DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

Posted on May 1, 2013 by editor

by Hugh Wenban-Smith:

This is a further summary report of development research in Tanzania, culled from journals in the library of the London School of Economics. It covers the period July to December 2012. The format is: Journal title; Volume and issue number; Author(s); Article title; Abstract (sometimes abbreviated but otherwise as published).

Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol 30(4) – Special issue on mining and urbanisation in Africa – Bryceson DF, Jonsson JB, Kinabo C & Shand M “Unearthing treasure and trouble: Mining as an impetus to urbanisation in Tanzania”.
Despite an abundance of mineral wealth and an ancient history of gold trading, Tanzania is a relative latecomer to the experience of being a mineral dominated economy. Both the British colonial state and Nyerere’s post-colonial state avoided encouraging, and only reluctantly provided support to, large- and small-scale mining. Farming constituted the livelihood for the vast majority of the population and peasant agricultural exports provided the main source of foreign exchange for the country. Now, however, Tanzania has become one of Africa’s main gold producers and the number one destination for non-oil foreign direct investment after South Africa. This article traces the development of gold mining and urban growth in Tanzania with the aim of identifying if, when and where these two processes interact with one another. It explores the triggers, mechanisms and durability of their fusion and synergies over time.

Review of Development Economics, Vol 16(3) – Channing A, Farmer W, Strzepec K & Thurlow J “Climate change, agriculture and food security in Tanzania”.
Due to their reliance on rain-fed agriculture, both as a source of income and consumption, many low-income countries are considered to be the most vulnerable to climate change. Here, we estimate the impact of climate change on food security in Tanzania. Representative climate projections are used to calibrate crop models to predict crop yield changes for 110 districts in Tanzania. These results are in turn imposed on a highly disaggregated, recursive dynamic economy-wide model of Tanzania. We find that, relative to a no-climate-change baseline, and considering domestic agricultural production as the channel of impact, food security in Tanzania appears likely to deteriorate as a consequence of climate change. The analysis points to a high degree of diversity of outcomes (including some favourable outcomes), across climate scenarios, sectors and regions. Noteworthy differences in impacts across households are also present, both by regions and by income category.

Journal of Development Studies, Vol 48(9) – Asfaw S, Kassie M, Simtowe F & Lipper L “Poverty reduction effects of agricultural technology adoption: Micro-evidence from Tanzania”.
This article evaluates the impact of adoption of improved pigeon pea technologies on consumption expenditure and poverty status using cross-sectional data of 613 households from rural Tanzania. Using multiple econometric techniques, we found that adopting improved pigeon pea significantly increases consumption expenditure and reduces poverty. This confirms the potential role of technology adoption in improving household welfare as higher incomes translate into lower poverty. This study supports broader investment in agricultural research to address vital development challenges. Reaching the poor with better technologies however requires policy support for improving extension efforts, access to seeds and market outlets that stimulate adoption.

Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol 50(4) – Hillborn E “Market institutions benefitting smallholders in Meru, Tanzania”.
Smallholders in developing countries can potentially benefit from access to local, regional, national and international markets as they intermediate between rural and urban demand for agricultural products and smallholder supply. This study investigates how smallholders in Meru make use of the various marketing channels that are available to them, and argues that the variety of potential marketing channels and easily accessible market information enables smallholders to weigh advantages and disadvantages with varying market opportunities and form rational decisions.

World Development, Vol 40(12) – D’Exelle B, Lecoutere E & van Campenhout B “Equity-efficiency trade-offs in irrigation water sharing: Evidence from a field lab in Tanzania”.
This article studies how users of scarce common water resources deal with equity-efficiency trade-offs. For this purpose, we conduct a field lab experiment in Tanzania that simulates the distribution of irrigation water between upstream and downstream users. We find a strong preference for equal sharing even if this comes with larger foregone efficiency gains. However, we also find indications that efficiency considerations are taken into account. (Selfish) deviations from equal sharing are more likely implemented when they are efficiency-enhancing. Finally we detect a tendency to alternate between altruistic and selfish sharing, which reconciles equity and efficiency considerations.

