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Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Introductory note By Z. Semgalawe - National LinKS Coordinator Page 2 Local Knowledge Systems for biodiversity conservation and food security By Leodgar Sangana - consultant Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 Overview of LinKS Project Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 9 A speech by the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 12 Latent mainstreaming of Indigenous Know- ledge in Agricultural Research in Tanzania By Leodgar M. Sangana

Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. 27 Strategies for the Establishment of Sustainable Informal Seed Sub-sector in Tanzania By Dr. H.M. Saadan Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Page .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 35 Upcoming Events Contact Address: Dr. Zainab Semgalawe National Coordinator FAO-LinKS Project P.O. Box 2 Dar es Salaam Tel No: +255 22 2118137/39 Direct Line: +255 22 2124434 Fax No: +255 22 2116713 E-mail: zsemgalawe@muchs.ac.tz

Tan-LinKS LinKS-Tanzania Newsletter Gender Biodiversity and Local KnowledgeVolume 1: No. 1, June 2003

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Introductory Note By Z. M. Semgalawe LinKS National Coordinator, Tanzania Communication for development is a social process that brings together groups of people to mobilize themselves for actions pertinent to the promotion, linkages, stimulation of awareness and planning for participation. Methods and channels of communication for conveyance of information have paced along with the phases of human evolution. Not necessarily in sequence, man has been communicating through blowing of horns, beating drums, whistling, local flutes, songs, errand boys, signaling and of late radios, televisions, telephones, sirens and many more. All these have facilitated the conveyance of news and information from person to person, between societies, countries and continents alike. It is thus apparent that communication is a linking machinery. It is on the premise of the above fact that the initiative to launch this electronic newsletter by the LinKS project deemed imperative. The newsletter is designed to complement the overall LinKS project communication efforts in the promotion of local knowledge for food security and sustainable biodiversity management among the stakeholders at macro and meso levels. It will simplify the conveyance of information and so create awareness among participants’ new inventions on research and development that are linked to both LinKS and other livelihood issues. It will thus network the efforts of scientists, social workers and other individuals interested in local/indigenous knowledge.

This Newsletter will initially target those groups of people deemed, at various occasions and levels or in their mandates are ‘duty-bearers’ to the women and men in the rural areas. In particular (though not exhaustive) it will involve:

- Training and education institutions: as they are responsible for the training of researchers, extension and development workers who are working in the rural communities,

- Researchers of national and

international research institutions: as they will jointly be able to exchange local and scientific knowledge and identify ways for complementing each other’s work while trying to identify the needs and solutions of the rural communities’ perceived problems and constraints.

- Policy makers at both national and

regional level. Communication with these people is crucial since they directly or indirectly make decisions that influence local peoples’ access and control of resources, and thus their livelihood,

- Extension and Development

workers: as they are in the position to apply common shared values concerning local knowledge and gender sensitive participatory approaches in their work. They are an intermediary between the ‘right- claimers’ (rural communities), researchers and policy makers. They will thus inform the policy makers and influence them on issues pertinent to LinKS that are in their mandates.

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The letter is also available for other groups or societies and individuals not mentioned above with interest in local knowledge systems and is free of charge. It is envisaged that there will be two issues per annum and subscriptions should be e-mailed to the National LinKS Coordinator at the address provided. Contributions by others are highly encouraged. Local Knowledge Systems for biodiversity conservation and food security By Leodgar Sangana

ocal and indigenous knowledge, innovations and practices are treasures which if preserved, could

improve the living standards of the rural communities. Throughout history, people have used natural resources in their surroundings to meet basic needs, fulfill needs and demand for food, medicines, shelter, fuel, clothing and other products. Humankind has domesticated animals and plants and managed ecosystems, water resources and soils for its own benefit. This process has over time generated a wealth of knowledge about the various aspects of natural resources management that has been handed down, improved and accumulated through generations. In modern societies, such rich systems of local environmental knowledge systems have often been deemed irrelevant, and in contradiction, inferior to science - based knowledge systems. They have been considered incompatible with the western

oriented approach to resource management and thus even threatening the rural community progress and overall development. The recognition of local knowledge is important in stemming the loss because species, varieties and ecosystems, both wild and domesticated are being lost at an alarming rate. The loss of biodiversity threatens food security, especially for the poor who rely on traditional biological products for 85-90% of their livelihood needs. It is widely acknowledged that loss of biodiversity and loss of the local cultural knowledge that sustains it are closely linked and mutually reinforcing: As species disappear, so do the cultural institutions associated with them. The erosion of local knowledge is also a consequence of the historical and persistent exclusion of rural communities in the process of development and the political arena. Reverting this exclusion is fundamental for the recognition and promotion of local knowledge. However, the current challenges for the duty-bearers include: Recognising rural men and women as

knowledge bearers and users of their local knowledge to improve their livelihoods in the face of increasing pressure on the world's natural resources from exogenous sources.

Mainstreaming the recognition and

application of local knowledge systems into agricultural and rural development programmes, projects and curricula of schools and universities to ensure the long-term consolidation of this knowledge for the next generation.

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Research to document, validate and enhance local knowledge and practices.

Support for the sharing and exchange of

information between communities to replicate best practices and to build database.

Overview of LinKS Project Gender, Biodiversity and Local Knowledge Systems to Strengthen Agricultural and Rural Development in Southern Africa (LinKS) is a regional project emanating from a regional effort in Southern and East Africa aimed at raising awareness of the value of rural women's and men's distinct knowledge related to the use and management of the agricultural biological system they depend on for food security. General objectives include:

To increase understanding among rural people, development workers and policy makers about the value of men's and women's distinct knowledge and skills related to the management of agro-biodiversity for food security.

To strengthen the capacity of key partner

organizations participating in the project to use gender analysis and participatory approaches

Communication for development

methods to work with rural communities to document and share information about local knowledge systems with communities, NGOs, research institutions and policy-makers.

The project is designed to address the following three specific objectives which

provide a framework of support to project partners:

• Immediate Objective 1: Enhance the ability of researchers and development workers from key partner institutions to apply an understanding of gender, local knowledge, biodiversity and food security in their work by providing them with diverse learning opportunities as well as skills enhancement in gender-sensitive and participatory approaches.

