.

To be able to survive in the new structural circumstances (in debt after the move, lack of manpower as households were split up due to grazing restrictions, unwork- able soils, lack of farm implements, etc.) many poor people had to start working as day labourers. There was also a group that were day labourers before villagisation. For them it was even more difficult to become self-reliant farmers than for other families. A social agreement based on tradition was entered into with the rich farmers who leased land from them on ploughing contracts. The rich farmer had to ensure the survival of the poor farmer's family through the cropping season. This was often achieved by giving the poor farmer day labouring opportunities. Tfus increasingly indebted the poor fanners. The rich farmers on the other hand got access to both labour and land by these arrangements.

Five hundred acres of the best valley land was allocated as a communal field in Giting and every household was to contribute to its cultivation. The ensuing profits were invested in improvements of the common village property. The work came to be considered a tax, paid in kind, for living in the village and getting a share in the improvements (school, dispensary, a cooperative society, village shop, maize mill etc.) the communal investments created. The more affluent hired day labourers to do their part while those less well-off often had to neglect their own labour requirements during the more busy periods of the season. The communal work also contributed to the construction of such public buildings as the school, the dispensarj, the village office etc., and road maintenance.

Villagisation lead to increased cultivation (Map 9). Large areas formerly grazing grounds for cattle were put to the plough and the increased pressure on the grazing land that remained caused its further degradation. Teraccette erosion and barren T soil appeared where the grass had previously grown. Areas cultivated in the first years after villagisation were not affected. These years had of course been extremely the village that vanished

Map 9 shows the pattern of field cultivation in the 1990191 season. Most of the fields shown on the map were allocated to the villagers of Giting during the Villagisation of 1974. In recent years cultivatiod increases have been predominantly in the proximity of the Hanang Mountain in the southern part of the village. The main difference between the 1960 pattem and that of 1990 is quantitative. The area is cultivated to a greater extent but the fields are on average larger. They have moved from the higher slopes to the valley bottoms and are more agglomerated, lacking dviding booundaries and even access roads. The non-cultivated areas in the central cultivation zone consist mainly of housing areas. The position of the fields no longer reflect any climatic- or other natural geographic conditions. Under villagisation such factors were not taken into account. Neither do the field boundaries make it easy to use contour ploughing as the longer edges of the fields are seldom at right angles to the direction of the mn-off which is mainly from south to north.

Cultivation field pattern, Giting 1990191

CuWv~tedHeld

; 0 1 2 3 4 chapter 4

dry, there were several consecutive years of drought. With the arrival of the rains visible signs of erosion appeared in the cultivated fields as well. The opening up of land for cultivation resulted in overland flow for the first time in the area, inducing stream bank erosion and in the valley bottoms, gully erosion. Many of the villagers interviewed, remember to this day the advent of field erosion from this period.

FQsmalising village leadership

To administer all the communal undertalungs in the village a Village Council was established. The Village Council consisted of 25 members where the secretary and the chairman worked as an executive committee and took care of the daily running of the village. The Village Council had three committees: economy and planning, land, and security. The committee members were elected for three years, simultaneously throughout the country. The village chairman was elected for a period of five years while the village secretary was appointed by the Party. For the village chairman election, candidates were nominated by the villagers. These were "screened" by the Party who came up with a few approved candidates. Often two candidates were approved but sometimes more. The village chairman was then voted for by the villagers.

There were 4 14 Party members in Giting in 199 1. To gain Party membership a three-month poIitica1 education was required before the potential member could be recommended for membership to the village committee. The committee had ten members and was chaired by the ward secretary (Katibu Kata]. The Party had committees at all administrative levels throughout the country. The Party was very in- fluential and Party decrees were often implemented by the village committees. The ward secretary had the right to attend and address the Village Council meeting but no vote.

There are also some government officials in the village with leading positions. They are the forester (Bwana Miti), the health worker (Bwana A&), the cattle expert (Bwana MlkpJ, the agricultural expert (Bwanu Shamba),-the social worker (Maendeleo va JamiC) and the educational coordinator (Mratibu wa elimu). Ali these have the right to attend the Village Council meetings but again no vote.

The administrative structure is demonstrably somewhat complicated. It is not easy to know where power of jurisdiction lies or whom to contact in various issues. During the 1970's and 1980's the Party was powerful and people often turned to it when they had problems. Today the Party has lost much of its former strength as the structural changes in Tanzania since the mid -80's have broken the monopoly of the single Party system and new parties are now competing with CCM. the village that vanished

Land reform, communal production and the village leadership system came under the jurisdiction of the Village Act of 1975. This law came in to effect after villagisation and legalized the Party directive of I9?3 that initiated the villagisation process. Land Ordinance and Customary law continued to apply parallel to the Village Act. Most rural areas in the country however applied the new land tevl.ue procedures of the Village Act, giving the Village Council the right to allocate land rather than the elders or the government administration. The Village Act applies only when the village borders have been demarcated, its Land Use Plan approved and Icase- holds granted by the Ministry.

In Giting this reform was carried out during the villagisation programme. A twentyfive-man Village Council was elected where the middle farmers came to be in majority. From then on the hstribution of land fell under the jurisdiction of the council and its Land Committee and the earlier tradition where the land was allocated by those who first came to an area was abandoned. This made certain land- owners somewhat uneasy, a committee being more difficult to influence. In the first years after villagisation the richer farmers, feeling that security of land tenure was diminishing began loolung towards economic sectors other than agriculture.

Land use was drastically affected by these new principals of council-lead allocation decisions made accordmg to a Land Use Plan rather than the earlier individually made decisions. Apart from larger contiguous areas on the slopes coming under cultivation the pressure on the diminishing remaining grazing areas increased. The official allowance of nine head of cattle per household was not strictly upheld. The Village Council with its majority of middle fanners was lenient when it came to the middle farmers possession of cattle. The number of cattle in the village did not therefore decrease in proportion to the decrease in grazing area, so that considerable overgrazing continued. chapter 4

The struggle for land

Legislature governing land use and tenure had undergone several changes. Vestiges of Customary Law were still in operation and continued to affect how the land tenure was regulated. However, formally the land tenure structure in Giting is completely based on the VilIage Act of 1975. If only the official land tenure is taken into consideration the situation seems fairly simple. All households have a one acre household plot, four acres of farmland and a wealth of communal resources. But it becomes more complicated however, if one studies actual distribution, taking into account the extent to which the various social categories are able to farm their land. An estimation of access to land in the village, based on interviews with the villagers, is shown in the following diagram. Note that only land that is actually farmed is taken into account here.

The uneven distribution of cultivated land between the wealth groups shows that the socialist policies of the 1970's and 1980's did not change the situation in any decisive way. One important affect though, was that the middle peasants improved their situation at the expense of the richer farmers. This is also verified by Kjaerby (1987) who studied land ownership in three villages in the vicinity of Giting. The only group that had increased their land holdings in these tkree villages since villagisation were the middle peasants. The rich farmers who lost much of their land in the villagisation process compensated for this by diversifying their interests into non-agricultural sectors.

Dlatrlbutlon of cunlvr(.d Indand Imd m.gm In wnlth group.. Gltlng 1881-62

g54-.

Number of land menagsra

Diagram 7 the village that vanished

Between 1974 and the late 1980's the land tenure system remained predominantly as described above. Some private land changed proprietor. Those allocated land far from their household plots exchanged them for fields closer to the homestead. This together with the occurrence of ploughing contracts, often agreed upon seasonally have made it difficult to trace those who actually used the land. One of the preliminary aims of this study had been to correlate land ownership and social grouping but the occurrence of these land exchanges and short term ploughing contracts made this impossible to achieve.

At the end of the 1980's the population increase in the village started to become troublesome. Households established after 1974 had no chance, officially, of getting land in the village. They rented land for cash or on ploughing contract leases and tenure was very insecure. The village field, as a result, was divided into one acre plots and distributed to the new families. During the 1991-92 cropping season the village shemba had decreased from 500 acres to 300 acres.

In 1989 the Village Council decided to conduct a survey of the grazing pastures to find new areas fit for cultivation. Areas with relatively good soil and access to water were found on the slope of Hanang mountain. The climate there being perfect for growing of coffee and pyrethrum. It was decided to increase the cultivation area and allocate these lands to the young landless families. A coffee seedling nursery was established close to Hanang mountain with support from the District and the Region. They also encouraged pyrethrum cultivation by increasing the supply of seeds. When the allocation of the new cultivation areas finaIIy took place, these coffee and pyrethrum plots were given to previously registered households in Git- ing who were deemed capable of worlung the increased acreage. The young families protested both at district level and locally but did not gain a hearing as they were from the less affluent strata in Giting. The richer families had been able to provide their sons with sufficient land.

One problem created by villagisation was that there were no access roads to the new fields. Before the land reform most farmers could walk to their fields and the problem of getting to fields by tractors or ox teams had not been taken into account. This had been a problem ever since the land reform. When the allocation of new land on the slopes of Hanang mountain was in the pipeline the Village Council decided to draw roads between the old fields as those who would lose their land could be compensated in the new areas. Those who lost land in the process were all from the lowest social grouping. The 40 land managers who were affected by this rearrangement received no compensation. When they protested they were jailed by the ward secretary who has legal right to detain troublemakers and criminals for nine days without trial. Some of them were repeatedly jailed until they saw the wisdom of dropping the case. The acquisitive richer farms gained about 160 acres of land that was denied them. chapter 4

Around 1989, in connection with a multi-Party discussion heralding the demise of the one-Party system, the hegemony of CCM started to totter. The courts of the 1970's and the major part of the 1980's had settled land disputes by the Village Act of 1975 realized that the law was invalid as few villages had a leasehold to their land. At the end of the 1980's the well-off Giting farmers had started to invade (as they themselves call it) areas that had been allocated for grazing in the land use plans. The qllage Council started legal proceedings against ten of the invaders but the court judged in the favour of the invaders as the Village Act no longer applied. This opened new opportunities for the well-off farmers to open up the grazing areas for cultivation. During the 1991-92 cropping season invaded lands were sublet to the young landless families.

A way of increasing security of tenure is to improve the land (Talle, 1990, Johansson, 1991). These improvements have to be compensated for on eviction. This has been used by the well-off fanners. Grevillea trees and bananas were planted on invaded areas that were disputed in court in 1989-91. Two well-off farmers had also done what they considered to be contour ploughing. In the interviews these measures were described as soil conservation measures. When these measures were checked in the field it was found that these "soil conservation measures" induced erosion rather than prevented it. The contours did not folIow the elevation turning parts of the fields into small rivers during rains. The tree plants were neither protected from grazing livestock or watered. A year later the contours, as well as the trees and the bananas, had disappeared, but had filled their purpose - to increase the right of occupation.

Land use

Methods of cultivation also vary between wealth groups.

Distributionof Cultivation Methods in Weatth Groups, Giting 1991-92

W Gr. intercropping monmpphg mixed cropptng other

7 * 87% 30% 0% 0% I often agroforestry, * the rest did not crop at all. Table 15 the village that vanished

Here and in the following tables the land managers have several choices. For exarn- ple a land manager can use both cultivation methods and therefore be registered in both columns. The percentages should be compared with each other not added.

The Giting villagers use mainly two cultivation methods, first intercropping, i.e. growing two or more crops in some predetermined way in the same field and secondly monocropping - growing a single crop. Intercropping is the traditional way of cultivation in Mama Isara. This is considered to be better for the soil than monocropping for several reasons, one being that nitrogen-fixing crops are grown together with nitrogen consuming ones. The crops complement each other giving higher yields with less utilization of the nitrogen in the soil, though it is more laborious during both sowing and weeding. Harvesting has also to be performed at different times.

For those wanting to cultivate large areas with little labour, intercropping is not a good choice. Monocropping has therefore come to replace the traditional intercropping among the rich farmers who concentrate on extensive cultivation over large areas rather than investing in intensified production. The table shows that all rich farmers monocrop. The most diversive group is the middle farmers upper strata who continue to intercrop as it lowers costs of inputs but keeps production fairly high.

Wheat is the only local crop that is impossible to intercrop. Only the rich farmers and the richer of the middle peasants have the capacity to cultivate wheat. The poorer middle peasants have often part of their field monocropped, usually sorghum on a limited scde for beer brewing. All other crops are however intercropped.

The poor peasants most often intercrop, growing crops that mature at different times of the year, preferably the fast growing crops such beans and pumpkins in order to manage the difficult time before the maize harvest when most of them half-starve. Some middle have developed agro-forestry systems of various kinds. Cof- fee and bananas are intercropped together with Grevillea trees and some have planted trees in their fields. One of the rich farmers has developed an intricate system of coffee, bananas, Grevillea, various fruit trees and fish ponds which in the table is called mixed cropping.

