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AgricuIture and Livestock

AgricuIture
Agriculture, which is entirely rain fed, is the mainstay of the livelihood of the villagers. The
average land holding in Lundamatwe is 1.5 hectares per family, the land comprises with thick
soil (more fertile) area, in moderately fertile land (moderately thick soil) area, and shallow soil
area.

The types of crops grown in the Village are such as Maize, beans, tomatoes, and sorghum,
millet and groundnuts. The use of modern inputs like chemical fertilizers and improved seeds is
almost nonexistent. Although there were attempts to use chemical fertilizers and selected seeds
in the area, it could not be sustained and expanded because of drought (moisture stress), the
expensiveness of the inputs and the inadaptability of the selected seeds to the nature of soil and
weather conditions of the area. Manure on the other hand is widely used by all farmers who
possess livestock.

Participants agreed that the major problems in the village pertaining agriculture are the
following:

O Weeding: the village community does not undertake proper weeding practices. As a
result of this agricultural produce will not be as much as it ought to be.
O Lack of rainwater: rain starts late and stops early. f rain fails in the month of January the
entire crop production practice will be subject to utter jeopardy. Lack of rainwater has
been the major limiting factor for agricultural production.
O Pest and diseases for crops grown in the village act as a challenge for farming.

Livestock
n terms of priority of use, the livestock population of the village is summarized as under:
Cattle: While oxen are used for plowing and threshing, cows are used for milk for home use, for
sale, and for reproduction. Sheep and Goats: These are largely used for sales and home
consumption during holidays. Poultry: Households keep poultry (chicken) for supplying meat
and eggs. The sale of eggs and chicken is also used to cover miscellaneous expenses.
However, poultry production is not carried out at a large scale by the community. t is just a
sideline activity and it does not contribute significantly for household food and income. The
average livestock holding per household in the village, as agreed by the participants were four
(4) Cattle one (1) Sheep and Goat, two (2) Poultry (chicken)
Major Livestock related problems
O Lack of animal feed: this is mainly because of the frequent drought encountered in the
area and over grazing.
O Lack of proper animal health care
O Lack of proper follow up. The community is more interested in holding more livestock
and less attention is given to their overall care and productivity.
O Lack of improved species. The problem in agriculture is the insufficiency of production
due to shortage of water and land. Moreover, most farmers do not have any other
additional income to subsist their living. They fully depend on the agricultural output.
Whatever little output is produced, they will use part of it to sell in the market to purchase
other items in the market like sugar, meat, clothes, salt, cooking oil etc.

As part of a solution, participants agreed to focus on quality in addition to quantity.
Availability of a health service in their vicinity is also another solution. Using improved animal
species and making use of them instead of depending on traditional varieties is also
acknowledged as another area of focal solution.

ducation
There is one elementary school in the village, currently it was estimated that the total number of
pupil in the school is estimated to be 800pupil from standard (Grade) 1 to 7. Families give
priority to send boys to school than girls because of marriage and house workload. The
relationship of the teachers with both their students and the local community is highly interactive
and cordial. The school is located in a convenient place such that the longest distance a student
travels to come to the school is between 30 to 50 minutes walk. Some of the newly constructed
classrooms are of good standard, however, teaching materials, teachers accommodation,
latrines and equipment such as tables, chairs, sport equipment and other teaching materials are
not fulfilled. The total number of class rooms will thus be eight. t is quite evident that the
number of students is very large compared to its capacity particularly when we consider the
classrooms and latrines.

Major Problems in the Process of Formal Education
The participants identify the following as the main problems associated with formal education in
Lundamatwe:
O The community has not fully appreciated the importance of formal education. There is
lack of initiation to send children to school. There are many children in the village that
should have been at school but are not going to school;

O Female students are made to drop out from school for the sake of marriage, searching
causal employment in nearest Regions (Dar-es salaam & Mbeya).
O nsufficient classrooms; the number of classrooms is not sufficient to accommodate all
school age children in the school. They use to share classrooms depending on the age
and standards. School registration was open for all, but since then it is getting more and
more difficult to secure sits for the increasing number of children as a result a quota
system is introduced to new entrants. The increase in demand for schooling is largely
attributed to the rise in the community's awareness about the importance of education.
The existing classrooms also need maintenance but this could not be done because of
lack of finance.