• Immediate Objective 2: Increase the visibility of men and women’s knowledge about the use and management of agro-biodiversity among key development workers by supporting documentation of good practices, research and documentation

• Immediate Objective 3: Enable partner organizations and policy makers to network, develop guidelines and strategies, and take action to promote a greater recognition of rural people’s knowledge, needs and perspectives by providing financial support for partner’s initiatives at all levels

LinKS seeks to strengthen the ability of local institutions and partner organizations to adopt approaches that recognize and apply farmers' own knowledge and experience for the sustainable use of biodiversity for food and agriculture.

The project is now operational in Tanzania, Mozambique and Swaziland. Its approach is to build on, and add value to the on-going work of key partner organizations. In other words, the project seeks to build as much as possible on existing activities and strengthen their work.

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Some key characteristics of the project set up:

Working with a diverse of group of partners in each country.

The operational structure is

characterized by flexibility and participatory management.

A dynamic project approach, evolving

according to the needs that have been identified.

Project Management In each of the four participating countries a small national team led by a National Coordinator manages the project with support and advice from the Technical Advisory Teams (TAT) and Gender and Development Service (SDWW) at FAO headquarters in Rome. The TAT are established with representatives from various key partner organizations to provide technical backstopping and advice to project activities in the three project’s main areas of capacity building, research and communication and networking. Furthermore, the TAT provides advice on how to enhance networking among stakeholders and promote mainstreaming of project issues into development efforts. SDWW provides overall technical guidance and support, financial management and liaises with other technical units within FAO as well as with international partners on project issues. The LinKS Project in Tanzania • Hosting Institution/Set up

In Tanzania, the project is hosted by the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC). The country project team in Tanzania consists of:

- The National Coordinator – Ms. Zainab Semgalawe

- The National Facilitator – Mrs. Hilda Missano

- The FAO Associate Professional Officer (FAO APO) – Ms. Jenna Veijonen

- The Project Assistant – Mrs. Aisha Kaude

• The Technical Advisory Team A team of eight technical experts, covering various LinKS issues, has been appointed to serve as Technical Advisory Team (TAT). The main role of TAT is to provide technical backstopping and advice to project activities in the three main project areas of: 1) capacity building, 2) research, and 3) communication/advocacy and networking. The TAT is also responsible for providing advice to the national team on how to enhance linkages and collaboration with various stakeholders. In addition to TAT, a group of four resource persons has been identified to provide advice and support to mainstreaming and advocacy of LK at policy level. The Project Advisory Team constitutes of influential people within the government institutions with genuine interest in and commitment to promoting LK in Tanzania.

Box 1: Technical Advisory Team (TAT): 1. Dr. Bertha Koda University of Dar es Salaam 2. Dr. Palamagamba John Kabudi University of DSM (Law, Intellectual Property Rights) 3. Ms. Mary Sheto

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security/ World Bank Participatory

Agricultural Development Project (PADEP) (Gender, Participatory, IK) 4. Mr. Oziniel T. Kibwana Moshi Cooperative College (IK, Participatory)

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5. Dr. Kalunde P. Sibuga Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)

(Agro-biodiversity - seed system) 6. Mr. Munga Zuberi Lumbadia Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Seed Unit (Seed production and management) 7. Mr. Timothy N. Kirway Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Department of

Research & Development (IK, Participatory research, policy)

Box 2: Project Advisory Team: 1. Dr.Magnus Ngoile National Environment Management Council (NEMC) (Indigenous Knowledge/PolicyAdvocacy) 2. Mr. Ramson Yonazi Vice-President’s Office (Policy/Indigenous Knowledge) 3. Prof. Adolfo Mascarenhas University of Dar es Salaam Library (Indigenour Knowledge/Policy Advocacy) 4. Prof. David S. Kapinga Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) (Training Mainstreaming) • An Overview of Activities for Phase 1

(1998 – 2001)

The activities of LinKS in Tanzania broadly fall into three categories: - Research and Action - Training and Capacity building - Information communication and

networking. Notable are the close linkages and overlaps among the three categories as seen below.

I. Research and Action These are activities implemented through contracts with partner institutions based on guidelines developed by the National Steering Committee. Under this category LinKS supported four activities: (i) Southern Zone Rural Seed Fairs

The annual Rural Seed Fairs in Lindi and Mtwara regions that started in 1977, provided an interesting entry point for addressing a number of aspects related to local knowledge and household food security. This was a joint effort by Naliendele Research Institute (ARI), the Finnish-funded Rural Integrated Project Support (RIPS). Programme, and the Natural Resources Office of Mtwara Rural District. The main aims were:

- to strengthen the capacity of rural women and men to actively participate in research and development of seeds and other plant material for improving food security and rural livelihoods;

- to increase awareness of the local knowledge of women and men on local seeds, forest seeds and medicinal plants among rural people, researchers, development workers and policy makers.

(ii) Communication material for natural

crop protection The LinKS project supported the UMADEP (Uluguru Mountains Agricultural Development Project) to conduct an educational campaign to raise awareness on the value of, and promote the use, management and conservation of indigenous plants for crop protection purposes in the Uluguru Mountains near the Morogoro Municipal. This was initiated on the premises that organic pesticides provide a cheap and locally available alternative to chemical pesticides. Besides the increase in price, farmers have a growing awareness of environmental and health hazards

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of industrial agro-chemicals. The activity learnt that only the old people still have the knowledge on how to use plants for crop protection, and young people were found reluctant to use plant - based pesticides as they consider it to be old-fashioned.

(iii) The role of medicinal plants for

animal health care in dynamic pastoralist production systems.

This study was taken on the premise that, there is a growing body of documentation on the vast knowledge held by pastoralist communities on the use of medicinal plants for health care, and that with the current changes pastoralists are undergoing may pose threats to the sustained utilization of this knowledge. The main objectives were: - to assess the pattern of use of

medicinal plants for maintaining animal health by the main socio-economic groups in selected pastoral production communities.

