Small-scale farmers unhappy with agriculture investments

Morogoro. Investments are normally perceived as good for creating jobs, sustaining forex and developing economies.

However, for smallholder farmers, foreign agriculture-related investments are a threat to local livelihoods.

A study conducted in Kisarawe by Dr Kenneth Bengesi from Development Studies Institute at the Sokoine University of Agriculture has established that smallholder farmers were unhappy with bio-fuel investments in their area, considering disadvantages in socioeconomic impact, ecological systems and land acquisition.

The study was aimed at assessing the impact of biofuel investments on local livelihoods.

According to Dr Bengesi, large-scale farmers are profit-driven and may not necessarily care about the interest of smallholder farmers.

The study commissioned by the national network of farmers’ groups (Mviwata) established that 82 per cent of respondents said they were not involved in the negotiation process for land acquisition while 14 per cent were involved and 4 per cent were undecided.

Sun Biofuels, which acquired over 8,000 hectares of which 2,000 had planted jatropha by the time of study, is reported to have made several promises to the community including employment creation and construction of roads, schools, water wells and dispensaries.

However, the study says 98 per cent of the promises were not fulfilled and the two per cent were partially fulfilled.

“There was also a threat to food security in the area as family labour force in agriculture dropped from 72 per cent before 2007 to 38 per cent in 2012. Work pattern shifted by throwing more burden to women despite a slight increase in paid workers on farms,” said Dr Bengesi while presenting findings at the Mviwata annual meeting in Morogoro recently.

He said the community was not given any legal support during negotiations.

However, villagers and their leaders do not know how much land they offered to the company while the compensation does not show how much land was compensated to individuals.

The study also says consumption behaviour changed from traditional to modern and the low wages of agricultural workers could not cope with the new consumption behaviour.

The researcher also raised concern about the ecological impact of clearing large area of land especially on biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

Jatropha is reported to be a host potential of pests that can invade cassava, a major cash and food crop in the area.

“It’s therefore evident that we have a weak legal framework to ensure security of smallholders’ land rights. While we understand the importance of large-scale farmers in the economy, something should be done as the way forward to foster a win-win scenario between large-scale and smallholder farmers in our context,” said Dr Bengesi.

The Kisarawe scenario is said to be an example of many agriculture-related investments in the country.

“This is the feedback on losers and gainers in agriculture investments in the country. Smallholder farmers are always not considered as investors and therefore the two cannot co-exist,” said Mviwata executive director Stephen Ruvuga.

According to him, investment permits are sometimes manipulated in the cost of local livelihoods. “Therefore, such kind of agriculture-related investments are not only threatening economic development in those areas but also the welfare of the majority Tanzanians who are farmers,” he said.

Over 70 per cent of Tanzanians depend on agriculture, which is the largest employer and provides traditional exports such as coffee, tobacco and cloves.