O There is serious shortage of teaching materials. The budget allocated is very small. The
budget allocated is not comparable with the demand of the school.


eaIth
The situation of health in the village is showing improvement through time. This is so because
people are now becoming aware of the health conditions, medical facilities are improving, and
different protective measures are taken. Only during some months of the year mainly during
the rainy season of November to March there is a limited health problem like Malaria, Water
born disease and frequently fever.

The main problems facing health care services in the village;
O Understaffing; in the dispensary there's only one doctor in charge who is responsible to
work for 24/7 all the days. He failed to perform activities during the weekend and some
nights.
O The major source of health problem among children is related to the lack of safe drinking
water. n Lundamatwe, they use the same water for drinking, for their animals and for
washing clothes. The water is not safe. Many children suffer from water born diseases.
Although women were given training on how to treat water, no one is using it.

Number of Children
The average fertility rate is 6 7 children per women. The desired number of children according
to the participants is 5- 6 for the safety of the mother. Children are considered as assets for the
household because they will be assigned various jobs even at their early age. Their
assignments include goat herding, cattle keeping, plough and housework.


!#L ANALYSIS AND #ANKING
The participants identified a number of problems that the village community is facing. Since the
problems were many, it was difficult to analyze. The participants further analyzed and ranked
the problems and reduced them into seven as presented below.

1. Shortage of safe drinking water
Shortage of drinking water is a critical problem in Lundamatwe Village. The villagers said that
the current source of water is not sufficient. During the dry season, both people and animals use
from the same source and the water level decreases in both quality and quantity.

2. Shortage of health centers and problem of laboratories
Although there is a health post at Lundamatwe, it is not sufficient. Moreover, the health post
does not undertake diagnosis, dispensary also lack of Power, water & laboratory also it does not
have its own. This forces them to go to health centers and hospitals in ringa town.

3. nsufficient classrooms
The number of classrooms is not sufficient to accommodate all school age children in the
school. They use to share classrooms depending on the age and standards. School registration
was open for all, but since then it is getting more and more difficult to secure sits for the
increasing number of children as a result new Primary School was under construction. The
increase in demand for schooling is largely attributed to the rise in the community's awareness
about the importance of education. The existing classrooms also need maintenance but this
could not be done because of lack of finance.


4. Shortage and lack of fertility of agricultural land
The average land holding in the area, which is estimated at 0.5 hectares by participants, is very
small. The land holding is such that every household has its land around its residence. Because
of the small land holding, fallowing is not practiced in the area. Moreover, continues human
activities in the land and the exposure of land to wind and water erosion has reduced the fertility
of the land significantly. Although some farmers have tried to increase the fertility of the land
through chemical fertilizer, many could not afford, for it is expensive. There is a well-developed
culture of using animal manure as a fertilizer in the area. However it is not sufficient because of
the less per capita cattle holding.

5. Marketing problems
The villagers sell their produces during the harvesting season where there is large supply and
market prices are low. On the other hand, they buy during the planting season where there is
relatively shortage of supply in the market and prices are high, hence they sale at a low price
and buy at a high price. Moreover, there are also measurement unit problems in the market.
Agricultural products especially cereals are sold using traditional methods.

6. Lack of employment opportunities.
To subsist their living, the landless households and many households who have land need to
work in the slack season. However, there is no employment opportunities created in their
localities.

7. Drought (shortage of rainfall)
The amount of rainfall in the area is not only deteriorating but is also erratic. t starts late and
stops early. The number of days it rains is becoming less and less.
5. Shortage of grazing land
Another problem cited by the participants is shortage of grazing land. Because of the population
pressure, more and more land was being turned into cultivation and residence area. This
together with the increased size of animal population (although the average animal holding of
households has come down, the overall animal population is increasing because of the rise in
households who possess animals) has put a severe problem of grazing land.

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