Now to examine the crop choices of the various wealth groups. The dominant crop, maize, is grown by all households. The main advantage of maize is its dual function as cash crop and subsistence crop (it is preferred as food crop). The disadvantages are that it lowers soil fertility when monocropped without fertilizer and requires insecticides and fungicides both during cultivation and storage. chapter 4

Crops grown in percent of land managers in each wealth group, Giting 1991-92

Table l6

M1=Maize, Bz=Beans, P3=Pumpkins, S4=Sorghum, MS=Mil(et,~g~ananas, F7=Fruit trees, (these are mainly subsistence crops), O8=Others, Wl=Wheat, PZ=Potatoes(lrish),CB=Coffee, P4=Pyrethrum, T5=Tilapia (a fresh water fish produced in ponds), (these are cash crops), TG=Treesfor firewood and building purposes.

The second most common crop, beans, grown by most households, also serves as both cash and subsistence crop. The advantages of beans are that they are nitrogen fixing, good to intercrop, mature quickly and are seldom attacked by insects and fungus. They are also the main protein source.

Pumpluns are often intercropped with maize and beans. Their main advantage is that they ripen early and are in season for a very long period of time and even serve as fodder for animals. Their disadvantage is that they are impossible to store for longer periods. It is an important crop before the maize has ripened to overcome the critical period before the maize harvest.

Sorghum and millet are cultivated mainly for beer brewing but are also sold at the local market. Their main advantages are resistance to drought and crop diseases. Some older people also prefer the taste of (porridge) made from these cereals. Bananas are cultivated where water is available all year, mostly on the household plots.

Other crops include pigeon peas and sunflowers which are grown more on a trial basis by a few cash crop producers. The results are not encouraging as due to the high altitude the temperature is too IOW. The sunflower seeds harvested are of poor quality and the ripening time for pigeon peas is too long (over a year). Yellow gram (mis produced by a few. Its main advantage is that it can be planted after the bean harvest giving two crops from the land. It is not consumed locally but exported to Asia. the village that vanished

Wheat is grown by most of the rich farmers. Its advantage being low labour costs (no weeding required) but it needs harvesters, fertilizers and pesticides. Wheat prices vary considerably between seasons and sometimes it is stored for long periods awaiting higher prices.

Irish potatoes are often grown by those who lack security of tenure as maturity time is short (3 months). They might get two crops before being evicted. Three crops yearly are possible. The main disadvantage is the insecure market situation - maize if available at reasonable prices is preferred by the consumers. The main market is nearby restaurants with limited demand.

Some perennial crops recently introduced in the village such as coffee and pyrethrum are today grown on an experimental basis on former grazing areas and the Village Council expects these crops to be expanded. How this will turn out is an open question.

Several species of trees are grown in the household plots, mostly for shade, demarcation or firewood and building material purposes. The most common tree is the fast growing eucalyptus. The next most common species is Grevillea. Some also have pawpaw and other fruit trees. The village wood fuel plot is planted with eucalyptus.

As table 16 shows most households grow maize, beans and pumpkins while sorghum and millet are grown only by the middlefarmers, The cash crops wheat, pyrethrum and coffee are grown by the most well-off farmers. Some of the lower strata middlefarmers are also growing coffee - but at the time of the interview they had not harvested it. Trees are often planted on the household plots and used for building and firewood. Only the poorest group lack trees. The tree planting project in the village financed by SIDA has contributed, Irish potatoes are widely grown at the so calIed -close to Hanang mountain or on the household plots as it is an easily grown, high yielding crop. Fruit trees are also grown on the household plots. Some well-off farmers have many varieties of fruit trees in their W.They are however difficult to market without access to own transport. Most of the fruit are hence consumed in the village. Only two of the well-off farmers have invested in production in fish ponds. One is producing fry to sell to other fish-fam-iers the other mature fish for the Babati and Katesh markets. Soil degradation and conservation

'hs section will deal with the questions of soil degradation and conservation based mainly on how the villagers themseIves percieve the extent of these phenomena. They have been aided in this endeavour by the use of semistuctured interviews. As chapter 4

Percentage distribution of fields of varying steepness by wealthgroups, Giting 1991-92

WG 1 Flatly I Gently Moderately Steeply 1 to3 1 80 1 60 40 1 40

6 24 48 20 20 7 37 50 23 7 table 17 was explained in chapter 2, mere physical studies of land degradation were meth- odolcgically problematic. The conclusions drawn from these interviews concerning erosion and soil conservation were that it was only the middle farmers that in effect took any soil conservation measures and were concerned by erosion. The rich farmers took good care of land when their tenure was assured but neglected any other land they farmed. It would not have been possible to draw these conclusions without having made extensive controls in the field. Relying on the interview responses only would lead to interpreting the efforts of the rich farmers to ensure their tenure as soil conservation.

The section of the interview concerning land care and soil erosion will be summarised in three tables. Table 17 shows the extent of the sIopes of each wealth groups fields. It can be seen that the rich groups have fields in most slope categories whereas the two poorest groups have less access to land on the plains. A noteworthy observation is that the upper strata of middle farmers all have access to plains land and that they and the rich farmers have land in all steepness categories. Of the steeply sloping fields most are used by the rich farmers, a reflection on their "invasion" of land. Some of the poor farmers have their four acres spread over several different fields which gives them more than 100% in the table. Most land managers in the other groups have access to several fields giving a wider distribution among the different slope categories. The figures can be interpreted as showing that the land distribution of the villagisation programme did not occur randomly. The extent of a land manager's means was decisive in whether he was allocated fertile valley bottom fields or the mountain slopes.

The informants had some difficulty in classifying the four steepness categories. During the interviews the term -was used meaning sloping in Swahili. The different gradients in the Swahili terminology were, for gently sloping: ina teremka kidoge, for moderately sloping: memkakama kawaida, for steeply sloping: ina teremh B. As this gave no precise information as to the specific gradient of each field, measurements were made. It turned out that gently sloping fields had a gradient of the village that vanished

1-2%, moderately sloping fields had 1- 4% and steeply sloping were always more than 3%. All fields considered flat when measured showed less than 1% gradients. These variations would indicate that the fields of certain wealth groups are more erosion-prone than others.To establish this, the informants were asked to make their own assessments of the erosion in their fields. Table 18 shows that most villagers considered that they had erosion problems. In some cases long discussions were needed to establish what charactarised the different types of erosion. It is quite possible that some responses were exaggerated in the hope that the village would get some form of compensation if the erosion was severe. To control this field visits were made to those that claimed to be particularly affected. Sometimes these checks lead to a change in the erosion classification, but not in a single case were the claims groundless. Percieved land degradation by percentage of land managers in each wealth group, Giting 1991

'When fields are overlaid by sediment table 18

The table shows that between six and eight out of ten farmers have erosion in some form but that the rich farmers consider that they have most. The upper strata of middle farmers have less visible erosion than others, unsurprisingly as their fields are often in the flat areas. They even managed to avoid areas affected by gully erosion.

The most common form of erosion was, as the analysis of aerial photos had indicated, overland flow, see map 4. Though only one out of five rich farmers had suffered from it, compared to between six and seven out of ten in all the other groups. The explanation for this is probably that the rich farmers had chiefly invaded land high on the Hanang mountain slopes whereas most of the acreage allocated by the villagisation programme was in the valleys. Most affected by overland flow were, it seems, the middle peasants lower strata.

Another unexpected difference between the groups was the reported extent of rain splash erosion, which could not be controlled in the field, where it seems that the chapter 4 three lowest groups were most affected. A possible explanation is that as their ploughing takes place late in the season when others have already sown, the protective cover of vegetation grows later on their fields. Stream-bank erosion occurs mostly on the Hanang mountain slopes, affecting the groups that have fields there, most.

The use of soil conservation strategies can explain why some groups are less affected by erosion. Table 19 shows how many land managers in Giting consider that they carried out such measures in their fields.

Soil conservation measures taken in percent of land managers per wealth group, Giting 1991 -92

table 19 The table shows that eighty percent of the rich farmers consider that they have carried out soil conservation measures. On inspection it was found that most of these measures were ways of ensuring security of tenure rather than true soil conservation. On invaded land cutoff drains and contour ploughing were usual, but so badly camed out that they increased erosion instead of preventing it. Cutoff drains were made with cractors and badly placed so that they became ditches that increased water flow speeds and induced erosion. Contour ploughing was unbalanced and water had broken through the furrows. The four-acre fields however were manured and well cared for. No soil conservation measures whatever were carried out on the fields that the rich farmers rented on ploughing contracts. Planting sisal hedges was a way of marking ownership boundaries rather than conserving soil. Two of the rich farmers had introduced agro-forestry systems with bananas, Grevil- lea trees and fish ponds included in the table under the heading "other".

Not surprisingly, fewest conservation measures were carried out by the middle peasants upper strata, primarily to counteract erosion. Usually these consisted of plant- the village that vanished -- ing sisal on the highest points of the field often in combination with embankments against overland flow. Their contour ploughing followed the elevation faithfully and were edged with bands of grass so they often worked well. Other measures undertaken by this group were the planting of trees and the use of earth embankments planted with sisal. Though they suffered least from erosion, it was this group that were most wcmed by it.

The improvements undertaken by the lower middle strata of the peasants were ditches dug high on the fields to prevent overland flow. These often collapsed when filled with water but were quickly repaired. The water was led into the neighbouring fields as was the case with the other middle peasants. No attempts at contour ploughing were made and fields were not manured as they had no means of transport. Some of them planted trees, shown in the table as other measures. Like the upper stata of middle peasants they were concerned about increasing erosion.

Wealth group six considered themselves to have been as diligent as the lower stratum of middle peasants in conservation efforts but the measures taken were often without any discernable effect. Ditches were dug within the fields to divert excess water and many of them simply tried to plough over the furrows made by the overland flow. The replanting of maize and beans in areas where they had been washed away was regarded as a soil conservation measure by this group. There were simply no measures taken that even remotely resembled soil conservation. Even those that claimed they used manure on their fields admitted after lengthy discussions that this only occurred on their household plots.

The same was true of the poorest group which in addition, had difficulty in understanding the difference between the effects erosion and other factors affecting production levels, such as climate, etc.

Conclusions

The first fifty years of Iraqw dominance in Giting the system of land use was similar to that of the Mama Isara. Ridge communities lead by the first arrival had the power to distnbute land. Production was predominantly pastoral and the pressure on the land subsequently relatively low. Despite sweeping changes such as the introduction of tribal territories in the 1920's, the later colonial land laws and the tsetse clearances of the 40's and SO'S, the patterns of tenure and use remained more or Iess unchanged until in the 1950's when the colonial authorities allowed five families in the area to take over large areas for agricultural production. These five families came both socially and politically to dominate the village and its agricultural production for the next twenty years up to the introduction of the villagisation programme. chapter 4

This programme lead to a complete change in land ownership and the way the land was used. The rich farmers who had become more numerous since the 1950's now had to relinquish most of their land. The other households increased their acreage but many of their new fields were in difficult valleylands. Poorer peasants were hardly equipped to work them. This land was instead cultivated by the richer farmers on ploughing contracts and security of tenure for the poor was weakened. Farm- ing on these contract-lands were necessar~lyshort-term and consequently they were subjected to soil mining. Usually they were only ploughed once, nejther fertilised nor manured and quickly became the least productive in the village.

In the years following villagisation the ascendancy of the middle peasants began. They had a majority on the Village Council and lead the development of communal village enterprises. The vilIage aquired a reputation for it's affluence and efficiency. The influence of the middle peasants over village affairs diminished with the liber- alisation of the economy in the beginning of the 1980's. The rich farmers, as became evident during the workshops, demanded more land and "invaded" the grazing areas. These were more sensitive than the fields put under cultivation during villagisation and when cultivated they quickly became degraded.

Another important change in land use was that more households had to rely on agricultural production rather than cattle. Areas under cultivation in the village grew at the expense of grazing pastureage, but as the numbers of cattle were propor- tionally no lower, erosion increased. Monocropping that became more popular accentuated the further depletion of the soil.

In summary it can be stated that, over time, land tenure has become less certain, and cultivation more intensive, and as virtually no soil conservation measures are taken, land degradation has continued to spread and harvest levels to fall.

chapter 5

Chapter 5

Investment patterns and the erosion of communal assets

ocial stratification determines not only land ownership and use but also investment patterns. According to the accumulation strategies chosen by the different groups of land managers, investments are made, either in agriculture or some other sector thus affecting land use and in turn, land degradation. Some land managers invest primarily in economic sectors other than agriculture whle others use capital accumulated from agriculture to increase or suskn yields and soil fertility. The poorest strata suffer from the diminished possibilities of using communal resources to cultivate and sustain their land.

