Know My World Exchange Program (Hong Kong and Tanzania) TANZANIA REPORT. Coordinator: (Jack Haskell:

Transcription

1 Know My World Exchange Program (Hong Kong and Tanzania) TANZANIA REPORT Coordinator: (Jack Haskell: Research Questions RESEARCH TOPIC: IMPACT OF FARMING ON THE COMMUNITY 1. How is farming shaping our community? 2. Do you easily access market for your farm products? 3. Do you use machines/technology in farming? 4. What challenges do you face in farming? 5. How do you control weeds in your garden? 6. How many times do you plant and harvest in a year? 7. Mention the months for planting and harvesting. A group of 13 students met with farmers in three different gardens (farms). The farmers were very cooperative. They responded to the questions and even shared other experiences with the students beyond the scope of the questions. The students then sat together in two groups to discuss their findings from the farmers. The report below follows their findings. According to the farmers, farming is shaping their community in the following ways: It provides food for the community. One of the farmers mentioned that hunger drives them to keep farming to provide food for their families. Farming improves their standards of living through the income they get from petty business dealings especially when they get a bounty harvest. The farmers mentioned that 80% of the people in Tanzania are farmers and they contribute a lot to the national economy through their farming activities. They bring wealth and income to the nation. Farming is enabling the community to educate their children. The children in turn bring other development in the community through education. They build modern infrastructure after their studies. As far as marketing of their farm products is concerned, the farmers said their farming activities are done on small pieces of land. They grow crops mainly to provide food for their families. However, when the harvest is good, they can sell some farm products to buy things like sugar, soap, salt, cooking oil and other basic family needs.

2 They also claimed that some people steal their crops from the garden. So when the time for harvesting reaches, the remaining crops can only provide food for their families. On the use of machines or technology, the farmers said they have small farms and little education to practice modern farming using machines or technology. They use the basic farming tools made locally and are cheaply available like hand hoes. The major challenges the farmers said they face are: a) Little water supply for irrigating their farms during drought or hot seasons. b) Getting tired and worn out because of using hand hoes and other local tools c) The pesticides or chemicals for killing pests and weeds are very expensive for most of them to buy. Even the fertilizers are very expensive for them to use in farming for better yields. They also claimed that some pesticides do not help in farming. d) They use buckets for measuring farm products instead of using modern machines like beam balance or spring balance or weighing machines that are accurate. They end up being cheated because of their inaccurate measuring system. e) They are disturbed by wild animals like monkeys that have now started eating banana and other crops from their farms. This lowers the harvest from their gardens. The farmers control weeds by weeding using hand hoes and sometimes herbicides called Round-Up for very hard weeds. The table below shows the months for planting and the months for harvesting some of the crops they grow in their farms: Crop Planting Season Harvest Season Maize November February-March Beans June September-October Some of the crops are planted and harvested twice in a year. They have two planting seasons and two harvest seasons. Some crops are planted once in a year but are harvested throughout the year. The farmers are engaged in planting different crops and rearing animals to supplement

3 the products from their gardens so they can manage to provide the basic needs for their families especially educating their children. Here are some examples of crops they grow and animals they keep: Crops Banana Cassava Tomatoes Green pepper Maize Beans Onions Cucumber Chinese Spinach Okra Animals Goats Cattle Pigs Ducks Guinea fowl Rabbits Sheep Chicken There were also many mango trees, palm trees, coconut trees, avocado trees, and sugar cane in their farms. These plants provide fruits and seeds that produce oil (palm). Sugar cane is eaten to get the sugar stored in the stem. Based on the observations, the farming methods used has the following effects on the environment: The methods can cause water pollution when the chemicals (pesticides and herbicides) are washed in run-off water to rivers or lakes in the nearby areas. They can cause soil erosion because they continue farming activities throughout the year. This can make the soil to lose nutrients or important minerals

4 FIELD STUDY PHOTOS Chicken and Ducks

5 Piggery project Sheep and goats

6 Palm tree with ripe fruits A mango tree with unripe fruits

7 Banana plants with unripe fruits

8