The Rural Voice, 1985-07, Page 40s
A
L
E
S
�D E
STEAM CLEANERS &
HOT HIGH PRESSURE
CLEANING EQUIPMENT
Complete line
of Chemicals
E
For Free Demonstration Call:
RON STEMMLER
RR1 Elmira, Ont
N3B 2Z1
Bus. 519-578-2360
Res. 519-669-2150
Its
WHEEL HORSE
lawn & garden tractors
11-17 hp.
models
available
We Know How To Keep A
Good Thing Going With
COMPLETE
SERVICE
For Your Wheel Horse. Blade
sharpening, tune-ups, repairs, and
complete overhauls.
HURON POWER
EQUIPMENT
Royal Maintenance
482-9600
86 King St., Clinton
38 THE RURAL VOICE
ONE MAN'S OPINION
When help
is no help
"Canadian techniques in large-
scale mechanized farming are
boosting crop yields on farms
throughout the developing world.
Crops, soil, and weather vary, but the
joint efforts of Canadian scientists,
farmers, and their Third World part-
ners are showing remarkable results
and the experience is being passed on
to local farmers on both large and
small holdings." — Canadian Inter-
national Development Agency
This quote introduces Canadians to
the results of Canada's largest effort
in the development of farmers in less
developed countries. The CIDA arti-
cle goes on to tell us about a project
in Tanzania, in co-operation with
that country's government, to adapt
Canadian prairie wheat growing
techniques to Tanzanian lands.
It began with the clearing of two
state farms of 4,000 hectares (10,000
acres) each. (Read: clear out the local
peasants.)
It was reportedly so successful (it
tripled yields) that the plan now envi-
sions five more state farms. If my
arithmetic is correct, this means an
additional 50,000 acres to be
cleared.
CIDA reports that soon 90 per cent
of Tanzania's wheat needs will be met
through these projects.
Westerners introduced tractors,
causing many small farmers to move
into city slums while the deep -
plowing equipment pulverized the soil
which subsequently blew away.
The Tanzanian scheme, so proudly
written up by CIDA, has driven a
whole tribe of pastoral people, the
Barbaig, out of their pastures into
marginal lands that are now overgraz-
ed and drying out. The Atlantic
magazine reports in its April edition
that "Technology being applied to
these large-scale fully mechanized
operations is alarmingly similar to the
technology used in western Canada
which contributed to the catastrophic
soil erosions (dust bowls) of the
1930s. The Tanzanian farms are laid
out prairie style and rainstorms cut
huge gullies through the fields." It is
apparent that the experience gained
on the prairies, that tree belts are
necessary to combat erosion, has
been forgotten.
Similar experiments by CIDA's
counterparts from other nations have
suffered the same problems. Often
western aid is tied to the production
of cash crops instead of food crops.
This brings in foreign exchange and
allows the poor nations to buy arms
and industrial products from the
donors.
More valuable, if not as spec-
tacular, are efforts by the Canadian
International Development
Research Centre (IDRC). Working
with local farmers instead of with
government officials, they worked to
improve proven local methods often
shown to be successful for a thousand
years. New technology was also in-
troduced with the use of local
materials. The University of
Waterloo, for instance, developed a
simple well pump with a PCV pipe as
body. All parts are easily available to
most people around the world and
can be repaired with local material.
Successful innovations such as this
are then shared with small farmers in
other underdeveloped countries,
benefitting millions more. The PCV
pump is a prime example.
Despite the severe erosion pro-
blems in the Tanzania project, it has
great immediate benefits. The soil is
so rich in nitrogen and other plant
foods that for the next ten years no
fertilizer will be needed. But what will
happen then? Will Tanzania be able
to buy nitrogen from elsewhere? Or
will the yields gradually go down until
field after field is abandoned, turning
the plateau into a new desert? We see
already the dust bowls of the Sahel
expanding at an alarming rate. Well-
meaning westerners may well be on
the path to the creation of a new dust
bowl in eastern Africa.
Let's hope that Mr. Whelan suc-
ceeds in his tree -planting campaign
and that his work will be im-
plemented in such potential trouble
spots as the Tanzania CIDA
project. ❑
Adrian Vos, a regular columnist with
The Rural Voice is a freelance writer
from Huron county.