- to carry out gender-sensitive

examination of threats and opportunities for the use of medicinal plants by the main socio-economic groups in selected pastoral communities.

This activity was a collaborative effort between various departments at SUA, the office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (then) in Morogoro and MARECIK an Arusha-based NGO. (iv) Non-wood forest products, gender-

based local knowledge on food security.

The aim of the study was to generate useful knowledge for research, policy making and training on the role of gender-based local knowledge in

utilization of wild foods and other non-wood forest products for household food security. Reports on this have been distributed to stakeholders and will soon be posted on the LinKS website.

II. Training and Capacity Building A major goal for the training component of the LinKS project has been to build the skills of a core group of "interested institutions" at the intermediate level (research/trainers, NGO representatives and government staff). (i) Training Courses LinKS has so far organized and co-facilitated about four training courses related to gender, local knowledge, and food security. In all of these the FAO SEAGA programme provided a trainer on socio-economic and gender analysis. About 160 intermediate level representatives have been trained in the country. (ii) Exchange visits The aim of the exchange visits is to support LinKS project activities by exposing partners to similar activities by partners in other project countries, facilitating exchange of experiences and collaborative efforts. It has received visitors for the Rural Seed Fairs in Mtwara, from Zimbabwe, and funded several trips of Tanzanians to Zimbabwe Seed Fairs and Universities. (iii) Other Meetings, Workshops and

Seminars These included information exchange workshops, review workshops and one-day seminars on current project related topics. A three days national IK workshop and a two-days meeting on Networking were also held.

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III. Communication and Networking (i) Directory and Bibliography

♦ A directory of Institutions working on issues of biodiversity, local knowledge and gender in Tanzania has been developed and is available at the FAO/LinKS Office in Dar es Salaam. It has been reviewed and is ready for distribution to member institutions.

♦ A bibliography on the above issue was

made on the basis of a literature review conducted by the Institute of Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam.

(ii) Network/forum on Local Knowledge

Systems, agro-biodiversity and gender in Tanzania

The idea of networking was initiated in March 2000. The aims of the network are to: - enhance collaboration among institutions

working with gender, biodiversity and local knowledge systems;

- create an environment for exchange of

information, skills and experiences; - give a voice/venue for advocacy of

LinKS; - solicit support for activities undertaken by

members (material/ technical/financial); - build members' capacity in the areas of

gender, biodiversity and local knowledge systems.

(iii) Production of international video film Two video films were produced: (a) Farm Animal Genetic Resources (b) Sharing the Knowledge. In here, one Oloiboni Masai, a traditional healer in North Tanzania spells it overtly:

"Share the knowledge with others, but be in control"

Further, the video shows that local knowledge systems have evolved because people share their experiences with other farmers and communities. Only through sharing can it continue to evolve for the benefit of future generations and people in other parts of the world. At the same time, we need to make sure that the interest and rights of the individuals and communities who developed and are maintaining the knowledge are not put at risk. The video concludes:

"How can we make sure that the custodians of knowledge - rural women and men - benefit from what they know and are willing to share?"

(iv) Participation in National Agricultural Fairs (Nane Nane)

In such occasions, the LinKS project displayed its documents and also supported individuals from member institutions to participate in the fairs. To wind up the first phase of the LinKS project there were three remarkable events:

The LinKS project organized a one-day media meeting in Dar es Salaam. This was intended for the creation of awareness among the media on the importance of knowledge in our livelihood. About 48 registered participants attended.

The Division of Environment in the Vice

President's Office coordinated a three-day National Workshop on Indigenous Knowledge Strategy and Action Plan (NIKSAP) held in Bagamoyo. The Workshop aimed:

- To share and enhance experience

sharing on Indigenous Knowledge.

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- To formulate a National IK strategy and Action Plan (NKSAP).

- To discuss gaps and the suitable

institutional framework for coordination of the Plan in Tanzania.

- To establish formal networking among

participants, also elaborated through a two-day follow up meeting.

About 60 participants from government ministries, NGOs/CBOs, donor agencies, academic/research institutions and private sectors attended.

A two-day meeting was held in

Bagamoyo that aimed at providing an opportunity to participants to discuss ways of strengthening documentation, sharing and dissemination of indigenous knowledge and chart out a networking strategy.

A Constitution was passed and a mission for the National Forum for Exchange of Indigenous Knowledge was drawn to: - collect, - document, - research, - promote equitable benefit sharing, - disseminate and - influence Local and Central

Government to ensure that appropriate policies and legislation are adopted and implemented to empower local communities to solve local problems for sustainable development.

• Overview of Activities for Phase II

(2002-2004)

Phase II of LinKS commenced in May 2002 with a continuation of the Phase I strategies of supporting, building on and strengthening of the on-going activities of

partner institutions. With a major focus on Seed Management and Animal Genetic Resource Conservation the project is going to address the goals and objectives in three interlinked and mutually reinforcing areas of capacity building, research and communication and networking. Specific activities include: - Conduct training for researchers and

development workers on gender sensitive participatory approaches to research and extension on Local Knowledge in Agro-biodiversity Management for food security

- Design and implement research activities on Local Knowledge in relation to agro-biodiversity management for food security.

- Document good practices for community-based management of biodiversity and Local Knowledge Systems.

- Support scaling-up of recommendations from various activities in the communities for wider use, e.g. seed fairs.

- Provide technical support to develop national level policy frameworks and strategies that recognize and promote local knowledge systems for biodiversity conservation and food security.

- Develop information packages about LinKS issues and specific activities and distribute to partners.

- Support establishment of network among partner institutions for sharing information and experiences on Local Knowledge and agro-biodiversity conservation for food security.