Methodological problems

Observations made during the study provide the basis for the points discussed in the following paragraphs:

It is apparent that villagers resist the taxation demands of the modem State by trylng to conceal the total extent of their means. This can be done in several ways. Cattle are taxed according to their number with a fixed sum per head and are therefore distributed amongst fiiends and relations, who then are responsible for the tax payments but conceal the true ownershp. Another common method is by making deals with the taxgatherers. There are two tax collections annually, state and district. the village that vanished

They are poll taxes, that is to say they are not based on income as every household pays the same amount. Over and above these taxes are a number of licence fees charged for such activities as brewing, shopkeeping, char- coal burning, etc. These licence fees are collected either by the village or dismct officials and can be avoided by making agreements with those who issue the licences who are either district-level administrators or village council representatives.

Most villagers regard the work carried out on the mutual upkeep of fields, paths, buildings and water systems as a form of tax in kind. Even thls can be avoided by malang deals with the village leaders. These deals can take the form of cash payments, payment in kind or by promises of future privileges to those entrusted with the task of collecting and con- trolling that taxes are paid.

Traditionally great demands are made on those who have succeeded in becoming prosperous by their relations and friends. They are expected to pay school fees, make investments, give financial help and distribute cattle to their less fortunate friends and relations, In the short term however this redismbution system is a burden for the prosperous who will try to avoid these costs by keeping quiet about the exact extent of their assets.

W~ththe introduction in 1974 of the Villagisation Programme some of the costs traditionally born by the rich were taken over by the state. Primarily the costs of schooling, health care and veterinary services were taken over in this way. At the same time some of the hamlets (-) established a social security system in the form of a fund that could provide temporary loans to families that had suffered from illness, fire or similar catastrophes. During this period the responsibility of providmg for the less fortunate families shifted more and more from traditional systems to the authorities. The need for traditional systems of redistribution diminished. Today, with economic crisis and IMF-imposed mon- etary policies, the poorer families have landed in an economic and social vacuum as the state is less willing or able to bear these social costs. The rich regard these costs as the responsibility of the state while the less fortunate attempt to recreate the traditional redistribution system.

The study of investment patterns is, therefore, problematic. Land managers are reluctant to divulge the extent of their assel and any investments planned. This reluctance has roots in tradition but is accentuated by the contemporary State. chapter 5

In this socio-economic situation it is difficult to carry out a study of assets and investment patterns. The following account is based partly on information received from the investors themselves and partly from information received second hand from villagers with insight in the investments made. h my opinion investment patterns relate to agricultural practices that in turn affect soil management in the village of Giting that a study of these investment patterns can be motivated. As for the assets of the different land managers in Giting, only groups 1 - 4 have a surplus that can be used for new investments.

Private investments: Service and trade

The most profitable investment that can be made is the purchase of a lorry. Owning a lorry one can take advantage of the regional grain-price differences and make large profits. Grain can be bought directly from the producers in Giting and the nearby villages and sold directly to the consumer trade in Arusha, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam. Investing in a lony however demands a considerable capital outlay. The last lorry bought in Giting 1994 cost sixty million shillings second-hand. Only five land managers in Giting have had sufficient capital fgr this kind of investment. Some lorry owners improve the security of their business by signing contracts with the grain wholesalers in the big towns for grain deliveries at fixed prices.

Several Giting villagers have invested in businesses in the towns (see table 11). They have set up shops in Babati, Katesh and Singida. These are considerably cheaper than a lorry. At least two have built their own shops in these towns while others rent premises or parts of them. Profit margins are small though. The family of a son, for example will often be financed and the surplus will be relatively modest. This investment category in the towns often includes guest houses. There has been a dramatic increase in real estate prices due to the migration to the towns in the last few years so a reasonable return on the investment is made at the sale of properties in the towns (Baker, 1990). In 1992 there were 4000 households in queue for a site in Katesh. This acute demand has driven up property prices enormously in the last few years. A site in Katesh cost two million shillings on the open market in 1993 whereas the cost of a site allotted by the district administration was formally five thousand shillings.

The cheapest business investments can be made in Giting village itself. From self- contained shops to small kiosks selling everything from agricultural equipment to pens. There are four major stores and many smaller ones. the village that vanished

The most common trade in the village reckoned in number of trade outlets, that do not require major investment, is the sale of home-brewed beer (pombe). There are more than twenty of thesepombe bars. They are run by the middle and rich farmers in the village. Women are usually responsible for the brewing and selling of the beer, but where larger quantities are sold it is often the men who control the profits. In some cases where lesser quantities are involved women can alone control both the production, sales and profits. Brewing is controlled by law and licenses are needed to brew and sell home-brewed beer. The license can be revoked if the laws are not followed. Controls are apparently lax as beer is constantly available though the permits only allow sales at weekends. Another common though illegal activity is the production and sale of home dis- tilled spirits (aonacl). As this is illegal the outlets are always on the move rendering it difficult to estimate the extent of this trade. There are however several places in the village where illegal spirits are sold round the clock. In the service sector it is hiring out ploughng that dominates. Payments are either in cash or more often, in the form of access to arable land (see table 13). There are two privately owned maize mills in the village. A new investment niche has become the building of grain storage buildings, two of these godowns have been built in 1993. Fluctuations in grain market prices make it often worth storing grain until prices rise. Some of the richest farmers who have access to extra land in the village lease the land to anyone who can pay for it. All these activities accumulate capital. As can be expected most of the accumulation is done by the rich farmers. They invest most of their capital outside the village and outside agriculture as a whole.

Private investments: Agriculture

Investments in agriculture are mainly in machinery, fertilisers and improved seed strains. The most common investment is an oxplough. There are more than 500 oxploughs in Giting at present. The greatest number being owned by the middle and rich farmers. There are 32 tractors in the village but the number in working order varies between 11 and 20. All mactors are fitted with ploughs but only a few have any other devices fitted. The second most common piece of agricultural equip ment for tractors are transport carts. It is common for tractor owners to share a cart. There is a sower and a harvester in the village though both have been out of function for a long time. An increasing number of middle peasants invest in oxcarts, home-made usually though wheel axles, rims and tyres must be bought. A home- made oxcart can cost up to 20-25,000 shillings. chapter 5

Few farmers have made any investments in land care. Those that consider that they have done just this, have usually done it for reasons other than preventing soil erosion. For the rich farmers any measures they take are usually related to maintaining security of tenure whereas for the middle peasants land care investments mean simply divemng surface water away from their fields. Investments in land care include the planting of trees, sisal and in some cases constructing embankments as protection from surface water. A couple of short-lived attempts at contour ploughing were noted during the interview period. In two cases investments have been made in agro-forestry systems with coffee, bananas and Grevillea trees. Two land managers have also started fish farms.

One important investment in agriculture is after all to see that previous investments are kept in order. Among the rich farmers this means primarily maintaining their houses, which by Tanzanian standards, are of high quality. Middle farmers also keep their houses in good condition whereas the small farmers often neglect theirs. Maintenance of tractors and oxploughs is relatively expensive. To be able to keep oxen as beasts of burden one needs a herd that can reproduce them. To maintain a team of oxen (4 head) a herd of at least twelve is required (Lindberg, in print). Keeping oxen is labour intensive whereas for tractors you need capital.

When one has a surplus, cattle are often bought. In Giting cattle serve several functions. Traditionally owning a large herd of cattle give the owning family high political and social status, and they play an important part in the traditional social net- work, as referred to earlier. This is still true to a certain extent even though the number of cattle that can be kept in the village is limited. The cattle are therefore, as mentioned earlier, kept in other villages. Cattle, apart from providing milk and meat, function as a bank.

The ailing Tanzanian banking system cannot meet the farmer's credit requirements. In the last ten years interest rates on loans have reached over 30% per annum (Maliyamkono & Bagachwa, 1990).Hardly a healthy borrowing climate. Most farrn- ers lack of collateral as land is not valid for mortgage. Control of borrowers by the banks has been woefully inadequate and huge losses have been made when borrowers default on repayments of both interest and instalments, further restricting credit possibilities for farmers. Cattle have therefore compensated for the lack of a functioning credit system. In good years the cattle herds multiply, providing a good return on investments. Cattle prices have, apart from minor fluctuations, kept pace with inflation rates. When investments are to be made cattle are sold off and when a surplus has been created more cattle are bought. the village that vanished

The geography of private investments

Investment patterns of the Giting farmers provide information on the economic strategies developed by the different economic groups. Geographically one can classify the resource areas used by Gitings' inhabitants into three. The village, nearby villages and the towns. Groups 1 - 3 use all three of these. Within group 4 a minority use all three resource areas whereas the majority are limited to using Giting itself and the nearby villages. The fifth group's access to resources is mainly limited to Giting with a few making use of grazing areas in the nearby villages. Groups 6 and 7 have only access to a limited part of Gitings resources.

Eflects of private investments on land use

The effects of the various investment patterns on land use and land degradation can be summarised as follows:

The richest strata in Giting mainly invest in economic sectors other than agriculture and outside the village. Investments in the village are restricted to improving housing. In agriculture they invest in tractors which are used for extendmg their farming acreage. They do not invest in improved land management as land is easy to acquire.

The middle peasants have the incentive to take care of their land and to increase agricultural output. Not having the capital of the rich farmers they increase labour input to maintain yields and soil fertility.

Investments in cattle made by the rich farmers do not significantly affect the land in Giting as they are usually kept in other villages. The middle peasants herds however &e usually kept in the village and increased numbers severely affect the grazing lands there.

The investment opportunities of the individual land managers within the different social strata have been discussed. There is also another area where surplus from farming is used for investments, namely communal investments by the village. chapter 5

Communal investments in the village

This section is built on data gathered throughout the entire fieldwork period and has been confirmed a number of times by different informants. Material for which verification from independent sources has been impossible to obtain has been excluded, as has information where individuals could be identified. Thus only a fraction of the material gathered is included here.

Village leadership and the waste of capital

After the Villagisation Programme a genuine effort to develop the village was made by the village council. Communal investments made included a school, a dispensary, a cattle dip, a mill, a village tractor, a lorry, a village godown (grain store), a butchery and two village shops. These, however, came under serious threat from a few rich farmers as they took business from their own enterprises, tractors, mills, transport, et cetera. As a result, there was a continuous battle between this group of people and the rest of the village for control over the communal assets. The village council managed to retain control until the late 1980's when things changed drastically. In the following paragraphs we will take a look at events that have occurred in the village in the last few years.

The Piped Water System: Giting has had a piped water system since 1985. The system served the school, the dispensary and a few watering points. In 1989, without the consent of the Village Council, two well-off farmers were connected to the system and built big water tanks on their household plots. Water had previously been scarce and with this added consumption other parts of the village suffered. Many people in the village were angry, and someone, it is said, sabotaged the water pipe. Because of this access to piped water is haphazard even to this day.

The Village Shop: Two village shops were set up in the 1980's to provide the people of Giting with agricultural supplies and other necessary commodities. Previ- ously there were only privately owned shops. The village shops had officially controlled prices and in the late 1980's for some reason the shops were closed. Several new privately owned shops have since been established in Giting. Many people are now in debt to the shop-owners.

The Village Godowa: A godown was built in the village in 1984 and used by the village co-operative to store cash crops awaiting transportation. Later the officials of the co-operative refused to buy some of the poor peasants' crops on the pretext that they were of a poor quality. A rich peasant bought them at half the price then sold them to the co-operative at the price for high quality produce. The poorest group of peasants in the village loose income while their faith in the local official institutions is undermined. the village that vanished

The Lorry and the Tractor: A lorry was purchased by the village in the beginning of the 1980's to transport crops to markets further afield where prices were higher. nomembers of the Village Council were made responsible for the lorry's maintenance and the buying and selling of the crops. Because of its comparatively low charges the village lorry took much of the business away from the village's two private lorries. From the profits a maintenance fund was set up.

Early in the 1990's the lony had a major breakdown that would cost a great deal of money to repair. The two-man committee responsible for running the vehicle decided to draw on the maintenance fund for repairs but they found the money gone. No-one in the %llage Council could be held accountable for the disappearance and according to some villagers the village leadership was quite happy for the incident to be forgotten. The lorry has been idle ever since and the business that once gave the village a good income and eased the villagers' communication problems with the outside world has now been taken over by private lorry-owners.