LETTERS

Posted on May 1, 2013 by editor

Archdeacon Capper
I was surfing the net looking for anything relating to Archdeacon Edmund Capper of Lindi. I found your Tanzanian Affairs Issue 61 with some notes regarding the obituary of the Archdeacon and a reference to his appointment to Lindi.

On 27 March 1950 I was married by Archdeacon Capper in the temporary bamboo and makuti St Michaels Anglican Church in Mtwara. At that time permanent buildings were not permitted in advance of town planning. Archdeacon Capper visited St Michaels fairly regularly to perform services. I was the first to be married in the church and was followed later by two other members of our staff, Michael MacKie and Benjamin Kelly. We were members of a construction team building the port works of Mtwara, initially for the Overseas Food Corporation, ground nut scheme and when that folded the work was completed on behalf of East African Railways and Harbours. Our accommodation consisted of a series of one man bandas with bungalows for married staff along the shore line at Shangani which I believe is now a prime residential area. It was certainly very pleasant for us, with the tide right for an early morning dip before work.

I hope these brief notes are of interest to you and I would be pleased to hear any reactions.
Thomas Scott (e-mail editor for contact info)

Radio Congo
Simon Hardwick’s review of Radio Congo by Ben Rawlence introduced the book and its author very nicely. However, having read the book myself, I felt the review overlooked the most fascinating aspect – Rawlence’s determination to get past the single-story narrative that dominates most writing and international media coverage of the Great Lakes region.

For a western audience, the usual story goes no further than painting a muddy picture of war, rape and brutality in the jungle, fuelled by mineral wealth. Other travel writers focus on the inhospitable terrain, the lack of modern amenities and the hardships facing the western traveller. Rawlence, to his credit, avoids dwelling on either the challenges to travellers or the politics of warlords, focussing instead on the lives of “ordinary” people getting on with life. Yes, they live under the shadow of violence, but they’re struggling on, and Rawlence tells their stories with a rare dignity and respect.
Stephen Jones

Embellishment?
Re the obituary in TA 104 of Cameron Whalley. It is hard to believe that someone born in 1937 “joined a team of geologists employed by… Williamson, who was challenging the De Beers monopoly…(and)…later established the Mwadui Mine.” Mwadui was founded in 1940, which would make Whalley a very precocious young geologist. Williamson died in 1958, when Whalley was 21, if the date of birth is correct. The Telegraph obit also suggests he became a game warden in 1961, escort(ing) ‘celebrated visitors…among them Hemingway”. Hemingway died in July 1961, having spent late 1960 and 1961 as an invalid prior to committing suicide.
A bit of embellishment I fear, or, more charitably, a mistaken date of birth?
David Ackland

Transport
I read with much delight your coverage of the exciting developments in transport within Tanzania – new airlines, new hope for ferries and railways, ports being shaken up, and more. However, I felt the coverage neglected to mention a key point, without which the full meaning of these new developments is hidden.

I am referring to the broader politics, in particular the ambitions of the Transport Minister, Harrison Mwakyembe, for higher office. Tanzanian politics are more than usually hot at present, both with the rise of Chadema as a realistic alternative to CCM and in the internal dynamics of CCM itself. It is in these internal power struggles that the developments in the transport sector are significant. Mwakyembe is earning political capital and demonstrating great capability in his handling of the sector, with at least one eye on the prospect of him, or an ally of his such as Samuel Sitta, becoming the next CCM presidential candidate.
Janet Johnstone

Oscar Kambona
I am a historian currently researching a political biography of Oscar Kambona (1928-97), who served as Minister to Julius Nyerere from 1960-67, and left Tanzania in 1967 for political exile in London until his return in 1992. I would be most interested to hear from readers of your journal about their recollections and thoughts concerning Oscar Kambona. Please send any such memories and views to me by email at: jbrennan@illinois.edu. No details can be too small. Many thanks for your attention and assistance.
James R. Brennan, Department of History, University of Illinois