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A speech by the Minister for Agriculture and Food security Hon. Charles N. Keenja (MP) at the eigth Sokoine Memorial Lecture, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, 11 April 2001 1. On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and on my own behalf, I wish to thank you for giving me the privilege of being a guest speaker in the 2001 'Sokoine Memorial Lecture'. Thank you very much. 2. Mr. Chairman, I am particularly gratified for having been given this opportunity for two main reasons: Some of you may be aware that I was a Personal Assistant to the late Edward Moringe Sokoine from January, 1980 to 1983 and thereafter, I was a Deputy Principal Secretary in his office until his death in 1984. During that period, I was privileged to work with him quite closely. I learnt a lot from him and this period had a profound influence on my life and my career in the Civil Service. It is therefore gratifying for me to be here today commemorating with you the contributions of the late Sokoine to the development of this country and particularly to agriculture. Your University was appropriately named after him. 3. Secondly, I am happy to be with you because this is the highest institution of learning and research in agriculture. We, in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, are looking forward to working very closely with you so that you can provide the expertise which we need to steer agriculture from its present humble state to new heights in the economy and the welfare of the people of this country.

The Place of Agriculture in the Economy 4. A lot has been said about the importance of agriculture in our economy. It has been referred to as the 'back bone' of our economy; as the life of our Nation and as the foundation of our development policies. Yes, our agriculture deserves the highest praise as it accounts for over 50% of GDP, over 60% of exports and over 95% of our food requirements. 5. Despite its unassailable position in our economy, it is true that for over three decades now, our agriculture has either stagnated, declined or recorded unimpressive growth rates, particularly when related to population growth with the so called cash crops, production of almost all crops is far below where it was in the 1970s and the situation with food crops is not different. The 'back bone' is thus weakening and because of its leading position in the life and economy of this country, its effect is very serious and could be devastating if left unchecked. 6. The Third Phase Government is determined to move agriculture from rhetoric to greatly enhanced production so as to make it continue to occupy a leading position in the economy and also so that it can provide resources for investment in the other sectors of the economy. Thus, for the foreseeable future, agriculture will continue to be the 'engine' of growth of our economy and the provider of food to our people and livestock. The Agricultural Potential 7. Tanzania has a very high agricultural potential. The land area of the country is 944.8km2 (equivalent to 95.4 million hectares) of which 43 million hectares are arable. Only 7 million hectares or 16% of the arable area, is cultivated every year using

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very poor methods, which do not ensure optimum production. 8. Tanzania has approximately one million hectares, which can be irrigated, of which only 157,000 hectares are cultivated every year. Water sources include the three Great Lakes, rivers of various sizes and underground water. Some of the big irrigation projects developed by the Government in the past have long become unoperational due to various reasons: these include Mbarali, Kapunga, Dakawa and Ruvu rice farms. 9. The most important of our resources is our people. Over 70% of the population (estimated at 31 million people) is engaged in peasant agriculture. These small farmers are responsible for feeding the population, for export crops and for the state of the economy. Without their contribution, Tanzania would not be what it is today and any improvements in agriculture in the near future will continue to depend on them. What Went Wrong? 10. With the resource endowment, which the country is blessed with, we should be expected to have a booming agricultural sector, which would act as an engine for the growth of the other sectors. Indeed, history shows us that in the past some of our crops recorded impressive growth rates but declined or exhibited varying growth rates at various times. The reasons for the poor state of our agriculture are familiar and they include:

unpredictable and at times extreme weather conditions;

dependence on rain fed agriculture; poor production technologies; erratic prices and lack of reliable

markets; high pre-and post harvest losses;

poor rural infrastructure weak research-farmer linkages; high taxes; weak and inappropriate sectoral policies; inadequate supportive services including

ineffective extension services; limited capital and lack of access to

financial credit; low priority accorded to agriculture in

allocation of public resources etc. inappropriate legal framework and over

regulation of the sector. The list is long and we seem to have done everything wrong. If these weaknesses were corrected, we could expect to see a lot of improvement in the performance of our agriculture. Food Production 11. Tanzania produces approximately 97% of its food requirements. Food production has been increasing at approximately 3.5% per year, which is slightly higher than the population growth rate, estimated at 2.8% per year. Food production as well as the production of non-food crops, is largely dependent on rainfall and thus varies from year to year depending on the amount and distribution of rainfall received. 12. Most food crops, with the exception of pulses and paddy, have exhibited low growth rates over the past decade. Before the removal of fertilizer subsidies in 1992 and liberalization of crop marketing in the 1980s, the production of maize was growing at 11.5%. Since that time the growth of maize production has dropped to 2.9% almost equal to the rate of population growth. Rice has been increasing at 5.4% a rate likely to increase as more land will be brought under irrigation and developed projects revived; cassava production has been growing at 1.5%, wheat, 1.1%, sorghum and millets,

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5.2% and pulses (beans, peas, pigeon peas, green gram, cow peas etc.) an impressive 15.6%. 13. Generally, the rate of growth of food production is unsatisfactory. Worse still there is usually a great geographical variation in the production of food in the country depending on rainfall distribution in the year in question, so that in some years there may be surpluses of foods in some regions while there may be serious shortages in other regions. Due to poor transport infrastructure and long distances between areas with surplus production and those with food deficits, the exercise of moving food can often be daunting and expensive. Food Security 14. The attainment of food security has the following dimensions: (i) To ensures a safe and nutritionally

adequate food supply both at the household level and at national level.

(ii) To have a reasonable degree of

stability in the supply of food both from one year to the other and during the year.

(iii) To ensure that each household has

physical, social and economic access to enough food to meet its needs, i.e. each household must have the knowledge and the ability to procure or produce the food that it needs on a sustainable basis.