The village tractor was bought to cultivate the village field and serve as a machine pool. This was done up to the late 1980's providing the village a good income. Many peasants had their fields ploughed by the village tractor which was cheaper to rent than the private ones. As in the case of the lorry a separate maintenance fund was set aside for the tractor. However, when in 1989 the fund was needed to pay for a major breakdown, the money was nowhere to be found. The tractor remained at a standstill till the 1992 cultivation season. During that period the village field was left uncultivated and village finances deteriorated accordingly. In the 1992 cultivation season a small pm of the village field was farmed on orders from the Regional Commissioner in Arusha

Power by Manipulation and Intimidation

From the late 1970's up to 1986 when the vilIage made the communal investments we mentioned earlier the village council was in effect led by the secretary and treasurer. During these years, however, the rich quarter of the village grew to dislike their methods of running village affairs. Gradually the V~llageCouncil members came to be influenced by the rich fanners, and by 1986 they had a majority in the Village Council. From that moment on the secretary experienced direct opposition in meetings and was even accused of many crimes, the most severe being fraud in 1987. The fraud accusation was made by a few rich villagers in Giting. The court found, however, no evidence for conviction and after two weeks he was released. His accusers did not give up and the campaign to get rid of hun continued. Finally, in 1989, with the aid of Party officials at district level, they got hm transferred to a village eleven kilometres away. He was succeeded by a secretary more to their liking, and within two years the laboriously erected structure of communal assets was in a shambles. chapter 5

Leadership Accountability

On the initiative of a Party official in Giting ward a subscription was made in the ward. A total of Tsh. 4.5 million was collected, and was to be invested in the purchase of a bus. Public transport had been an acute problem throughout the entire ward and in 1992 fares on the private bus lines were high. The idea was approved by the inhabitants. The Party official did not, however, purchase the bus and the money was diverted to some other use. In early 1992 he had promised to return the money. Very few believed him, The matter was reported to the district's Party headquarters. The official was never punished by the Party branch in the district despite an investigation being made.

Following complaints from the villagers, the Regional Commissioner for Arusha visited Giting in 1992. The disgruntled villagers decided to air all their complaints, including the erosion of communal investments, the problem of Iand lost to the access roads during the redistribution of land in 1989, corruption 'in Village Coun- cil and the cultivation of grazing areas. As a result of the meeting the Regional Commissioner ordered, among other things, that the village rehabilitate its communal resources and farm the village field. He also nullified the redistribution of land of 1989 and initiated an investigation on how to solve the problem of land and the irregularities of the village finances.

The Party branch at the District level carried out the investigation which resulted in the village chairman being dismissed from hspost. The village secretary was kans- ferred to another village and all the members of the Land Committee in the Village Council were dismissed while the investigation was canied out. The tractor was repaired and part of the village field was cultivated.

At the local level in Giting there is a strong conflict of interests between primarily the rich farmers and the middle peasants. The rich farmers have a power advantage over their rivals as they have well-established contacts with both the Party and the District leadership.

The middle peasants succeeded however in obtaining the support of the Regional Commissioner in their attempts to re-establish some of the communal investments made in the village and to get back some of the land lost these last years. the village that vanished

The loss of investment incentives

Why should a study of land degradation contain material on corruption and thiev- ery? At first glance the correlation between degradation and these factors would appear somewhat tenuous. The sense of insecurity spreading in the wake of the State's growing inability to govern the country has allowed unscrupulous individuals be they farmers, Party functionaries or local government officials to use their power to line their own pockets with impunity while those affected look on help- lessly. This situation counteracts any attempts at long term measures of soil conservation particularly by the less privileged as the collective measures exemplified in this chapter are brought to nothing by the local power elite. InexorabIy they are dismantled or privatised.

The optimism and enthusiasm that suffused the years of the construction of Git- ing's public sector have evaporated leaving only despondence among those groups that derived such suppoft from these collective measures. This is particularly true for the two poorest groups who can now no longer get their fields ploughed by the village tractor, their harvests sold using the village lorry or even in the worst cases, no longer rent out their fields to a richer farmer. In those optimistic years of the 70's, the health care and school systems were built up and covered even the poorest groups. Today the future seems bleak for many Giting families. Though the farming methods of the poorest peasants may be detrimental to the soil the chances of adopting more sustainable methods would be higher if only the structural system allowed them to remain independent farmers. To a great extent there are psychological factors at work here. The apathy and despair that arise from constantly being frustrated in ones attempts at bettering one's situation, are hardly conducive to producing new ideas and ventures in agriculture.

The doctors of the dispensary in the neighbouring village of Endasak, report that alcoholism is getting worse year by year. The people in the village blame this on the hopeless situation of so many pecple. ~lcoholismdiminishes the individual's ability to work and consequently many of the poorest groups simply take the days as they come.

This marginalisation process for several reasons is less apparent among the middle strata's peasants. They have the resources to farm their own fields, retain a cemn belief in the future, and as a group react to the stmctural chaos that at present reigns in the village. They try to improve their situation by strengthening their power over the village resources. The visit made by the Regional Commissioner being perhaps the clearest and most successful example of this recently. It is not so easy for the power elite to enrich themselves at the expense of the middle farmers as they are relatively independent of them. Another important difference is the amount of cooperation and mutual support between the middle farmers allowing them to a greater extent to withstand exploitation. chapter 6

Chapter 6 Analysis and Contextualisat ion

Thestudy made ofthe village of Gitlng will now be analysed and conter~ualired by weavlng the presented material into a historical account. A certain amount of repetition from earlier chapters will therefore be unavoidable. The chapter concIudes with a more theoretical section

Summary and analysis

Giting has undergone a dramatic development where the questions of soil erosion and land conservation have taken a back seat to more immediate concerns that have occupied the villagers' minds, the land reform, the social stratification, the insecure tenure, the droughts, the communal village resources, the political smuggles the breakdown of the Tanzanian State.

These important issues affected however the way the land was used and at the end of the day we can see how closely they were related to the questions of diminishing yields from the fields and the growing gullies.

The expansion of the rich farmers often lead to pure soil mining. nswas especially the case with "illegally invaded" grazing lands where soils were washed away by sheetwash and eroded through rill erosion. Areas under ploughing-contract cultivation were also cared for with no precautions taken against land degradation. The tilling methods, usually tractor ploughing, favoured by the rich fanners encouraged surface run-off and rilling, especially on sloping land with shallow soils. The rich farmers were identified as the least soli caring social group in the vilIage.

Soil managing cultivation was counteracted by the extreme poverty and lack of resources of a large group of people. Many without even the capacity to cultivate the land they officially possessed could not influence the way their fields were tilled by other land managers. Those who managed to cultivate their own lands could not afford manure or chemical fertilisers to compensate for the loss of soil nutrients the village that vanished through cultivation. Such inputs as pesticides, improved seeds, agricultural equipment, etc., were also beyond their means. The main cause of their poverty was, however, lack of labour to maintain self sustaining production. Insecurity of tenure has counteracted long-term sustainable agriculture. The legal situation regarding land tenure has been so uncertain that land managers in all wealth groups have felt a need to strengthen tenure security. Those with enough resources made investments that would increase compensation should they be evicted. On land that had an extremely insecure tenure status, i.e. the "invaded" lands they planted trees and contour ploughed but without facilitating prevention of erosion. The middle peasants' strategy was to keep their fields continuously under cultivation. The poor peasant's strategy was to limit the time that the same land manager could cultivate their land on ploughing contract to prevent the contractor aquiring the right of tenure to their land. The risk of loosing rights of tenure was strongly felt by all land managers in Giting. Those with resources were concerned that the Village Council would confiscate the land they had illegally invaded, the middle peasants feared that the Village Council would exchange their fields for fields in other parts of the village while the poor feared that their land would be taken over by the more affluent. Many farmers were therefore reluctant to take any long term initiative to maintain or improve the land they had, choosing a strategy of ~xpandinginto new areas outside or inside the village. The precarious nature of society affected the land managers' drive to improve their lot. This was especially true for the most marginalised land managers who had given up any effort to develop agriculture. Lacking the resources and necessary contacts to involve themselves in new undertakings, many of them after years of trying to better themselves, had failed. Many had just given up hope, talung the day as it comes, with no future prospects whatever. To what extent this affected land management was not easy to estimate. Asked to rank the main obstacles to agriculture, it was apparent that more or less all in wealth group 7 felt this way. Common resources have not been used to support the most needy so that land could be utilised in beneficial ways. The struggle between the rich farmers and the middle peasants blocked their use for a decade or so. The village lorry and tractor have been under-utilised and members of the Village Council so preoccupied with the struggle, having no energy left to deal with important village issues. This has led to the erosion of the communal resources that had given some basic support to the least endowed land managers in Giting. As a consequence many poorer land managers have been unable to cultivate their land and forced to become destitute day labourers. Changes in the internal structural conditions of the village have counteracted the traditional knowledge and skills of sustainable agriculture that the Iraqw cultivators had built up for centuries. Structural con&tions are affected by the way people or- -- chapter 6

ganise their society as much as the ecological conditions of the area they cultivate. The structural circumstances in Giting reward individual strategies in cultivation and grazing whereas the traditional system was based on neighbourhood co-operation. The move towards individual strategies has increased in recent years in connection with the dismantling of the communal assets. The ecological conditions of the area, as well as the availability of expansion areas, affect how agriculture and grazing are conducted. The rainfall is relatively high in the village and the soils naturally fertile giving few incentives to implement soil and water conservation techniques. Grazing is still available in other villages in the surroundings giving the Giting villagers few incentives to stall-feed or zero-graze their cattle.

People's potential for freely developing healthy agricultural practices are obviously affected by outside forces. The colonial policies of destocking of the Mama Isara area, the efforts to open up new areas of settlement, the tse-tse clearances and the avowed aim of building a "prosperous indigenous middle class of farmers" have all had consequences that still affect land management and social development in the village. "African socialism" as expzrienced by the villagers was perhaps the most striking change throughout the history of the village. The resulting land reform and the changes in settlement patterns finally extinguished the little that was left of the traditional Iraqw social structure. It also had an immense effect on the production system changing the agro-pastoral way of production towards increased and intensified agriculture. Land was put under the plough, cattle were concentrated to already overgrazed patches and naturally land degradation ensued. Lately the effects of the structural adjustment programmes have affected the villagers' lives. The already malfunctioning Tanzanian administration has become less able to balance various actors on the local scene or even to maintain the basic functions such as the police force, the courts, extension services, health care, schooling, etc. This has mainly been to the disadvantage of the already weak groups in Giting while the rich ap- plauded the new opportunities presented by a deregulated economy and with less social and legal control over such resources as land, water, forests and communal investments. The effect on land use was that areas considered unfit for farming were cultivated by the rich farmers while one third of the poorest land managers failed to cultivate their relatively fertile land forming green islands in the midst of newly ploughed fields. The profits made from agriculture in Giting have been invested outside the village and not used to intensify agriculture or to implement soil conservation measures. Investments made in the village were considerably reduced when the Village Coun- cil ceased to make any new investments in the mid 1980's. The private investments made concentrated on increased acreage under cultivation while at the same time abandoning exhausted less productive land. The largest investments in agriculture were made outside the village in ecologically sensitive areas. This exhausted the village resources as reinvestments were small. The investments made in the village ! were mostly in buildings and agricultural equipment to rationalise ploughing, while investments in land improvement were marginal. the village that vanished

The most committed peasanrs in the village were wealth group 4 and 5. They invested most of the surplus they gained in maintenance and improvement of their agriculture. They also took soil conservation measures when needed. They stated that soil conservation measures were difficult to implement individually and required co-operation with land managers in other wealth groups. Co-operation was common between the middle peasants and they were fully aware of the negative effects of the land degradation processes. Having less access to land outside the village and in need of co-operation with their friends to handle laborious tasks in cultivation they had more incentive to intensify production in situ than other land managers. Land Managers in these groups tried to uphold the Iraqw tradition of agro-pastoralism and co-operation which also meant that they had more cattle in the village than the small grazing areas could maintain.