Kicking us off our land
(abridged version from online campaign at www.avaaz.org)
We are elders of the Maasai from Tanzania, one of Africa’s oldest tribes. The government has just announced that it plans to kick thousands of our families off our lands so that wealthy tourists can use them to shoot lions and leopards. The evictions are to begin immediately. Last year, when word first leaked about this plan, almost one million Avaaz members rallied to our aid. Your attention and the storm it created forced the government to deny the plan, and set them back months. But the President has waited for international attention to die down, and now he’s revived his plan to take our land. We need your help again, urgently.

Our people have lived off the land in Tanzania and Kenya for centuries. Our communities respect our fellow animals and protect and preserve the delicate ecosystem. But the government has for years sought to profit by giving rich princes and kings from the Middle East access to our land to kill. In 2009, when they tried to clear our land to make way for these hunting sprees, we resisted, and hundreds of us were arrested and beaten. Last year, rich princes shot at birds in trees from helicopters. This killing goes against everything in our culture.

Now the government has announced it will clear a huge swath of our land to make way for what it claims will be a wildlife corridor, but many suspect it’s just a ruse to give a foreign hunting corporation and the rich tourists it caters to easier access to shoot at majestic animals. The government claims this new arrangement is some sort of accommodation, but its effect on our people’s way of life will be disastrous. There are thousands of us who could have our lives uprooted, losing our homes, the land on which our animals graze, or both.

This land grab could spell the end for the Maasai in this part of Tanzania, and many of our community have said they would rather die than be forced from their homes. On behalf of our people and the animals who graze in these lands, please stand with us to change the mind of our President.

CONTRIBUTORS – RECENT CHANGES

Posted on May 1, 2013 by editor

Sadly, Valerie Leach who has been writing with great skill and in a remarkably all-embracing way on Business and the Economy has had to resign due to pressures of her other work as a Councillor on Camden Council. We now need to find someone to fill the gap.

For this issue, we have asked Paul Gooday to write about the first part of the last four months and James Pringle about the second part. Paul Gooday recently joined the Department of Business Innovation and Skills in the UK. He was brought up in Swaziland and South Africa and studied Economics at the University of London. He is keen to play a role in the development of Sub-Saharan economies.

James Pringle recently returned to the UK after a decade working in Tanzania, latterly in the media. He now works as a development analyst for a UK-based consultancy. James will be taking on a new role with TA, as Editorial Assistant. His primary function will be to coordinate the contributors’ sections, to lighten the load on the Editor.

Happily Roger Nellist has come aboard to handle Energy and Minerals, for which he is more than adequately qualified. He worked in Dar es Salaam in the Ministry of Water, Energy and Minerals between 1981 and 1986 – among other things assisting with the appraisal and commercialisation of the Songo Songo gas field, developing Tanzania’s Model Petroleum Production Sharing Agreement and participating as a member of the government team in negotiations with international oil companies. He has kept in close contact with Tanzania and its energy and mineral developments since then, visiting the country more than 40 times. He continued to advise the Tanzanian Government on investment policy – especially for the extractive industries – whilst working as Special Adviser in the Commonwealth Secretariat (1986-2000) and subsequently engaged on a number of programmes relating to Tanzania as part of DFiD’s growth and investment work (from 2001 until his retirement in 2012).

In October 2004 Roger received a special Presidential Award from President Mkapa in recognition of his contribution over two decades to the realisation of the Songo Songo gas-to-electricity project. In March 2013 he presented a paper to a joint session of the UK All Party Parliamentary Groups on Tanzania and Extractives on the role extractives can play in Tanzania’s future development.