Characteristics of Peasant Agriculture in Tanzania 15. Despite the fact that land is abundantly available in most parts of the country, average area cultivated per capita

ranges from 0.1 ha. to 0.7 ha. The area cultivated per person is highest in Tabora, Mtwara, Ruvuma, Shinyanga, Coast and Kagera regions where it averages 0.5 ha; and smallest in Kigoma, Dodoma and Singida regions where at averages between 0.1 and 0.2 ha. The variations in land cultivated per capita may be due to the cultivation of "cash crops" in the areas with relatively high-cultivated areas and emphasis on livestock keeping in the areas with low averages. The case of Kigoma remains a puzzle and may be due to the long distances to markets. 16. The low average areas cultivated are due to the fact that over 70% of peasant agriculture is done by hand (using human power) and by the use of rather 'primitive' hand tools. It is estimated that only 10% of the land cultivated is mechanized while 5% is ploughed using animal drawn ploughs. It is estimated that there are 19,500 tractors in the country of which 7,000 are operational and are in use in agricultural production, 6,000 are out of service but are classified as repairable while another 6,500 tractors are over 20 years old and are classified as unrepairable. 17. The small farmer is usually with limited resources for investment in agriculture and at the same time, he does not have access to credit and the organizations which could have supported him, such as cooperative societies, have collapsed and run into disrepute. 18. The produce of the small farmer is usually very heavily taxed by both the central government and the local authorities. With some crops, for example cashew nuts, the Local Government excess and other contributions reach up to 40% of the farm gate price and the rates are not adjusted to conform to falls in crop prices.

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19. The peasant uses various forms of traditional methods of agriculture and in most cases he does not have access to training or advice from the extension service. 20. The farmer has little support from the Government and his lot has been worsened by the removal of subsidies on farm inputs, the collapse of institutions which could support him, exploited by buyers under the unplanned and uncontrolled liberalized marketing system and at times lack of markets for his produce. Government Planned Actions • farms belonging to NAFCO, with the

exception of the Hanang Wheat Farms, will be privatized by selling them to small and middle level farmers so as to ensure that they resume production at the highest possible levels within the 2001/2002 season.

• Steps are being taken to ensure that

tractors already within the country are brought to use and additional ones of various sizes are brought into the country in large numbers. The response is so far encouraging.

• Privately owned mechanization and

farm inputs centers will be set up to serve groups of farmers and a system will be devised to ensure prompt payment for services rendered so as to ensure service sustainability.

• In this country, women play a leading

role in agricultural production. All plans aimed to improving agricultural production will bear this fact in mind to ensure that women are direct participants and beneficiaries of the plans.

Large Scale Farmers Steps are being taken to attract large scale (or strategic) farmers into the country. Laws related to land tenure, land rent etc. are being looked into with the aim of making them more attractive to will be investors LATENT MAINSTREAMING OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN TANZANIA By Leodgar M. Sangana Key words Agricultural Research Institutes, agro-biodiversity, enhancing research, extractive research, 'food basket', food security, latent, local/indigenous knowledge systems, mainstreaming, participatory research approach, The 'Big Four'. Abstract Plant varieties, animal breeds and aquaculture have been developed, utilized and sustained by the respective rural communities since the stone-age era even before the inception of agricultural and aquatic practices in modern Tanzania and elsewhere. Over the centuries the rural women and men farmers have been systematically identifying and protecting broad-base germplasms and gene banks that possess qualities such as disease resistance, adaptability to their local environmental conditions, good yields and post-harvest characteristics they prefer. In the last three decades, the diversity of these gene banks and existence of the biotopes have been alarmingly eroded due to the introduction of exogenous indigenous and uniform varieties and breeds into the

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traditional system. Also, the introduction of alien technologies in the marine services has absolutely disturbed the initial conservation systems of the biotopes. Globalization, including trade liberalization has also played a big role in marginalizing the rural smallholder farmers. It is only recently that international and the national research and development institutions began to realize the significance of rural farmers' role in the development and maintenance of these genes, and technologies for sustainable food security. There are references that indigenous people's local knowledge is invaluable and primal; and with the effort of the international agencies through advocacy and capacity building to the respective stakeholder governments, NGOs and individuals, awareness on the importance of this knowledge is increasing. These farmers' local knowledge has a bigger role to reckon if sustainable development is to be achieved. This review finds out the extent to which the National Agricultural Research Institutions (ARI) have adhered to the Global and National perspective to recognize and mainstream rural farmers' indigenous knowledge into their programmes for producing/breeding new seed varieties and livestock with Agricultural Research Institute Uyole in focus. Global initiatives and the previous research practices in the research institutions plus lessons learnt and the approaches that have evolved and have been adopted in the improvement of research work in the country have been revisited. Some observations and views from various dignitaries conversant with local knowledge systems from various scientific institutions in the country are also synthesized within. The mainstreaming process of the local/communities' local knowledge in the

agricultural research and other development programmes in the country is still 'latent'. It has not gained adequate momentum. The rural people's local knowledge has ever been undermined and graded as rudimentary in research and development undertakings It is the earlier participatory involvement of these farmers in planning and implementation of the research work that the LinKS project is advocating and not the extractive method where farmers are consulted for clarity/explanation of an activity at some stages of preplanned programmes. The 'participatory research' approach, that has been developed and contemporarily being adopted by various other countries worldwide has yet to gain popularity in Tanzania. So, more effort is required here it terms of research policies, analyses, agreements and advocacy for institutionalizing local knowledge systems in the overall development. Preamble It is until the mid- 1980s that formal plant breeders' programmes gradually began to focus on the marginal agro-ecological conditions to which modern varieties are often ill - adapted. Even though, they did not focus on improving qualities other than high yields and disease resistance, which were not even to the preferences of the rural peasant farmers and local consumers. Either, researchers and breeders were not working with the farmers' or local users' groups in their innovation programmes. Breeding programmes at that time improved breeds in the laboratory settings using varieties held in gene banks, tested in experimental stations and then transferred to farmers who then tested these varieties in the fields. Many observations and studies have affirmed that this system was a sub-optimal breeding system because the formal breeders' selection criteria were not necessarily the same to those used by the