The findings of the Giting study will now be contextualised in the form of a chronol- ogy from the turn of the century to 1994. The intention is to give the reader a possibility to link the various studies, the coloured dots, into an understandable picture. chapter 6

The Story of Resource Erosion in the Village of Giting

From the turn of the century to vilbgisation

The name Giting in the Barabaig tongue means both "black earth" and "place w~th good pasture for calves". The natural vegetation of the area consists of various species of grass of which a number are considered to be excellent cattle fodder. The village is relatively newly colonised for agriculrural use. Little is known of its history before the arrival of the Iraqw people at the beginning of this century except that it had previously been used for grazing by both the Gorowa and the Barabaig people. By 1934 the lraqw had taken over completely and had at the time, according to the village elders, extensive agropastoral production. In the 1930's the colonial government introduced ambulatory cattle markets as the area was regarded as a meat store due to the extenr of the Barabaig herds. Cattle production was undcr threat at this time from trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) which between the years 1924 and 1948 became quite serious, limiting the chances of cultivating the land (Kjaerby, 1979:15 ff.). The tsetse fly however never reached Giting as the climatic conditions were not conducive for the hatching larvae.

The area's first large public works project were the tsetse forest clearances of the 40's and 50's. Millions of man-days of forced labour led to the felling of thousands of acres of forest allowing the land to be cultivated for the first s~rne(Meek, 1953: 161). People from the previously densely populated Mbulu Highlands moved in and the cultivation of the former Barabaig grazing land increased. Government encourage- ment in the form of credit and generous land allocations sped the process. Expan- sion of the road net and improvement of the main road between Babati and Singida allowed grain and meat to reach the markets of Arusha and the other towr,s. All this was an important part of the government policy to provide food for the large coffee and sisal plantations in the North (Kjaerby, 1979: 19).

The environmental consequences of the changes wrought by the tsetse clearances have been the subject of much debate. Several researchers have recorded an increase in soil erosion after the clearances (Mung'ong'o, in print, Ostberg, 1987:27). It is however difficult to assess the effect of the clearances per se as increased cultivation, which was indeed the object of the clearances, occurred at the same time. In other areas where clearances have been canied out they are always cited as important factors in land degradation (Ibid). Clearly the Giring area was only to a lesser extent exposed to these environmental changes. the village that vanished

Naturat preconditions for cultivation in Giting are good. Rainfall is plentiful and the soil fertile and relatively resistant to erosion. There is good reason for stating that land degradation to any great extent can not have occurred before the 1950's when five families appropriated large plots of land for cultivation supported by the colonial authorities.

This was the start of the history of large-scale cultivation. Aerial photographs of the region from 1960 show a few contiguous cultivated areas in the valley bottoms, covering a little more than 1000 acres. Most of the 223 houses identifiable from the pictures had small plots near the houses mostly located on the slopes. Even then maize was the major crop but sorghum and millet were also grown. Most farms had between one and two acres of the slope-land under cultivation and a relatively large number of cattle. A normal land manager would have access to 20 head of cattle and many goats according to village elders. In conjunction with the cultivation of valley bottom land, the five land managers were given credit for the purchase of agricultural machinery. By the end of the 1960's the village could boast more than 30 tractors. Oxploughs were introduced at this time, a novelty from the Karatu region in the north of Mbulu district, where they had been introduced by the British in the 30's (Kjaerby, 1983). This development led to the decline of pasture and keeping cattle became more difficult in the village. Most households could maintain their agropastoral ways however.

The number of large land owners increased only slowly during the 1960's and the early 1970's. Giting became, according to the elders, an important labour market for day labourers during this time. At weeding time especially, when hundreds of labourers were employed. These came mainly from the surrounding villages but gradually Giting itself acquired a group of labourers. The process of social stratification had begun.

With the advent of independence in 1961 the former Barabaig chiefdom became the ethnically neutral Barabaig Division, increasing the influence of the Iraqw in Git- ing affairs. Those who had made fortunes by the cultivation of the valley bottoms acquired more power that lead to conflicts with the informal Iraqw structure.

A major area of contention was the question of the cultivation of pasture-lands. The majority still had agropastoral ways and demand for grazing land was considerable. Those with the capacity for valley bottom cultivation increased their acreage yearly by acquisition of what was considered to be the best pasture land.

The resulting lack of available pasturage lead to extensive overgrazing and soil erosion resulted, especially on the slopes of the small hills. It is generally agreed that the cultivated areas were not affected by any visible erosion until the 1970's. chapter 6

Villagisation The most sweeping change made in Giting's history was, undoubtedly the so called Villagisation Programme. Its prelude was the struggle in rhe early 1970's between radical Party functionaries on one side, attempting to apply the govemment-recommended uiampolicy voluntarily in the nation's villages, and the r~chfarmers in wealth groups 1-3 on the other. In Giting two rich farmers had put new land under the plough without getting the requisite permits. In the neighbouring v~llagesthere were eight farmers who had expanded their domains in a similar way. The ten farmers were accordingly taken to court by Party officials in the 1970's. The local court however lacked the jurisdiction to condemn these "crimes" as the old colonial system of customary law was still in effect. Consequently the Party officials lost their case and the rich farmers were free to continue their expansion to the further detriment of the pasture-lands (lCjae;by 1987:35). However the expansion of the land managers in wealth group 1-3 came to an abrupt halt in 1974. The Villagisation Programme was, by Party decree, implemented throughout most of the nation's villages between 1973 and 1976 (McHenry, 1979; Hydtn, 1980; Putterman, 1985-86). All ownership and use rights were revoked and land redis~ributed(relatively) equally among the village households. Most people in Giting were forced ro move to residential areas. Naturally, reactions to the Villagisation Programme varied along socio-economic lines, though everyone disapproved of having to move. The poor peasants who had become marginalised under the preceding decades looked forward to the prospect of gaining more land. The middle peasants who had previously had difficulty in hold- ing their own against the rich farmers could at last get revenge and increase their political power in the village. The rich farmers were the big losers of the Villagisa- tion Programme and had to consider how best to compensate for their loss of agricultural land. According to the present Village Council the Programme was hastily implemented in Giting and some mistakes were made. The most fatal was that all arable land was shared out with no thought of future population increases. Another fact that later caused many conflicts, was omitting to mark access paths to fields. Most however were pleased with the result as the majority made gains in the process. The massive criticism that is levelled today at the Villagisation Program often omits to mention that at the time, at least occasionally, the process had majority-support at local levels.

There were of course areas where resistance to the process was compact, the neighbouring Barabaig heartland for example, and in certain areas of the country the opposition was so forceful that it could not be carried out at all, other than formally. In some cases the State resorted to coercive measures resulting in even more vocif- the village that vanished

Map 10 shows the change in the pattern of settlements between 1960 and 1990/91. As is clearly demonstrated the patterns bear 11tt)ecorrelation between the two dates. Vlllagisation radically changed the placing of housing. Nearly everyone had to uproot from lheir dwelling places and build new houses in areas that were more agglomerated. From 1960 to 1990 the total number of sertlements doubled. In the late 1980's the rich farmers began building satellite houses on the village grazlng grounds. Settlement pattem roday consists of both the planned agglomeradons and rhe spread pattem of the satellite dwellings.

Settlement pcrttern 1960 and 1 990-91 in the Giting area o Semernent wn1960, me regrtxumood reMement Wern

a&~mammentIn im-91. me result of m w~cgfsatlm

Sccmwed rememen; in l Q900 1 a pmr-ullo~suikfeotueme

Map 10

126 erous opposition (Hydtn, 1980; Kjaerby, 1980; Talle, 1974). In Giting, however the majority of the villagers looked forward to the creatlon of a better, more egalitarian soclety on the basis of the uiamaa policy.

Though the rich land managers lost much of their land they did not automatically lose their influence on village affairs. Many poor peasants were in their debt and many more simply dependent on the day labounng offered by them for their daily survival. A number of the poorest people lacked the technical and human resources to farm the allocated land. The solution was often that the rich farmers would acquire user rights to part of land in exchange for carrying out the plough work on the other part, often half of the area. In cases where a poor peasant was in debt it was common for him to relinquish his use rights entirely to repay the debt in exchange for a promise of day labour for his family's survival. In this way the rich farmers could somewhat compensate for their losses.

One effect of villagisation was that the rich farmers began to turn to other economic sectors than agriculture and the village. Even before villagisation some of the rich farmers were involved in grain businesses, owned shops in the viilage or land and cattle in other villages and even other activities beyond the confines of Giting.

With the reduction of their capital returns within the village they now began to seriously consider opportunities farther afield. One of them started a transport com- pany in Arusha. Some attempted to lease former "white" farms and others tried their hands at the property market in the towns.

Linked to the villagisation process an institutional reform was carried out, in the guise of decentralisation of power, that for more than a decade strengthened the position of Giting's middle peasants. In reality this decentralisation reform was a boost to centralisation and Party dominance. The powerful District Councils created after independence were abolished and replaced by a system of committees and secretaries at division, ward and village level. These secretaries played a dual role as they represented both the Party and the State, providing important political channels directly down to village level (Booth et al. 1993:19). The political importance of the Village was strengthened as it now formed the most important decision- making level locally. The Village acquired not only the right to share out land among it's households but also allocate resources for development of the village with income from communal work.

The middle peasants felt the they had the support of the Party representatives as the policies of the Party were in tune with their needs in the village. Their struggle with the rich fanners had not, before villagisation, been particularly successful. Grazing land had increasingly been acquired by the rich farmers and the middle peasants the village that vanished were forced to sell their produce to the rich farmers as middlemen and at disadvan- tageous prices. Trade in the village was also in the hands of the rich farmers and prices high. The middle peasants now saw the opportunity, with the aid of the Party, to use the co-operatives, the national grain sales organisation and the National Mill- ing Corporation, to build up the village's communal resources, and compete with the rich farmers. This would let them retain more of their surplus and simultaneously develop the village.

As stated earlier the villagisation process was hastily implemented. So hasty in fact that Parliament had not had time to pass the law rendering the process legal. This sweeping change acquired legal status only the year after it had been decreed. "The Village Act of 1975" regulated in detail how the villages were to be organised and the rights and obligations of the village and its institutions. An important detail was that the villages should be issued a leasehold by the Ministry of Land. Without this leasehold the law would not take effect. A map of the village was to be drawn up and a land-use plan made and approved by the Regional Planni-ng Oftice. Giting has not yet received its leasehold, a fate it shared with many of the nation's villages. In the Tanzania of the 1970's though, legality carried less weight than the will of the Party for both officials and courts. In ths way the new law was applied in many parts of the country although strictly speaking the legal requirements were not ful- filled. At the same time the old cdonial legislature was also still in effect.

In Giting this meant that ploughing contracts had time-limits. If a rich fanner had cultivated a field several years in a row he could, through the courts, lay claim to it citing customary law in support of hs case. Therefore most poor peasants would avoid letting their land more than a season or two to the same rich farmer. This meant that the soil on rented land would only be cultivated one or two seasons by the same farmer. Long term planning was thus impossible and investment plans counteracted. Fields let under ploughing contract terms are subsequently among the least productive and most degraded in the village.

The redistribution of land canied out in 1974 was rather haphazard. Those who promised the allocation officials some form of benefit in the future or with ready cash in hand got land in the immediate vicinity of their houses. With the concentration of housing that had resulted from the moves this was a privilege for the few. In extreme cases the fields allocated were as far as six kilometres away.

Consequently farmers were constantly seeking to exchange the land for plots closer to home. This counteracted any long-term planning or investments. To this day (1993) many fanners are still looking for suitable exchanges whilst others after a series of exchange transactions are finally satisfied. chapter 6

The distance between fields and homes is an important variable. The average distance is a twenty minute walk though some spend an hour on the journey to work. Distances make transport of manure, not to mention harvesting, difficult. Keeping guard is not easy with the consequent risk of birds and other pests destroying seedlings and crops. Thefts of maize from unguarded fields are not unknown. Conse- quently productivity is lowest on the most distant fields.

Most unfortunate in the distribution of land were farmers who were allocated two or more small parcels of land instead of one large plot. As these were the remainders when four acre felds were parcelled out they were often located far away from the houses. Some were _!fxated four one-acre parcels in different parts of the village counteracting any rational use of the land. Or as one of the interviewees put it "....it's mostly walking about with my hoe on my shoulder ". Nor are these parcels desirable exchanges.

The greatest change in connection to the villagisation, affecting nearly all households was the decision of the Regional Planning Ofice to designate Giting an agricultural village (kilim) that should concentrate on cereal production. A limit was put on cattle ownership. As previously noted the majority of the households were agro-pastoralists with about twenty head of livestock. The limit was nine head per household. The valley lands, even those not previously cultivated were assigned to crop production. Most of the fonner grazing areas came under the plough creating considerable overgrazing. Most households had to change their ways and become more agriculturalists than pasroralists.