TA ISSUE 104

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

TA 104 cover features boys on Lake Tanganyika approaching the MV Liemba. Spencer McCormick (www.toaddis.com)

Big Progress in Transport
Death of a Journalist
A Tale of Two Museums
Meaning in Miscellanea
Faith News

A pdf of the issue can be downloaded here

BIG PROGRESS IN TRANSPORT – AIR

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

Fastjet FTZ1A (Airbus A319) shortly after landing in Dar es Salaam JNIA on its inaugural flight (Fastjet).

New ‘no frills’ airline launched
A new ‘no frills’ airline called ‘Fastjet’, modelled on the Easyjet airline which has revolutionised air travel in Europe, was launched in Africa on November 29th. The famous entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji Ioannou, who started Easyjet, has joined with Lonrho’s airline, which flies in West Africa to establish the new group. Significantly, Fastjet chose to begin in Tanzania and Dar es Salaam airport will be its first African hub. It has already leased two planes, has 15 more on order (all Airbus A319s with a capacity for up to 156 passengers), and plans to build up to a fleet of 40.

Tanzania’s dynamic Minister of Transport, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, spoke about the unusually speedy implementation of this vast project when he addressed a crowded AGM of the Britain Tanzania Society in London in mid November. Fastjet plans to expand from Tanzania into Kenya in 2013 and then to Ghana and Angola which are already served by the Lonrho airline. It is advertising for pilots, passenger services agents, cabin crew and crew managers and also for retail sales agents in the East African media.

‘Taking the country by storm.’
The Citizen wrote that the launch had taken the country by storm, as the airline transported 900 passengers in eight flights from Dar to Mwanza and Kilimanjaro and back on its first day! The airline’s management told investors that demand for seats on these routes far outstripped supply. In slightly over a week, Fastjet had recorded 8,000 bookings for its first two routes and the Fastjet.com website had received over 20,000 hits in its first four days. Fastjet sells air tickets as cheap as $20 (TShs 32,000) one way pre-tax, although most tickets are expected to sell at around TShs 120,000 according to Chief Executive Ed Winter. This is still significantly less than its main competitor, Precision Air, which charges about TShs 375,000 for a return ticket between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza excluding taxes. Precision Air operates three flights a day on the Dar-Mwanza route. Air Tanzania (ATCL) operates one flight a day for the same route, while Fastjet now operates two flights a day.

The London Times, in its coverage, emphasised the new airline’s mascot. In an article under the heading ‘Parrot prepares to take to the skies,’ it wrote that Sir Stelios had taken the African grey parrot as the airline’s mascot. It said that the African grey was renowned for its intelligence and therefore the perfect personification of the smart way to fly.

What will happen to Precision Air and Air Tanzania?
Precision Air, the main Tanzanian airline, has been developing rapidly and, unlike Air Tanzania, is a well managed and successful airline. It has 13 aircraft and is not paying dividends to shareholders from its profits (TShs 634 million last year) but using them instead to modernise its fleet. It seems likely to face strong competition from Fastjet on the routes it covers. However, according to the East African, it may have already adopted a strategy to protect its Tanzanian market. In November it received a new 50-seater ATR 42-800 plane, thus being the first airline to operate this new model, and is expected to receive two more as part of a three year $100 million fleet expansion plan. ATR (Aerei da Trasporto Regionale or Avions de Transport Régional) is a French-Italian aircraft construction company headquartered in Toulouse, France. The ATR’s are able to land at most of Tanzania’s airstrips many of which have hangers that cannot accommodate bigger planes.

Air Tanzania Company Ltd has had such a blighted history, exacerbated often by poor management, that many are said to be wondering if it has any future in the new age of fierce competition. But it struggles on and in October 2012, after a long gap when it was not operational, it took to the air again with its two aircraft – a 50-seater Dash SQ-300 and a leased Boeing 737-500. It also has to cope with other competition in Tanzanian airspace including planes from Link, Kenya airways, Fly 549, Air Uganda and Rwandair.

Older airlines not afraid
Immediately after the first Fastjet flights the two older airlines issued a statement which said that Fastjet was not a threat to their businesses because of the quality of their services and customer loyalty that they had cultivated over a long period.