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local farmers, and that not all farms presented agro-ecological characteristics similar to those found in the experimental stations (P. L. Howard- Borjas). This resulted into insignificant adoption of the modern varieties by the farmers, particularly those living in agronomic marginal environments, or where modern varieties failed to out-perform local varieties. These modern varieties were bred while undermining local or indigenous peoples' post harvest qualities such as processing, preservation, storage, cookability or aroma. Important international policies and legal agreements such as that of the UN FAO's Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (1996) acknowledge the role played by generations of women and men farmers and plant breeders, and by indigenous local communities in conserving and improving plant genetic resources and aquaculture. In its further recognition of this fact, the Global Plan of Action explicitly states: 'Any biodiversity policy or strategy that fails to involve these resource users in the decisions regarding the implementation of programmes for conservation is unlikely to succeed'. It emphasizes the fact that any biodiversity conservation policy that fails to consider the needs and rights of rural communities to develop, access and use biological resources in a sustainable manner is even less likely to gain support. 'Participatory plant breeding' and characterized by involving local farmers in the breeding process is one of the commendable strategies to overcome these difficulties. Many researchers and development agencies have of late begun to involve local communities though at a small pace in their projects in terms of problem assessment, analysis, planning and implementation. The

capabilities of these communities to own and sustain the innovation have been enhanced, due to their active involvement in technology development process. The Tanzania agricultural research system and other practices followed similar trends. Agricultural research stations existed in Tanzania right from the colonial era, actually designed for commercial crops and a few food crops. Immediately after independence, in 1961 agricultural research work was expanded with more research stations being established to enhance more high yielding seeds, livestock breeds and marines to improve food security and raise the income of farmers, pastoralists and the fishing communities. Parallel to this, was the influx of changes of strategies, programmes and plans on research and development. Modalities and strategies on the realization of problems that needed research and take the solutions to the rural communities were put in place. In essence, the measurement of success in agricultural research is the number of farmers who adopt and use the technology in solving their problems. Scientists have yet to conceive and affirm this. In the 1970s, more institutes were established and a lot of evaluation work was carried out that revealed that some of the improved technologies released during the material time had not reached the farmers. These include improved seeds and the under-utilized technologies that had already been distributed to the rural farmers. A case at hand is Serena, a sorghum variety that has many competent qualities like, early maturity, high yielding and pest/bird resistant but was rejected by farmers for they did not like the aroma and the colour of the products. The other reason was that farmers were merging the researchers' technology and their traditional practices in tending them and

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so difficult to evaluate. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has generalized some of the causes for the unacceptability of most of the technologies as follows:

Environmental difference between those of the farmers and research institutes where seeds were being grown and bred respectively.

Researchers were ignorant of the

farmers' environment.

Farmers' local knowledge was not incorporated in the development of the new technologies/innovations.

Farmers had different criteria for

evaluating the technologies different from the innovators.

Farmers had not been involved in the

earlier stages of planning and implementation of the research work on the respective technologies.

For many years before and after independence a larger part of agricultural research work was implemented at the research stations. All procedures on producing and testing a plant variety were done at these stations. Researchers in their institutions and laboratories assumed strategies that they thought would solve the rural farmers' problems. Criteria like high yielding, drought resistance and utilization of industrial chemicals were assumed as farmers' needs. These technologies were then directed to extension workers who passed them to some selected farmers who had demonstrated aptness in understanding new technologies. Surrounding farmers picked such technologies from them. This approach was short lived, apart from its success. It was not adequately coordinated. There was a communication dearth between

the researchers, farmers, extension workers, and the input distributors and even among the researchers themselves. There was an overall review of the approaches again and it was learnt that:

Those technologies were inappropriate in relation to the farmers' environment and agricultural problems.

There was no forum for researchers to

get some feedback from the extension workers and the farmers on the new technologies. There were high research costs that were a result of repetition of the research work on revising the denied innovation methodologies.

The designed technologies were

incompatible with the culture, tradition and indigenous settings of the communities, including gender roles.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (then) reorganized its research approach in the mid- 1980s. It released a National Agricultural Policy which stipulated that:

• Crop/livestock research should be based on the farmers' requirements by using the 'Farming Systems Approach'. Intrinsically, this meant that farmers' preferences should be the basis for selecting and conducting studies in the agricultural research programmes.

As such the Department of the Research and Development in Agricultural crops initiated various participatory programmes. It began with the training of the researchers on the earlier involvement of the farmers in the research activities. This programme encompassed:

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- Involvement of farmers in the assessment and appreciating their agricultural problems.

- Plan agricultural research activities on

the basis of farmers' problems and requirements.

- Conduct research in the farmers'

environment in collaboration with the extension workers.

- Involvement of farmers in the evaluation

of appropriate technologies using their criteria.

- Distribution of technologies to the rural

communities with high involvement of the farmers and extension workers.

- Follow up with the farmers in order to

find out arising problems and deliver instant support solutions.

This approach, inter alia insisted on the cooperation among researchers irrespective of their disciplines to work as teams, linkages with the extension services and design and develop technologies that focus the rural communities. This was part of the policy and all research institutions had to protect and fulfill.

The Institute of Agricultural Research Uyole (ARI Uyole)

The Institute is situated in Mbeya Municipal. It is the Center for The Southern Highlands Research Zone headed by a Zonal Director and assisted by a Zonal Research Coordinator. This is the largest of the seven major Agricultural Research Centres under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. It covers the four highland regions inhabited by about 19 percent of the Tanzania mainland population (200-2025 projections).

There are also other sub-research stations dealing on specified roles like livestock breeding in Mpwapwa (Dodoma) and Mabuki (Mwanza), coffee in Lyamungo (Arusha), poultry and sugar cane in Kibaha. ARI Uyole was established in 1973 as a project administered by the Government with financial support from the Nordic countries. In April 1976 it became a public corporate- Uyole Agricultural Center (UAC) and later in 1993 it was resolved in the Government under the name of Agricultural Research Institute Uyole (ARI Uyole). Currently it is operating in eight substations in the different ecological zones in the Southern highland regions for developing and testing (in trials) improved agricultural/livestock technologies prior to release and dissemination to farmers. The general ARI Uyole's objective is to improve farmers' incomes in the respective zone through significant crop and livestock production, and ensure sustainable resource management. Major Research Objectives are: - To minimize incidences of disease and

pests of both crops and livestock, - To improve the husbandry and post-

harvest practices for crops and livestock,

- To develop and introduce appropriate

materials for high genetic potential for crops and livestock, and

- To strengthen research-extension-

farmer linkage

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Figure 1: Map of Tanzania indicating ARI Uyole's Zone & positions of other ARIs

Suluti Ndengu

Makete

Mbozi

Mpanda

Sumbawanga

ARI Uyole

Chunya

Naliendele

Mlingano

Tengeru

Tumbi

Maruku

Ukiriguru

Basically for coffee and horticultural crops Basically for Soil

Science and Sisal

Tobacco, sorghum/millet

Mainly for Tea and Plantains but also Robusta coffee

Cotton , Root crops

Cashew nuts, legumes, cassava etc.