Thus the former field pattern with uncultivated rareas between the fields was substituted by a more or less contiguous cultivation of the Hanang mountain slope. This encouraged overland flow. Cultivation extended to the detriment of the grazing possibilities in the village and post-harvest grazing spread which, according to some of the villagers and District officials (there is a bye-law prohibiting post-harvest grazing) negatively affects the organic content of the soils.

This suited the farmers in wealth group 1-3 very well as they had earlier exploited the village's rich potential for cultivation and avoidmg cattle keeping there but exacerbated the conflict between them and the middle peasants who wished to remain agro-pastoralists. The most common reason for moving from the village is still lack of pasture-land, though most of those that leave retain their farms in Giting moving their cattle to satellite households in other areas.

The most concrete result of the villagisation in Giting was thus the switch in production methds from extensive agro-pastoralism to a greater emphasis on cereal production. Despite some unfavourable changes for the rich fanners, the old inequalities remained intact but the village that vanished

now with an improvement in the lot of the middle peasants. Villagi- sation meant also that land ownership became less secure as the legal framework was lacking. Grazing acreage decreased leading to more overgrazing increasing the tension between the rich and middle peasants. This resulted in an increase in land degradation as other studies also have shown (Kikula, 1986, Friis-Hansen, 1986).

Middle peasants at the helm and the start offield erosion

The first Village Council after villagisation was dominated by middle peasants. Two factors came to influence peoples' opinions of villagjsation - the oil crisis of 1974 and the long drought that struck the region between 1974 and 1976. The government had promised the villages increased social services. Schools, health care, veterinary services, infrastructure and housing standards would be improved by generous State subsidies and income from the village communal works. The cost of oil imports quadrupled in the years 74-76 seriously damaging the counrq's economy and making the earlier government promises impossible to fulfil. The drought, which lasted three consecutive agricultural seasons, interfered with the start of the communal economic activities that were part of the villagisation pack- age.

The Giting villagers suffered greatly during this period. They had been forced to uproot and build new houses, their established farming lands had to be abandoned and many were forced to break virgin ground in the laborious valley bottom lands. Map 11 illustrates the redistribution and increased acreage of the areas under cultivation.

Grazing resources were depleted. Those who managed to plough up and plant the first new crops, because of the drought, got only a small or in some cases no, harvest. Cattle died of malnutrition and people were starving. The government had to send emergency shipments to areas that normally produced a surplus. The drought lasted so long that some of those interviewed thought they would starve to death.

When the rain finally came in 1977 most cattle had been sold or had died and most seed had been consumed. Many had to begin life anew with no resources whatsoever. The government arranged dismbution of seed to the poorest (Coulson, 1982:26), the tractors and oxen of the rich began pIoughng and slowly but surely life began to return to nod.Many families had however been completely mind during these hard times and have not unto this day succeeded in again becoming self-supporting peasants. During this time there was an increase in the number of households in social categories 6 and 7 of my survey and social stratification intensified. chapter 6

Map l l shows changes in cultivation patterns between the years 1960 and 1990191. There is little correlation between the two dates. Changes in the system of cultivation were as sweeping as the changes in the settlement pattern. Tie distribution of fields in 1990191 show no adaptation at all to the natural pre-conditions for agriculture whereas aerial photographs from 1960 show how cultivation is adapted to the level of technology, rainfall and soil quality.

Cultivcrtlon in Gillr-g 1 960 and 1 990-9 1

anvoted Reld 1~0.91 km under cdflvdlon In 1960

I l I I 0 1 2 3 4 KT

Map 11 nai the village that vanished

Sowing and ploughing, for those that managed it. in the 1977-78 season was well rewarded. Harvests were plentiful. By helping each other out, most fanners managed to get their land ploughed and sown by the advent of the following season. In November-December 1978 the short rains fell with unprecedented violence. The fields of Giting lay newly ploughed and sown. For the first time visible signs of erosion were quickly apparent in the naked fields. The fields closest to the streams that flow down from the Hanang Mountain had been ploughed too close to the bank. The stream banks collapsed and deep gullies encroached into the fields. The surface water gathered in wide rapid streams that washed away soil and seedlings, down the slopes towards the Mbuaa. The village field suffered gully erosion and many valley fields were flooded. After the powerful short rains, emergency repairs were made and new seed planted to replace those washed away. In spite of the torrential rain the harvest was adequate and Citing had, for the first time since villagisation a surplus to sell. Many interviewees and informants have told how hard the times were immediately after villagisation and how happy they felt when the rains returned. The villagers also agree that soil erosion in the fields started and became visible during the 1978 cultivation season

The plentiful rain and the improved conditions for cultivation brought the village money. Furthermore, bank loans were available. An investment was made - a village tractor was purchased. Income from the village field made further investments possible:

@ A school a clinic two village shops, a butchers a diesel-powered maize mill and a village office

W~ththe advent of the village's own resources, so interest awoke in getting at them. The middle peasant majority on the Village Council as yet, withstood the sabotage attempts and bribery offers of the rich farmers. The struggle for control of the village communal resources had intensified.

Under the final years of the 1970's Tanzania lived on borrowed money. As a result of the oil crisis Western banks had surplus capital and for the first time Thud World countries could easily borrow money from the private Western banks. Tanzania had, after the oil crisis with its attendant price increases enormous borrowing requirements. The government's economic policy was to stimulate State and co-operatively owned ventures and private enterprise and ownership were discouraged. The surplus from the agricultural sector was bought up either by co-operatives or the State controlled parastatals. The co-operatives had a monopoly on the saIe of agricultural input (Coulson, 1982:304). The state-conlrolled buying and selling organisations chapter 6 never succeeded in satisfying the demands of the farming community. There were several causes. Lack of foreign currency for the import of agricultural input. Ineffi- ciency and over-employment making for high transaction costs and profits that vanished mysteriously in the parastatal organisations. State enterprises had to carry out transactions at prjces controlled by the State rather than the market and as products were in short supply, the sate-controlled prices were considerably lower than the informal prices (Maliyamkono & Bagachwa, 1990: 155, table 3.1). Widespread corruption forced the closing of the co-operatives at the end of the 1970's. They were reinstalled in 1984. The State controlled economy was in complete chaos between I978 and 1985 allowing the infonnal economy to blossom throughout the nation as never before and it penetrated every economic sector (Havnevik et al., 1988:145, Maliyarnkono & Bagachwa, 1990:33 ff.).

In Giting the main effect of the spread of the informal economy was that the rich farmers could engage in the illegal grain trade and made considerable profits. Ac- cording to the criteria given in the wealth ranking a group of innovative young men involved in smuggling activities on the black market got rich this way. The crisis years 1979 to 1986 produced about fifteen relativeIy wealthy families in the village strengthening the rich farmer grouping. Their attacks on the village leadershp intensified, exacerbated by the fact that the two village shops were prospering as prices there were lower than in the private shops. The village tractor had lower ploughing fees than the private ones and the village lorry competed successfully with privately owned enterprises. Giting was at the time regarded as a well organised and prosperous village.

The Tanzanian State was in a state of economic collapse between 1981 and 1985 (Maliyamkono Br Bagachwa, 1990: 139- 140, table 1.1). Foreign aid and import subsidies diminished drastically and new loans were impossible due to pressure from IMF, FinalIy, in September 1985 an agreement was reached with IMF. The lack of goods and fuel during these two years was acute. The nomind value of the local currency some five to ten times its real worth (Ibid:158, table 3.16) and official imports virtually non-existent (Ibid: 164, table 4.3) .

In Giting the economic situation meant that the village field remained unused because of the lack of spare parts and fuel. The tractor, mill and lorry lay idle for the same reasons. The village economy deteriorated whilst people involved in the informal economy prospered. The signing of the IMF agreement forced a shift in State and Party policies. Tbe favoured state-controlled and co-operative enterprises, now at the mercy of market forces, lost both State subsidies and moral support. Giting's private entrepreneurs were encouraged by this development and attempted systematically to take power in the village. the village that vanished

One of the more powerful men on the Village Council had been the treasurer. Ac- cording to several key infonnants he had earned a reputation of being incorruptible and worked resolutely for the good of the village. He had, together with the secretary been responsible for the development of the village's communal activities that, for a Tanzanian village, worked unusually well.

The village treasurer resigned from his post in 1986, the informants did not know why, but say that it was because of increased pressure from the rich farmers or for personal reasons. His successor was alleged to have allied himself with the rich farmers, taking bribes and embezzling village funds. The secretary, who remained at his post, is said to have opposed these attempts and therefore the rich farmers tned to have him removed. He was accused of embezzlement and was in custody for two weeks before being acquitted in court. On his return to the village he was transferred to a village eleven kilometres away by Distnct level Party officials who had been persuaded by the rich farmers -". . . who can trust a man accused of embezzlement?"

The economically difficult years 1983-85 coincided with yet another period of drought, at its most severe between 1984 and 1986. Each of the rainy years of 1978-82 had caused erosion during the short-rain season. The later, drier years arrested the process but harvests had become noticeably smaller. Whether this was due to land degradation or had other causes is difficult to ascertain since other changes in the agricultural system had occurred at this period.

According to some of the middle peasants one of the most important reasons for the smaller harvests was the gradual tendency to monocrop maize instead of the traditional intercropping of maize and beans. Monocropping increased further with the introduction of the Global 2000 program (an international aid-program headed by the former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, with the aim of increasing agricultural production) in the vjllage in the late 1980's. To participate in the program, which gave the fanner chemical fertilisers and improved strains of maize on credit, the farmer had to monocrop. Damage from insects and fungal infections mounted. Even before the GIobal 2000 program, experimentation was undenvay with new strains of high-yield maize, but these needed fertilisers and more watering. In the mid-1980's it was difficult to obmn fertilisers, high-yield seed and pesticides, which may also have affected the harvest results. According to the interviews most people in Giting believe that harvests have declined since 1978 when an acre of land would produce 30 bags of maize at best and 20 on average without the use of industrial fertilisers, manure or pesticides. chapter 6

The rich farmers come to power and dismantle the public sector

The communal economic enterprises of Giting were a bone of contention between the rich and middle peasants between !he years 1986 and 1989 that effectively stopped all maintenance work and new investments. The tractor and lorry being out of action for long stretches could not pay the costs of the village enterprises mainly because (he village field was uncultivated. The number of rich farmers grew through their activities in the parallel economy whrle the political control of the state that had held them in check the previous decade decreased. The Land Committee of the Village Council began to allow the rich farmers to cultivate grazing land and accu- sations of bribery spread. Even if a majority of the Land Committee allowed the rich farmers to cultivate grazing lands the middle peasants still held a majority in the V~llageCouncil.

Demands from young landless families for their own plots grew and 1989 the council ruled that new areas of grazing land should be allocated to the young families for cultivation. At the same time it was decided that the land should be redistributed to make room for access roads to the fields. The Land Committee made investigations to see which parts of the grazing land were suitable for cultivation. The new areas were principally situated high on the Hanang Mountain slope. The climate there is suitable for coffee and pyrethrum growing but somewhat too cool for beans and maize. It was decided that half-acre fields be parcelled off, the young families would get a half-acre for coffee and a half acre for pyrethrum. This was also in accordance with the official policy of producing export crops, as demanded by the IMF apree- ment. Pressure was therefore put on the Village Council by the Regional authorities to use the agricultural expansion for export crops.

Those that stood to lose land to access roads were to be compensated with land in these new areas. When the new areas were to be shared out it became apparent that those that already had land wished to increase their acreage but without relinquish- ing any to the landless or to those who lost land to the access roads, Those that could afford a fee to the ViHage Council got a share. The landless and the ones that h2d lost land to the access roads got none. The village field was partly parcelled off in one acre plots to those that paid the council, and shrank from 500 acres to 300 acres in this way.

There were protests from the farmers who had lost out to the access roads. The Ward secretary who has the right to jail troublemakers for nine days, locked up all the protesters. On their release nine days later they were asked if they had thought of continuing their protests. Those that did spent another nine days in jail and so it went on until the protests were stifled. At the time of the last fieldwork in early 1994, they still had not been compensated and continued to argue their case, having meetings, etc. 135 the village that vanished

The short rains of December 1989 were unusually heavy, heavier the villagers said, than in 1978. Overland flow was powerful and a considerable part of the harvest on affected fields was washed away. The gullies in the valley bottoms quickly length- ened. New stones appeared in the fields and some Giting farmers even claim that the large stones were washed down from the rain forests on the Hanang mountain by the might of the flow. Visible erosion in the village grew (Map 4) and harvests were damaged by floodng in the valley bottoms by this extremely rainy season. Three seasons of drought followed this and the erosion temporarily abated.

