E wnnnner5 TMAT wAr"ln5mEF 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 fac- tors: social stratification, land tenure, production strategies, invest- ment patterns and the economic uncertainties of society are studied and their relationship to land degradation is examined. The main as- sumption 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 com- plex 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 farm- ers are over-cultivating land marginal to agriculture, the middle peas- ants 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 ..................................................................