The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 10socialist system of government
isn't working. When former Presi-
dent Nyerere lowered commodity
prices to make basic food staples
affordable to everyone, the
farmers stopped producing. "The
government wasn't paying farmers
enough to produce the staples, so
they weren't producing," says
Caldwell. Supply could not meet
demand and a black market quick-
ly sprang up. Basic staple prices
skyrocketed beyond the reach of
many poor people. Caldwell com-
pares socialist Tanzania with its
neighbour, free enterprise Kenya,
which has no food shortages. A
Kenyan worker pays 60 cents for a
beer that would cost a Tanzanian
$4.00. "On a month's wages, a
Tanzanian worker could buy 15
beer, and have nothing left over,"
Caldwell says.
Despite Tanzania's low wages
and low standard of living,
Caldwell was struck by the con-
tentment of the majority of the
tribal natives. Mud huts, built
from sticks and clay, with cow
dung used to waterproof the struc-
ture are located at random
throughout the countryside. They
are used by the nomadic Masai and
semi -nomadic Barabaigs as they
move their herds of cattle, sheep,
and goats to available pasture. The
search often becomes futile as the
hot, dry sun of the summer season
shrivels the grass. Cattle overgraze
the sparse pasture, and sheep and
8 THE RURAL VOICE
goats pull what little roots remain.
Overgrazing has turned many parts
of the country into useless desert
land. "Once the grass is gone,
there is nothing," Caldwell says.
Trees are cut for firewood, adding
to the erosion problem.
Ebu cattle, a breed similar to the
Bromahs, are considered a status
symbol in Tanzania. Just as a
Canadian farmer's wealth is
sometimes determined by the
number of livestock he owns, so
too is this the case in Tanzania.
But, unlike Canadian livestock
that earn their keep, the Ebu cattle
are seldom butchered by the
tribesmen. Instead they are used
for barter. "A man buys his wives
with cattle," Caldwell says. "It
takes forty head of cattle to buy a
wife." Because the tribesmen will
not do physical work, they rely on
their wives and children to look
after the cattle and all domestic
chores. "The more cattle a man
has, the more wives he needs to
look after them."
Caldwell was accompanied in
Africa by his wife, Janet, and their
three children, aged 9, 13, and 15
years. The children were enrolled
in an international boarding school
several hundred miles from the
farm and spent the summer and
holidays with their parents.
The native women, eager to
learn modern methods, were given
sewing and bread -making lessons
by Janet. "The women got
The grain, a combination of Tan-
zanian, Canadian, and Russian
hard wheat strains, yields from 23
to 29 bushels to the acre, which is
also the average yield in Saskat-
chewan, according to Caldwell.
together and made over 90
uniforms for the local school
children," she says. Tribal
children must attend school, but
few continue their education
beyond the minimum six-year re-
quirement, returning instead to
their traditional lifestyle.
The semi -nomadic Barabaigs are
somewhat resentful of the wheat
project. "There is conflict between
the Barabaigs and our own project
because we're taking over their
land. The government is relocating
them, but they are resisting
change." Tribal workers at the
complex receive a small plot of
land, and field bosses receive three
hectares beside the farm buildings
to grow maize and other staples.
The Tanzanian government can
ill afford not to capitalize on the
prime agricultural land in the
Hanang Plain. "We're producing
40 per cent of the country's wheat
requirements, but the other 60 per
cent still has to be imported," ac-
cording to Caldwell. Farms with
10,000 workable acres are rare in
Tanzania or the remainder of
Africa, which has a total
agricultural land base of only three
per cent.
The farms are fenced to keep
wildlife off. Tanzania is home to
the last of Africa's great wildlife
herds, and 30 per cent of the coun-
try's land base is devoted to
natural game reserves.
Caldwell sums up his two years
in Tanzania (from November 1982
to November 1984) as the ex-
perience of a lifetime. Caldwell
was the first Ontario field advisor
and he was often teased about be-
ing a greenhorn Ontario farmer by
the Saskatchewan field advisors at
the complex, who were more
familiar with wheat production.
Teasing quickly subsided when
Caldwell's farm realized yields of
29 bushels to the acre compared
with the 23 bushels that the rest of
the complex had. El