The rich farmers had cultivated grazing ground for several years causing protests from the middle peasants. The Village Council was forced into bringing action against ten of the worst offenders who immediately began planting trees and constructing terraces on the cultivated fields, so that if forced to give them up, compensation would be greater. Compensation being calculated on the loss of potential income that the owner sustains. Compensation for a tree was thus the value of a full grown tree, even if only a seedling at the time. Improvements -made such as terraces or contouring are compensated, according to the amount of work they involve. The compensation is to be paid by those who reclaim the rights or the successor (Johansson, 199 1 :21)

To get a case heard in court, key-informants say, demands persuasive powers - or in some cases cash, The court magistrate says that because of the intricacies of land ownership there are many disputes over rights and a long queue to the courts. Some cases simply never got a hearing, always ending up at the bottom of the pile unless suitable offers were made to court officials. There was usually a payment to be made for winning a case regardless of any legal aspect. The more serious the crime the higher the cost. One villager was said to have murdered a neighbour but managed to avoid charges even though several witnesses reported to the police. Some other types of crime were given very harsh sentences. There was a case in Giting wherk a man was threatened with a five year sentence for selling illicit spirits. The family loyally paid the twenty thousand shillings the court unofficially demanded for his release. Also other petty crimes were harshly punished, someone stealing margarine in a shop, others cutting trees in the Hanang Mountain forest reserve being sen- tenced to between six months and three years.

In a system where security of life and property is weak the underprivileged are unable to demand their rights. It took almost a year before the case of the appropria- tion of grazing land by the rich farmers reached the courts and the village, as might be expected lost the case, paving the way for further cultivation of pasture lands. Many areas reserved for grazing because of soils too thin or too sloping to sustain intensive cultivation are now cultivated as long as they produce a harvest. There are cases where slopes are completely denuded of topsoil after two seasons. chapter 6

The years following villagisation when the rich farmers' options of cultivation in the villages were curtailed, a system was developed protecting those who let their fields on ploughing contracts. The rich farmer that rented the poor peasant's land had an obligation to ensure that the family survived the season. Usually this meant the promise of day labour for the poor family. When later it became easier to get access to land in other villages and cultivate Giting's pasture land, ploughing contracts became relatively expensive. To get access to land it was no longer necessary to ensure the livelihood of a whole family for a whole season. The rich farmers began to bring in cheap labourers from outside. They only had to be paid for the time they actually were needed.

Those worst hit by this change were the families with the least or weakest work- force, who in the severest cases could not even rent out their fields. Day labour in the village is usually done by womenfolk in the poor families. The men look elsewhere if they work for others. It is not socially acceptable for the men to work in their home village but regarded as natural for women

Women are considered to be better workers, demand less pay and be more trustwor- thy than men. "Women can work without supervision, you always have to keep an eye on men" as one rich farmer observed. Women prefer to be paid in kind as they must feed their family. Men are usually paid cash as they have to pay school fees and take care of the family's external affairs. Consequently the man's economic role has diminished drastically in the poorest families and many women have sepa- rated from their men. This is reflected in the fact that the lower social categories have the highest frequency of female-headed households.

This social marginalisation was exacerbated by the increase of alcoholism primarily amongst men. Wages went directly to beer or spirits at the end of the day's work. The physical effects of the high alcohol consumption affected the attitude towards male workers, as they often were absent from work the day after pay day or were incapable of canying out a day's work. The incidence of cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitus and other alcohol-related diseases was on the increase, said doctors at the nearest drspensary in Endasak. Deaths at the age of 40 from these causes were not unusual leaving the women as widows at an early age and contributing to the incidence of female headed households.

The dependency relationship between rich and poor peasants, where the rich get access to land and manpower and the poor get income in return, has declined in significance these last years, leaving the poor peasant group in an economic and social vacuum. Their situation is deteriorating leaving many of them with no hope at all for the future, according to the interviews made. the village that vanished

Many of the interviewed single women had formed relationships with richer married men to counteract social exclusion. They bore their children and behaved pretty well as secondary wives without the relationship being formalised. In return they received a modicum of security and status. This informal system was apparently becoming more frequent. A precondition, though, was that the woman had access to land in some way. UsuaIly they were widows that had retained their late husband's farm. Some were women who had been abandoned by their husbands.

Another group that deserves special comment was the middle peasants forming an economically and socially more independent group. They often co-operated in managing their farming, collectively owning machinery or sharing implements. They attempted to combine cattle keeping with the cultivation of crops but suffered from the lack of both pasture and arable land. They were seldom in a strong enough social or economic position to expand their farming beyond the confines of the village. Nevertheless a few had set up satellite households in other villages to gain access to more pasturage, though they would have preferred to have kept their cattle in Giting. As their access to arable land was limited they tried to intensify production. Furthermore they were womed by the lminishing returns of agricultural production, specifically naming the lack of co-operation between fmersthat prevents land-care measures being undertaken.

The middle peasants own the largest share of arable land in the village, form a majority of the population and produce, according to the interviews, most of the agncultural products in the village. Most of them manage to farm the land they were allocated and some rent a few extra acres. The traders in the village said that they constituted the most important market as far as agricultural input and other consumer goods were concerned. Politically homogenous they tried to avoid the resources contro1Ied by the rich farmers for ploughing, grain sales and product purchases. Recently, as the common resources of the village were dismantled, they had been forced once again into using these resources.

In a desperate attempt to re-establish their position and get the village affairs in order, they, with the support of Party functionaries, contacted the Regional Com- missioner in Arusha. In the autumn of 1992 Giting was visited by the Regional Commissioner who made a clean sweep. An interim council was formed until new elections could be held in autumn 1993. The previous secretary, who had been transferred in 1989 was reinstated and given the task of gemng the village affairs back in order.

As the village's communal economy was completeIy bankrupt, a bank loan was arranged to set up the most basic of the communal resources again. It was then discovered that the village already owed a considerable sum to the bank. One of the fmt tasks for the reinstated secretary was to begin repayments on the loan that had chapter 6 been embezzled by the old corrupt council. A new loan was however granted and the visit by the Regional Commissioner lead to the repairing of the village tractor, to the cultivation of part of the village field and that land tenure became even more insecure as the 1989 land distribution no longer applied. At some stage land would be fairly distributed even to the landless but meanwhile those who had been allocated land were allowed to retain it.

The summer of 1993 saw an increase in the political activity of the village. The rich and middle groups of farmers drew up their strategies for securing a majority of the votes in the approaching election of the village chairman in the autumn.

Distnct and regional authorities had, since the national census 1988, considered Giting to be too large to be administratively lead by a single Village Council. With the amval of the Regional Planners in 1991 to construct a new plan of land use to give the village its leasehold and legalise tenure, the old conflict over the size of the village became acute. The council claimed that there were 630 households whereas the planners claimed, quoting the census figures giving 726 households in 1988, that in 1991 there were more than 800 households. The Regional Planners drew up a land rase plan that required that the village should be divided. They however failed to persuade the villagers to split the village and finally a land use plan governing the whole village was agreed upon. An application for a leasehold for the village land was subsequently submitted to the Ministry of Land.

The middle peasants were again in control of village affairs and one way of increasing their power would be to drive a wedge betwezn the rich farmers by dividing the village in two. The village secretary was active in this process. The regional authorities acknowledged the fact that Giting had too large a population. One Saturday in November 1993 the surveyors came to the village and drew a border right through the village. The village was split and the name Giting was replaced by Hanang and Gocho. Gocho A. B and C formed the village of Gocho and hamlets Hanang and Bagara constituted the new village of Hanang.

The village of Giting disappeared as an administrative entity in the process, To many villagers and people in the surrounding area the administrative division of the village was unthinkable and Giting became the village that vanished.

Two weeks later it was election time for the new village chairmen. The election campaign was tough. The election in the two new villages was to be organised by those in power in the old Giting council. The rich fanners feared they would be outmanoeuvred in the process. In the campaign the middle peasants relied on intellectual reasoning to persuade the electorate that they stood for the good of all accus- ing the rich farmers of using only publicity stunts. The result was decided, said the middle peasants, by the generous flow of free beer. The rich fanners considered that they had won because they were success incarnated. the village that vanished

The process that led to the division of the vilIage created new problems for the future. The village had been divided taking account of the residential areas only. Many ex-Gitingers now had fields in one village and household plots in the other. Formally this was solved with bye-laws permitting land tenure in the other village. Security of property being what it is this will doubtless create many conflicts in the future. The problem of the landless remains unsolved.

These contextualisation was mainly concerned with processes and factors at village level. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between social development and land degradation, generalised findings from earlier research must be taken into account. The next section will discuss these from the Giting perspective.

Lessons

Fina1,ly some conclusions that may be drawn from this study of Giting. Firstly, briefly described in the fust two chapters were two examples of earlier research into rural development. The Marxist model which describes three general phases in the transition of peasant societies from traditional to more capitalist forms and the political ecology model in which the integration of Man and land (figure 3) is the basis for explaining rural development. Further, it was postulated that the core/expansion area inter-relationship plays a part in explaining why the peasants of Giting can not maintain sustainable land use. Finally it was stated that this study should be seen as a test of an unconventional scientific methodology. These four parts of the study will now be discussed and evaluated.

The Marxist model

The transition from a traditional to a capitalist form of agriculture is characterised by traditional society's autonomous reproduction being replaced by rules that are better adapted to the individual accumulation of capital. This occurs before actual agricultural production has been penetrated by capital. Ths change eventually turns the peasant into a commodity producer and -consumer and subverts him to usurious and commercial capital. This is peasant society's phase of primitive accumulation. Countries of the South that are in between capitalist and pre-capitalist modes of production are in this phase (Djurfeldt, 1986:144).

Another process that is regarded as being general in peasant societies in the South is the increase in socio-economic stratification as societies shift from being subsistence-oriented to largely market-oriented (Bernstein 1979:430). According to these chapter 6 theories. new social, politicd and economic relations are established between the peasants in the process. Thus a smdl group of rich farmers will come to serve as exploiters, another group as independent peasants whilst a third will work for the rich and land in a "simple reproduction squeezec' (Bernstein, 1979:427). This in turn is regarded as part of a larger, global, process in which all economic activity is subsumed under a capitalist world system (Wallerstein, 1974; Bemstein et al. 1992).

This larger change process demands great sacrifices from the peasants as they are initially exploited to enable the growth of other economic sectors. As peasants are seen as the principal source of capital during this period, production increases are essential in order to create a surplus. This phase of exploitation, in a national context, has been termed primitive accumulation (Williarns, 1982:392) During this phase necessary capital is not reinvested in agriculture which can lead to over- exploitation of the earth. If the earth is over-exploited environmental problems such as soil erosion and land degradation may follow (Bernstein, 1979:427). This has been shown e.g. in France where land degradation problems were acute at the end of the 18th century when the French society changed from a feudal towards a capitalist society (Blailue & Brookfield, 1987:126-136).

Exploitation of agriculture ceases if and when the exploiting economic sectors become self-sufficient in capital production. In Europe the phase of primitive accumulation lasted some decades, (Djurfeldt, 1986:144). In the countries colonised by the Europeans, colonial accumulation lasted longer, in some cases several centuries. With the independence of the colonies it has been generally observed that the ex- ploitative economic structures from the colonid period remained and that a period of neo-colonialism occurred. This neo-colonial expIoitation is either direct as in the case of cultivation for export, or indirect, when imported goods are bought by locally accumulated capital. During this phase agriculture, the most significant economic sector, continues to be exploited. There is much to indicate that the environmental destruction we now witness in Afnca is, at least partly, a result of this exploitation. Is it then possible to explain Giting's land degradation with similar reasoning?

Up to the 1950's the Giting villagers were predominantly self-sufficient farmers with an extensive agro-pastoral production. To include them in commercial cultivation changes in production methods were initiated by the colonial authorities that finally lead to social and economic stratification of the village population (Kjaerby, 1979), The rich farmers could now, utilising labourers freed by the stratification process, produce a surplus and so provide food for those growing coffee and sisal for export. With the advent of independence, capital was needed to develop the country. As imports were essential for this, dependency on Europe's developed countries the village that vanished remained. Agriculture was the only important source of income so its exploitation continued.

Large sections of Tanzanian agriculture were thus linked to a market economy. In the parts of the country involved in cereal production, like Giting, or in areas with production of export crops the social inequalities began to be marked. The western- educated State elite, influenced by European socialist ideas decided to deal with them (St%hl, 1980:18). In 1967 new policies, much alun to traditional European socialism were introduced under the device of Criam. It took about seven years before the effects of the villagisation were visible in the village of Giting. This political change did not however, affect the exploitation of agriculture. The neo- colonial exploitation had changed into a socialist primitive accumulation and continued as before (Cf. Preobrazhensky, 1965:80-124).