ATCL Acting Commercial Director Mwanamvua Ngocho noted: “I don’t see any threat, though we perceive the coming of Fastjet as a challenge for us to come up with more innovative services. These are business techniques which aim at capturing human psychology without necessarily reflecting the real cost of travelling…Otherwise, we will work together without any problem,”. She also expressed doubts about the sustainability of the low budget airline, saying it would take a short time for Tanzanians to understand that the real flying cost is almost the same as other airlines especially with bags and other luggage taken into account.

Fastjet said they were not launching a price war with other operators but aimed at stimulating the market by attracting new travellers who had not been flying before. As this issue goes to the press, there are reports, as yet unconfirmed, of a possible partnership with Emirates and moves to establish a hub in South Africa (London Times 5th December).

Third air terminal for Dar
The government has called for bids from 20 international firms for the construction of a third terminal at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam as traffic increases substantially each year. The expanded airport aims to step up passenger numbers to 8 million per year. The successful bid will be announced in January 2013 and the work will be done under a public/private partnership arrangement. The airport was constructed in 1984 when passenger numbers were 1.5 million.

BIG PROGRESS IN TRANSPORT – SEA

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

The MV Liemba pictured in 2011 (Spencer McCormick www.toaddis.com)

Lake Tanganyika’s MV Liemba

Approaching its 100th birthday, the lake steamer MV Liemba still travels once a week to ports on Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and Zambia. Built in Hamburg in 1913, it was sunk by its German crew during the First World War when named the Goetzen. It has been many times rehabilitated but may now need to be sent into retirement – probably to become a museum. It has not escaped the eyes of Minister Mwakyembe who has been to Germany in the hope of rekindling interest in the vessel, for which many Germans are said to have much affection.

BIG PROGRESS IN TRANSPORT – RAIL

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

China helps Tazara Railway again
Tanzania, Zambia, and China have agreed on 12 new projects to help improve the performance of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) line which has become dilapidated over recent years. Cargo has dropped from 1.2 million tonnes in 1992 to 330,000 tonnes in 2011-12. Passengers are down from its original 3 million capacity to 790,000 in the same period. China is providing £42 million for rehabilitation of 42 passenger coaches, 6 locomotives and rescue and lifting equipment.

Dar es Salaam commuting rail service

Minister of Transport, Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe (centre waving hand) accompanied by officials from the Transportation Authority of Land Surface and Marine (Sumatra) on the first commuter train. Photo isaackin.blogspot

Tanzania’s first ever commuter rail service was launched on 29th October. The first route (operated by Tanzania Railways Ltd TRL) covers 20km between Ubungo-Maziwa and the central railway station, while the second is operated by Tazara and covers 25km between Mwakanga (Pugu area) and the Tazara station. Initially a single train is operating on each line, shuttling to and fro during the morning and evening rush hours. A one-way ticket costs 400TShs (about £0.15), and just 100TShs for pupils, comparing favourably to daladala fares which range between 500 shillings and 1,000 shillings depending on the journey.

Inaugurating the new service, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe said TSh6 billion (£2.3 million) had been spent renovating train carriages and railway infrastructure for the TRL line while about TSh800 million (£0.8 million) was spent repairing the Tazara tracks. He thanked TRL officials for their decision to forgo purchase of brand new railcars in favour of renovating old ones which allowed the project to remain within budget.

As of December the government has stopped issuing licences to private companies that operate small commuter buses (daladalas) in Dar es Salaam, as part of its plan to replace them with much larger buses under a government-managed rapid transit system (DART) (see TA 98).

The Dar – Kigoma – Mwanza railway line
This line lost 83 kms of track in the floods last year and then had to cope with the disastrous contract with an Indian management company which eventually had to be terminated. A very limited service is now being offered. This line promises to be the Minister’s biggest headache.