This is the largest of the 7 ARIs and deals with most crops- maize, wheat, sorghum, legumes, sweet and Irish potatoes, coffee, temperate fruits and Livestock.

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Research Programmes include:

1. Crop Research Programme (CRP) This is responsible for research on all food crops, including maize, wheat rice roots and tubers, beans, oilseeds and horticultural crops (also pyrethrum, coffee and cashew nuts). Activities include plant breeding, agronomy as well as crop protection. 2. Livestock Research Programme

(LRP) This is accountable for research on dairy cattle, beef cattle, non-ruminants, and pasture and forages. It covers animal nutrition, animal breeding, animal health, animal husbandry and pasture agronomy. 3. Special Research Programme (SRP) This concentrates on soil and water conservation and promotion of agro-forestry, agricultural engineering, plant nutrition, post harvest technology and animal traction. 4. Socio- Economics (SE) The aim of this programme is to support the development, testing and dissemination of improved technologies for sustainable agricultural productivity and eventually improve the welfare of the peasants. The ARI Uyole also offers other services on: - On- station research focusing on

agricultural technology development - On-farm research to verify and

transfer technologies to rural farmers - Contract research for intervention in

and outside the zone

- Collaborative research with other institutions, government and non-

government institutions in and outside the country.

- Farmers' workshops and training on

different issues in agriculture (on request),

- Laboratory services for soil and

livestock feeds analyses,

- Contract seeds of different crops to farmers,

- Raise improved seedling nurseries

for agro-forestry and fruits (both temperate and tropical)

- Socio-Economic surveys/studies.

The ARI Uyole has since its inception gone through a series of learning/studies on the ecological nature of the zone and the characteristic/culture of the farmers in its assigned zone. It is true that with the conventional plant breeding systems their good intentions of promoting food production could not work as per expectations. The farmers could not be attracted to accept some of the qualities and characteristics of the new varieties they bred. They had to revert to the observation of the characteristics and qualities that were found in the local varieties and accordingly discuss with the indigenous farmers at their sites. They then endeavoured to include those qualities in their breeding process. There are now compromises and acceptability among the farmers in beans and other related legumes. The Institute has also incorporated the domestic post-harvest technologies used by the rural/local farmers in processing, preservation and storage. This, they say has been due to the introduction of the 'participatory plant breeding' approach that

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involved farmers in the earlier stages of the process. Through this approach of cooperation with farmers, ARI Uyole has managed to keep a handful of the local/indigenous germplasms. This is a positive way of mainstreaming the local/indigenous knowledge in the production of improved varieties. Farming systems such as that of the cultivation of the 'Matengo pits' for soil conservation (ngoro) by the Wamatengo tribe in Mbinga district and that of the Wanyakyusa where beans are grown on ridges during the heavy rains and grown on flat tilled land during light rains are some of the indigenous knowledge systems the Institute has observed useful and is promoting them The ARI Uyole has also acknowledged that women posses a traditional role as 'seed custodians' and more often they are responsible for tasks that are related to seed management-seed selection, planting, harvesting, storage, preservation, exchange and gifts. The Institute has learned this during the rural seed fairs observed during the Nane-Nane agricultural shows and displays in the southern highland regions. This is a National Day that all farmers in the whole country display various agricultural and livestock products at different community levels. The Agricultural Institute Uyole still encourages 'rural seed fairs' as these are the fora for exchange of seeds and communication among women farmers, empowerment, and actually reveal some of the less/underutilized crops that are only known by the rural farmers. It is also an opportunity for researchers to learn how and when these crops are most used. The Institute has all along been observing the gradual replacement of organic pesticides by industrial ones. It has also noticed the decline on the utilization of these

industrial pesticides by these farmers as they have turned to be very costly. This has resulted into low crop yields in some parts of the zone. However they sighted Mbozi district farmers who are keen now on the use of organic pesticides and manure on their farms. On this aspect the Uyole Agricultural Training Institute remarked that the use of indigenous knowledge in modern agriculture such as the organic pesticides reduces expenses while delivering the same ingredients. It is just that the industrial chemicals show instant reactions while the organic ones react a bit later. At the Agricultural Training Institute, it is compulsory that every tutor includes indigenous knowledge in relation to the subject being taught. On food related issues for instance the aspects traditional methods of cooking, processing, preservation, packaging and storage must be demonstrated. The students at the training institute are also given some lectures on gender roles to prepare them on how to understand the communities they are going to work with after completing their courses. Also, employees at both the Research and Training institutions are sent for short courses on gender whenever such courses are organized in the country and these become trainers when they come back. The conclusion on the gender issues are that, it is alright to teach this community about gender; but the understanding and practical implementation will depend on the personal intrinsic perception, and the process has a long way to penetrate in people' minds.