The only real difference between the policies of the independent State before and after the land reform was that after Uia- support was sought from a wider social spectrum in society. In the ensuing power struggle the rich, with the support of IMF and political pressure from outside, finally came to dominate. In Giting this national process was reflected by the struggle between the rich farmers and the middle peasants.

I would contend that land degradation in Giting today may to a certain extent be explained by the exploitation to which agriculture has been submitted. There is no direct link, however, between land degradation and exploitation. The rich farmers who exploit the resources of the village are indigenous and invest their surplus to attain maximum advantages for their families and kin. They invest, at present, mainly in trade, transport companies, real estate and cattle outside the village. This investment pattern reduces the investments in a sustainable agricultural production in the village. To understand how the exploitation takes place those who gain the revenue from the investments have to be traced. Most of the investments, such as tractors, agricultural machines, pesticides, improved seed strains, lomes, pick-ups, goods to be sold in shops, elecmcal equipment, electronic equipment, tools, hinges for doors and windows, locks, nails, iron bars, etc., are imported. A few items are produced in the country but are often of inferior quality and too highly-priced to be competitive. This indicates that the rich fanners are links in a chain of exploitation where international capital accumulates the profits leaving the national economy to lag behind. Thls may also explain why the national industries have so often failed to become self-sufficient in capital, continuing to depend on the agricultural sector and the exploitation of less endowed groups in the villages, for finance.

Studies made of social stratification and social mobility in European agriculture of the 19th century show that those who survived as farmers were the middle peasants. chapter 6

Both the rich and poor peasants failed to compete with them and become engaged in other economic sectors, mainly indusuy. One reason was that as middle peasants being self-employed, using their own labour, land and tools, are economically more flexible than the other two groups. If a rich farmer hires a day labourer, every extra hour is an extra cost whereas the middle peasants' extra hour does not entail any cash expenditure (K611 et al. 199157). The middle peasants are also Iess directly exploited as they are self-employed, having control over the means of production and therefore less dependent on the market (cf. Hydtn, 1985).

It was unexpected to find the social and economic stratification so considerable in Giting. A common view is that s~atificationin Tanzania is relatively modest. In the only national study made, an ILO study (Collier et al. 1986: 132-4), it was stated that inequalities were greater within villages than between them, though the villages studied were selected to produce an over-representation of rich and poor villages. Intra-village inequalities though considerable, were found to be less pronounced in Tanzania than in e.g. Asia. NO examples of "kulaks" employing large numbers of day labourers were identified in the 600 villages studied. In Kjaerby's study of Hanang District (1987) it was stated that stratification is less far-reaching than for example in Kenya and Nigeria. The recieved wisdom is that Tanzania is a less stratified country because of its' earlier socialist policies.

Three studies conducted parallel to thls verify the picture of extensive social stratification in rural Tanzania. In Kondoa District a number of studies of the consequences of the land care project, HADO, have been conducted since 1991 (Christiansson et al, 1991). Social stratification has been investigated in different parts of the district, the village of Haubi in the highlands, in the lowlands and in the Burunge Hills (Mung'ong'o, 1995, Ostberg, in print). In all areas the social stratification was shown to be more pronounced than expected. The situation in the villages of Mamire and Mutuka in the Babati District confirm the picture (Lindberg, in print). Here even a small number landless were identified. Therefore it is safe to say that, today, social stratification at least in central Tanzania is high in the better as well as in the more marginal agricultural areas.

Man Land inter-relations

In the political ecology model (figure 3) poverty is regarded as the cause of the over exploitation of land resources. Applying thls model of the reality of the villagers in Giting shows that tlus explanation is not sufficient. The land managers in wealth groups 1-3 with their hgh economic and political status have high entitlement to resources both within and outside the village and should be able use their resources to increase land capability. the village that vanished

The structural situation however makes investments other than in sustainable land use more profitable. This is partly due to the fact that the rich farmers are not dependent on agriculture but can invest in ventures that for the moment give the best returns. Added to this they are sufficiently entitled to put unused land to the plough to compensate for lost land capability. One reason that this quickly produces degradation is that is difficult to acquire the relatively good erosion-resistant land of the poorer peasants, and that these being generally only four acres in size are not suitable for rational use with tractors. F'rofitable though unsustainable farming there would be possible with bigger acreages. The poor peasants can usually retain the rights to land even if it is.farrned by others. The land available for expansion by the rich farmers is agriculturally speaking marginal and more prone to erosion.

Access qualification is therefore greater for the marginaI land than it is for the more arable land. In the case of Giting a high entitlement means that land capability lessens. This situation is undoubtedly an effect of the Land reform and villagisation that still extends a measure of security of tenure to the small farmer, though it is rapidly declining.

For the middle farmers in wealth groups 4 and 5 the situation is somewhat different as they do not have sufficiently high entitlement to cultivate the high access qualification land in Giting and the surrounding villages. They are forced to increase production levels on their own acreage and attempt to mainmn their condition so that they can, even in the future, support their families. A rise in poverty in this case means that land capability increases.

Neither have the poor farmers the necessary entitlement to move to the marginal areas and they remain in the village as a poor rural semi-proletariat. Their lands get over-used when let on ploughing contracts to richer farmers.

This reasoning produces a picture different than the customary of the so called open access system. It is usually considered to be the poorest who are squeezed out from the central to the marginal agricultural areas where land capability diminishes because resources are lacking while access is good. But in this case it is the those with more resources that are given the opportunity to utilise the agriculturally marginal areas in open access systems. The decisive factors deterring the poor from using it is not the price of the land, but rather the cost of building new houses, investing in implements, lack of labour and contacts with the district and village administrators, Core and expansion area relationship

There are, however, differences in the degree of stratification between Mama Isara and Giting corresponding to that between Haubi and the lowlands in Kondoa Dis- trict. In what are here termed the ethnic heartlands (Mama Isara for the Iraqw peo- chapter 6 ple and Haubi for the Rangi people) social stratification is less pronounced than in the expansion areas such as the lowland east of Haubi and in Giting. Social stratification in Mama Isara has not yet been studied systematically but according to available information (Thornton, 1981 :5) it has a relatively egalitarian social structure. Only 7 % of the households in Haubi correspond to groups 6 and 7 in the Giting study, according to Mung'ong'o (in print). In Giting nearly 60 % of the households belong to these groups and more than 50 % of the households in the lowlands east of Haubi. There seems to be systematic differences in the extent of social stratification, dependent on whether the area is located in an ethnic heartland or an expansion area.

The expansion areas differ from the ethnic hedands in several ways. The hernutlands lying in areas that are naturally fertile and with relatively good rainfall. The supply of water is a critical factor in these semi-arid areas and where there is plenty of rain, the intensity of cultivation is higher, the population denser and the fields smaller in size. Maintaining femlity requires soil improvement measures and a great deal of labour - at times more than a family can cope with. Getting the full agricultural potential from the land demands co-operation between the farmers. There is also the work with the cattle, they must be stall-fed and watched continually so they do not damage the crops. Manure-collecting must be carried out daily.

In the expansion areas such as Giting the workload decreases dramatically. Soil conservation measures are less necessary, the cattle can graze naturally with less supervision and if need be large areas be put to the plough. The labour-saving implements such as ox-plough and tractor are easier to use here. The agro-pastoral economy has a form of built-in risk aversion where agriculture and cattle complement each other in varying climatic conditions. When it is dry selling off cattle can compensate for low harvests, in the better years cattle can be bought.

Combining these two strategies is singularly successful. Having a base jn a fertile, rainy area while at the same time being able to make use the climatically less suitable surrounding areas gives a powerful competitive advantage over other groups.

Today all land is used for cultivation and grazing and the middle peasants especially, face land shortage. Why is it that a more intensive and less soil degrading agriculture is not adopted in Giting today? The explanation may very well be that expansion areas are still available in the southern part of Hanang district, and that increased population pressure in the village is compensated for by extending agnculture and grazing to these new areas. Extension into the southern part of the District is mainly achieved by the creation of satellite dwellings there. The relationship between Giting and these new expansion areas is therefore close. the village that vanished

The assumption in this model is that only when the possibility of expanding into new areas is exhausted will intensification of the production system occur, This corresponds fairly well with Boserups (1965, 1970, 1970a, 1974, 1976, 1981) assumption that agricultural intensification is closely connected to increased population pressure.

The methodology

This study was also an attempt at applying the "scientific realism" approach. I will conclude by giving some examples of the advantages and disadvantages experienced with using this methodology.

Using this open ended methodology had the advantage of being able to include the peasants' own experiences of using natural resources in the study. 73swas achieved by allowing the informants to be in constant dialogue with me and my field assistants during the course of the work. An important contribution to this were the workshops that concluded each fieldwork session. In these a selection of the informants with hffering views and experiences were allowed to discuss the various topics that were often of a sensitive nature. Antagonisms between groups and individuals in the village regarding the use of natural resources became clear. The different strategies of the middle and rich farmers in using Giting's natural resources became, for example, apparent. The workshops also opened up a dialogue between groups not normally in contact.

The RRA techniques were important in the initial stages of the work in providng a realistic picture of how the village used its' natural resources. With the results of these, areas for further study could be identified and the design of the studies arrived at. This was a very positive experience. The most successful RRA technique was wealth ranking. As the interview study was based on a random sample informants identified by means of the wealth ranking, an evaluation was possible. It was shown to have provided a very realistic picture of the social stratification in the village.

The method generating most data was the semi-structured interview-survey. As follow-up questions could be posed and informants encouraged to develop their views on cultivation, grazing and social relationships, the social reality of Giting was revealed. The survey lead to new important explanations of natural resource-use being included in the study. The structured part of the interviews provided the material basis for the division into social groupings whereas the more individual, un- structured part gave an insight into the social processes of the village. The overall picture of Citing as a vilIage that was gradually arrived at, was built mainly during the interview phase.

Taking the position suggested by the right-hand column of table 2 makes the researcher more of a participator than an external observer. Subsequently all catego- chapter 6 ries of people in the village came into contact with, and affected, the research. Even groups normally difficuIt to reach such as women, youth and the poor. Beginning the study with the participatory transect walk proved to be important for establish- ing trustful relationships with the villagers.

There were of course also disadvantages with thls methodology and some of the techniques used. One of them being the difficulty in keeping to the thread of the study even when in the midst of dynamic events such as at the height of the struggle between the rich and middle farmers when new developments occurred daily.

Another and more frustrating disadvantage is that the methodology itself generates a lot of work that is never camed through. The people-oriented approach gives ideas that either prove to be dead-ends or simply impossible to study further. An example of ths was my attempt to follow up Giting viIlagers in satellite households in the village of Dirma in the expansion area. Relations between the Dirrna villagers and the newcomers were so taut that I was not permitted to interview them without the presence of an interpreter that was at the same time a member of the village council and who effectively concealed all antagonisms. If the study had been completed without talung into account this interview situation it would have shown no conflict of interests to exist between the Zraqw settlers and the Dirma villagers.

Another example was my attempt at getting information on the informal networks that exist between individuals in Giting and Mama Isara. These are based on the traditional Iraqw structures of secret societies of men, different rituals and contacts between the ritual leaders in both Giting and Mama Isara. To study these scientifi- cally, I would have chosen a completely different method - participatory observation ,- which was not possible in the time available. But with more experience of the limits that my background, education and research tradition impose on me as a researcher, perhaps some of these shortcomings could have been avoided.

Finally there is always the danger with people-oriented research that certain factors are excluded or not given the attention they deserve unless they are directly brought to attention by the informants. One such factor that suffered this fate in the study was stockraising. As most cattle are kept in the surrounding villages rather than in Giting itself the most intensive discussions were those concerning cultivation, which is the most important for the village, while the role played by cattle in the system of production was usually only lightly touched on. This realisation, in retrospect, was apparent when interviewing the peasants of Mama Isara who constantly stressed the importance of cattle in Mama Isara. the village that vanished

Exploitation and Iraqw expansion are closely entwined in determining how land will be used in Giting and it's surroundings. So what of the future? WIH present methods of agriculture and grazing with their accompanying erosion and impover- ishment continue? Will agricultural expansion and all pastoralists vanish? The village of Giting vanished during the course of this study, but the problems still remain. Soil degradation has many and complex roots that will in all probability continue to affect this part of Tanzania in the coming decades. There is no way back to subsistence fanning. The only direction is forward and if any appreciable improvement is to occur major changes will be demanded at several levels: social, cultural and economic. chapter 6

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