The Tanzanian economy ? or any economy for that matter ? is like a living body, composed of various organic parts.
Different economic sectors, such as agriculture, industry, mining, transport or banking, correspond to different parts of the body.
Various economic activities, including those which cut across sectors, correspond to the life-support systems which hold the body together and ensure its health and vitality.
It may be useful to keep this analogy in mind as we proceed, in this and subsequent presentations, to discuss the role of various economic sectors, and to study ways of building a vibrant economy in Tanzania.
First, consider agriculture – the much celebrated `backbone` of the economy.
The significance of the agricultural sector in Tanzania derives primarily from its overwhelmingly large size.
The sector accounts for over 80 percent employment and 60 percent gross domestic product; produces food crops like maize, sorghum, pulses, cassava, oilseeds, rice, millet, sweet potatoes and wheat; and cash crops like coffee, cotton, cashewnuts, pyrethrum, sugar, tea, tobacco and sisal.
Most of our people are subsistence farmers or herdsmen, not by choice but of necessity. Land is their life blood.
Apart from their own labour, and a few primitive tools, land is the only productive resource they have.
Unfortunately, the farmers` productivity is very low because they use traditional cultivation methods.
They do not apply modern agricultural inputs, either because they are ignorant of them or are unable to afford them.
Year in and year out, farmers` fortunes are entirely at the mercy of the weather.
Good rainfall means good harvests, poor rainfall poor harvests, and no rainfall means crop failure and possibly famine.
This depressing scenario may continue for decades, and could worsen, given growing population pressure and the predictable dangers of global warming.
Agricultural development in Tanzania is indeed a gigantic task. The time has come for us to take the bull by the horns: truly purposeful and aggressive action is a must.
I am devoting both this week`s and next week`s presentations to the agricultural sector, in order to hammer home the gravity of this important subject.
A major shortcoming of our current approach to the improvement of the sector has been our comparative neglect of the small farmer.
This is a grave mistake. At this juncture in the development of our country, the success or failure of our nation rests squarely with the small farmer.
What the peasant farmer needs is the motivation, the know-how, and the tools to do his job better.
I suggest that the best way to motivate the small farmer is not by making lofty appeals to his sense of patriotism and `nation building`, but by re-kindling his own desire for self-improvement.
Charity begins at home. Simply teach the farmer how best he can help himself and his family, and show him what he stands to gain by adopting new technology and new farming techniques.
Encourage him to emulate the example of (and to work in collaboration with) his neighbour in the village, who is producing a better crop, or rearing a better breed of cattle, than his own.
Assure him that his neighbour`s success is not due to magic or some religious miracle, but to harder work, superior knowledge, access to credit, better farming methods, better choice of seeds and fertiliser; along with tilling, planting, weeding, and harvesting at the right time.
Do not forget to add that his own lack of success is entirely due to his ignorance or lack of technical and financial resources, plus his failure to follow the rules of good husbandry: it is certainly not due to `bad luck`, or to bewitchment by an ill-wishing magician.
I am convinced that education and training at the grassroots level, oriented along such lines, holds the key to the solution of Tanzania`s agricultural development problem.
Finally, we should not focus attention on farming alone, to the exclusion of other sectors. You recall our analogy of the human body?
Crucial as it is, the agricultural sector is but one organ of the `body economic`.
While keeping one eye on it, we must keep the other eye on its reinforcing links with other sectors.
Our efforts at the farm level, if successful, will quickly yield surplus production, and with it will come the demand for storage, processing, fumigation, transportation, and marketing facilities.
These in turn will lead to a series of new economic demands that will strengthen the growth and sustenance of the economy in general.
Success in agriculture, then, is bound to be a powerful stimulus for success in commerce, industry, and services.
We will take a closer look at such inter-sectoral linkages when, next week, we discuss agriculture?s vital role as the economy?s launching pad.
petertemu@hotmail.com
- SOURCE: Guardian
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