Major new ports and railway
The biggest project being planned by Tanzania’s Ministry of Transport is the construction of a new port at Mwambeni Bay, Tanga. It is part of a grand project to develop an alternative sea route for Uganda and other land-locked countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have been depending on the overcrowded port of Mombasa. The project, a joint effort with Uganda, would include a new railway from Arusha to Musoma and a new port on the Ugandan side of Lake Victoria. Freight would be conveyed from Musoma dock by ferry to Port Bell pier – about 350 kilometres inside Uganda. A rail connection runs via Tororo to Gulu – nearly 600 kilometres on the Pakwach branch. North Gulu. A new line of roughly 250 kilometres would be constructed to Juba, and a further 550 kilometres to the Wau railhead in Southern Sudan. President Museveni of Uganda has repeatedly said that Musoma port was the “lifeline” of Uganda’s dreams.

A feasibility report prepared by UK-based consultants United Research Services recommended the construction of the new Tanga port because the present capacity would hit its maximum pressure in 2016. Although the existing port could be increased to accommodate short term traffic growth, it would become very congested. The team believe that export of soda ash from the proposed project at Lake Natron would only be possible with new port facilities. However, a section of industrialists saw no logic in constructing a new port at Mwambeni as opposed to undertaking the rehabilitation of the old port.

A speaker at a Stakeholders’ meeting on this final feasibility study said that talks about the new port dated as far back as 1968, when a foundation stone was laid on the proposed site. Conservationists at the meeting demanded that the project be scrapped to preserve the Coelacanth marine park (the primordial fish that was earlier believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period) and sea tourism.

The Minister for Transport made his position clear and assured Tanga residents that the government had not forsaken Tanga. Reacting to the alleged threat to the Coelacanth, the Minister said that government was being very cautious over the matter, noting that a very thorough feasibility study had been conducted to make sure it was on the right track.

The report caused fresh outcry from environmentalists concerned that the proposed railway extension is expected to pass through the Serengeti National Park. This is a development which environmentalists are vehemently opposing, arguing that the ecosystem would be disrupted with noisy trains passing through the wildlife sanctuary. They claimed that this was what had caused the plan to be shelved during the days of the late President Nyerere when the idea was first mooted in the late 80s.

Officials of the two countries have said the project is provisionally estimated to cost $2.7 billion, out of which $1.9 billion is for the construction of the railway line, $672.6 million for the development of Mwambeni Port and $72 million for the development of Musoma dock.

THE DEATH OF A JOURNALIST

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

Coverage in Mwananchi

Prominent Channel Ten TV reporter Daudi Mwangosi (40) was killed on 2nd September while a demonstration he was covering in Nyololo Village in Iringa region was being dispersed by police, attracting widespread concern and international condemnation.

A joint committee formed by the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) and Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) to probe the circumstances that led to his death released its findings on October 8. At the press conference, MCT Secretary General Kajubi Mukajanga said evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that the police had deliberately and consciously intimidated Iringa-based journalists covering Chadema activities at Nyololo Village.

“The investigation was independent and was not meant as a police inquiry or judicial inquest, but as an honest documentation of the state of affairs surrounding the first ever killing of a Tanzanian journalist on duty,” Mr Mukajanga said, “Generally, this committee – based on the evidence collected in the region – concludes that there was a tense and suspicious relationship between the two sides. Mwangosi was killed in cold blood in the hands of the police”. The committee made field visits and conducted interviews with journalists based in Iringa, Chadema officials and eye witnesses. Evidence collected included video clips, still pictures and publications, and broadcast materials from media organisations.

To support the allegations of the “tense and suspicious” relationship Mukajanga noted that, in November 2011, Iringa-based ITV reporter Laurean Mkumbata was brutally beaten and his working equipment destroyed in front of the Iringa Officer Commanding the District. “In similar incidents, the committee has learnt that towards the end of February 2011, Iringa-based journalists were mistreated during the official visit of Vice President Mohamed Gharib Bilal.” Mukajanga said that, Iringa journalists were denied accommodation in hotels, a situation that forced them to sleep in a bus they were travelling in.

Meanwhile, a Special Committee was set up by Minister for Home Affairs Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi, under Judge Stephen Ihema, which also reported in early October. The committee established that there was excessive use of force by police, but ruled this out as the cause of the death of Daudi Mwangosi. The committee was, however, unable to reveal what caused the death of the journalist as the case was already pending in a court of law.

A ‘Daudi Mwangosi Fund’, aimed at taking care of journalists in trouble due to their working environment, is being set up.

TANZANIA & MALAWI

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

Cartoon by Nathan Mpangala – www.nathanmpangala.blogspot.com

The border dispute between Tanzania and Malawi (see TA 103) has taken a new twist, prompting the contending parties to seek mediation before retired eminent persons of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Bernard Membe, told journalists that this latest move was reached to avert a looming stalemate over the exact ownership of Lake Nyasa. Membe said the two sides had now officially agreed that there were two fundamental issues – Malawi maintains that the Lake north of Mozambique belongs to Malawi in keeping with the 1890 treaty signed between the German Government for Tanganyika and the British Government for Nyasaland, while Tanzania maintains that her border passes straight through the middle of the Lake – splitting the northern part of the water body roughly into two equal parts – as an international border.

Given such fundamental differences, both sides had seen the need to find a mediator to lead the next processes of the negotiations, with a view to finding a lasting solution to the dispute. It was therefore proposed that they should send a letter to the SADC mediation committee, chaired by former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, early in December. The letter will request the former Mozambican leader to form a team of professional lawyers and other experts from across the African continent that would help sort out the legal aspects. The committee would have three months to tender its recommendations i.e. by late March 2013.

The minister added that should a decision mutually acceptable to the contending parties elude this committee, the matter would then be taken before “the highest levels of international arbitration”, such as the International Court of Justice, for further mediation. Membe said an appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would be made in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), which could provide the framework for a speedy solution. He explained that the meeting had been called specifically to discuss the various options available for resolving the boundary issue which had been recommended by the joint committee of officials from both countries who had met on November 18.

Malawian Foreign Affairs Minister Ephraim Chiume expressed optimism and thanked President Jakaya Kikwete and President Joyce Banda for the steps they had taken to ensure the matter would be resolved amicably.

PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE

Posted on January 1, 2013 by editor

While Tanzania’s economy, with the help of its increasing supplies of gas, forges ahead, the country’s agricultural industry receives less notice. In fact, agriculture is finally moving ahead rapidly under the influence of the Government’s ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ policies and also the greatly increased interest in agricultural investment by local and foreign investors. The latter, although very keen to bring in huge sums for investment, are operating in a climate of mounting criticism and suspicion that they are involved in ‘land grabbing’ and forcing peasant farmers off their land. Nevertheless, it is believed that some significant investments are being made. although often in an almost clandestine form. TA has been very limited in its coverage of agriculture and we need a volunteer to join our editorial team to cover at least some of the many exciting developments under way. We mention below a few of these – Editor.

Coffee farmers lined up for support
The German based development finance institution DEG – Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (German Investment Corporation) – has launched a Coffee Partnership for Tanzania (CPT), to bring together Tanzanian smallholder coffee farmers and DEG with private sector partners. The four-year project aims to increase the net income of 85,000 smallholder coffee farmers by doubling their yields and by improving the quality of coffee produced, thereby providing a better livelihood for up to 510,000 people.

DEG’s Project Director for CPT, Ian Lachmund, said that the project is financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through a $ 8 million grant. The project activities include promotion of well-governed farmer groups, training of farmers in basic business and agronomy skills, improvement of farmers’ access to finance and affiliating producers to certification schemes – thereby increasing overall productivity and quality and improving smallholders’ access to stable export markets. “Additional activities in the areas of gender, seedling multiplication and distribution and renewable energy, as well as livestock and food production, will be undertaken to promote the environmental and social sustainability of the partnership,” he said – Guardian.

Agribusiness event
There were some 70 foreign and over 40 local investors at an Agribusiness Investment Showcase in late November. This brought together the government and private sector to display investment opportunities within the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and to accelerate investment in this sector of Tanzania’s vibrant economy. SAGCOT’s objective is to foster commercially successful agribusinesses to benefit the region’s small-scale farmers, and to improve food security, reduce rural poverty and ensure environmental sustainability via the public-private partnership method. Initiated at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa summit in 2010, the aim is an inclusive, multi-stakeholder partnership to rapidly develop the region’s agricultural potential. The founding partners will include farmers, agri-business, the Government of Tanzania, SAGCOT and companies from across the private sector.

The event, held at the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) conference centre, was introduced by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda. He highlighted the Government’s plan to invest USD 1.3 Billion to leverage about USD 2.1 Billion from the private sector to transform and commercialise smallholder agriculture in Tanzania. He also highlighted the tremendous potential for investment in agribusinesses in Tanzania with 44 million hectares of arable land, of which only about 25% are utilised, together with huge potential for livestock and fisheries development. The event attracted 70 foreign prospective investors and over 40 local companies aiming at taking advantage of investment opportunities within SAGCOT.

Mkulazi project
The government has assured peasant farmers living around the 63,000-hectare Mkulazi Farm that the proposed commercial agriculture investment project would not grab their land. Instead, the government would take precautions to ensure that any land ownership contracts will benefit Tanzanians living in the project area and the country at large.

The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) is running an intensive promotion of the Mkulazi area , named the Southern Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), to encourage local and international investment aimed at turning the area into a sugarcane and rice production hub. The project would see the construction of two sugar factories with an annual production of 300,000 tonnes, which would end the sugar shortage completely and open doors for large exports.

As various investors visited the area to view the available potentials, villagers who run agricultural activities close by raised concern to government officials over the visitors’ commitment in developing the area and its impact on the lives of the neighbouring community. They said experience had shown that investors packed and left hurriedly after they failed to fulfill targeted obligations, without considering paying their workers, most of whom were residents of the area.

Responding to the concerns, Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Christopher Chiza said the project was not expected to replace local residents in the area. “Investors will be given 63,000 hectares which will be owned legally by an individual who has submitted an application to TIC for privatisation. No single piece of land from farmers will be grabbed to fulfill investment purposes,” He added: “The government expects a strong partnership between the two sides. They are supposed to depend on each other….farmers should produce crops as raw materials for factories, while investors should guarantee farmers reliable markets.”

Mr Chiza said implementing the project would see development of infrastructure in the area through construction of roads and bridges. the installation of power systems and Tazara Railway services would be improved. Investors would bring technology that would be helpful in transforming traditional agriculture to commercial farming that was valuable in the fight against poverty in the country. “The government, through TIC, will carry out sensitisation meetings at grassroots level, aimed at increasing public understanding of the agenda and translate the available opportunities to a win-win situation,” he said –The Citizen.

Market opportunities
Tanzanian small farmers are among beneficiaries of a $210 million investment fund, promoted by the Export Trading Group (ETG) and aimed at opening market opportunities for traders. It is based in Tanzania and has operations in sub Saharan Africa. It connects smaller farmers to consumers around the world by procuring, processing and distributing agricultural commodities. It sells the goods to countries like China and India – The East African.

Land leases
According to Land Portal, a data base on international land deals, Tanzania has leased more than 1.4 million hectares to foreign companies from Europe and Asia including 100,000 hectares to a Norwegian company for the planting of trees and 45,000 hectares to a British company for the cultivation of sorghum. An American company’s efforts to lease 325,000 hectares in Rukwa region is being disputed because it is said to be threatening the livelihood 160,000 Burundi refugee households.

Cotton and Contract farming
Controversy surrounds discussion about investments in cotton contract farming by ginners and others but the government has stated that rules had to be followed if these were to be successful.