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AN OVERVIEW Has local/indigenous knowledge ever been adequately addressed in agricultural research in Tanzania? Local/indigenous knowledge is unique to a particular culture and society, and is a basis for local decision-making in agriculture, health, natural research management and other sectors. It is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationship and rituals (WB,1998). Indigenous knowledge is the formation base for society, which facilitates communication and decision-making (Flavier et al. 1995). Indigenous information systems are dynamic, and are continually influenced by both internal creativity and experiment as well as by contact with external systems but have remained the basis for sustainable agricultural practices. Indigenous knowledge has existed and evolved along with human development but it still looks new in conventional research activities. The one contributing cause is that many of our current researchers were trained in the western universities, and so modernization has been controlled by the adoption of exogenous innovations. It is so apparent that the whole agricultural research work has long been too academic. This is yet a difficult gap to correct at present. The research system has historically undermined the rural farmers' indigenous knowledge, and treated them as recipients of innovations, a system termed "technology transfer" characterized by a one way process (researchers to farmers). Researchers and some other experts have impressed themselves by generalizing that local/indigenous knowledge is awkward and primitive instead of revisiting the outstanding ones and improve on them using the locally available materials. This has brought about different interest in between the two parties. While a researcher may work with the objective of breeding a high yielding disease

resistant variety, farmers are looking at qualities such as early maturity, flavour and storability. Researchers have not had in-depth studies of the recipients' knowledge and preferences. Historically women (wives) have been entrusted to ensure food security at the household level while husbands look at the financial investments. Crops were stored in 'kihenge', pots, and sometimes hung in verandas, all managed by women. Traditionally, the ancestors used or maintained their crops in the vicinity of the homestead for easy management and easy harvesting. Normally they mixed their crops of varying stands like maize, millets, cassava and yams. Trees would be left standing to provide shade at the time of harvesting. After harvesting, free range animals would be tethered in these fields to add manure (excrement) to the soil. Such mixed cropping also provided assurance of crop failure management as it was not possible for all crops to fail at a go in case of disasters. With this system, they were certain that soil is covered by a certain crop and so protect it from erosion. Mixed cropping has been overtaken by specialized pure stand agriculture that has emanated from the introduction of single stand new varieties. This has caused a lot of inconvenience to the smallholder farmers as they have to look for new plots to grow these crops and tend them separately. This is an addition to the heavy burden these farmers already have, and has in many occasions contributed to the rejection or partial acceptability of the new innovations. Scientists may have to devote more time to learn how to combine their innovations with the workable indigenous qualities.

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Has 'participatory plant breeding' been adopted by researchers? 'Participatory plant breeding' is an approach that scientists involve the farmers in the research syndicate from the time of preparation, planning, implementation and evaluation. It is from this participation that local/indigenous knowledge is easily tapped from the local smallholder farmers and many countries in the world have adopted this system. This approach is preferably called an 'enhancing research' as opposed to an 'extractive research' where farmers are merely consulted to a one time contribution to some preplanned innovations. Unfortunately, most researchers have misconstrued the latter for the former, and in essence 'participatory plant breeding' has not been utilized. It has been perceived that involvement of farmers in 'enhancing research' is an expensive process under normal government budget allotments. The possibilities of undertaking such research becomes even bleak since many research programmes are donor-funded and do not allow for 'enhancing research'. The Hybrids and the Open Pollen Varieties saga Basically, the major problem in agriculture remains the availability of the right seed against the right price. The most discouraging thing is that the cost of improved seeds (hybrids) is as of now not in favour of smallholders. Prior to the introduction of hybrid seeds farmers did not bother about planting material. They used their own reserve seeds or got them from neighbours. The introduction of hybrids in 1970s was accompanied by subsidies on seeds and other inputs. There was no burden to the peasant farmers, as all inputs were brought in as a package.

If you look at the hybrid seed varieties, some improved 'open pollinated varieties' (OPV) and the famous Green Revolution, popular in the 1960s, you can draw the inference. These came in with full support from those who initiated them. Yields were high throughout the lifespan of the programmes. Such packages were introduced in many highland areas in Tanzania particularly for maize production. It is at this time that the Southern Highlands (Mbeya, Iringa, Ruvuma, Rukwa) were nicknamed "The Big Four". The government managed to take over the responsibilities of subsidizing the inputs for a while. Maize production rate rose to 11.0% per annum. The situation is not the same today. When the government was obliged to implement the IMF/World Bank recommendations on structural adjustment Programme (SAP) and gradually withdrawing the subsidies, the farm inputs, including the hybrid seeds became unaffordable for these farmers. For once, maize production declined as some farmers fell back to the use of local seeds. Suddenly maize production rate fell to about 2.9% per annum. The other contributing factor is that, the sole seed distributor was the Tanzania Seed Company (TANSEED) failed to meet the farmers' demand for inputs. As such the majority of these smallholder farmers have gone even poorer than before. It has also been observed that most smallholders grew these hybrids for sale while the local varieties remained for their consumption since they maintained their preferred qualities. This may also appear as an attribute to the prevailing poverty. In case of sorghum, there were varieties that over-performed the hybrids too, and in addition to their hard texture they dehulled much better than the hybrids. Local farmers thus still favoured their local varieties.

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As mentioned elsewhere the local seed varieties have many advantages to smallholder farmers over the hybrids despite their low yielding capacity. FAO (1988) studies over the time reveal that there are about 50,000 vegetable food species known worldwide, yet not more than 200 of them are utilized by humans. It is time to rediscover these 'forgotten' and neglected food plants as they will enhance the food base. Local food crops are advantageous in the sense that they add nutritional value to the diets; and crops like legumes add balance to protein, vitamins and minerals. Many of these crops are drought resistant and can be grown during the so-called 'hungry season', as such spread the risk of shortage or crop-failure. Grown as rotation crops between successive main crops these traditional crops help in reducing the build-up of pests and disease. When intercropped, they act as an ecological barrier to disease. Crops such as pumpkins, cowpeas and bambara nuts, characterized by the crawling nature of their growth, they reduce soil erosion, suppress weeds and also increase soil organic matter and improve soil structure. Empirically, the use of traditional under-utilized crops by the poor farmers and their consumption by disadvantaged rural families has attached the image of "poor person's food"; they are viewed as sauce when the family cannot afford meat. In addition, some of these indigenous crops have been termed "women's crops" giving the impression that it is only the women who are keen to promote traditional crops. Alright, women are the "custodians" of seeds/crops any way, but to this extent efforts must be initiated to remove this stigma which hinders the promotion of such crops. Scientists have a role to contribute to this. Involve peasant farmers in their research; document these crops, list

their qualities, develop those that are suitable and develop acceptable recipes to promote their consumption. The Role of 'Rural Seed Fairs' in Agricultural Research Most international bodies' concern now in maintaining agro-biodiversity is the maintenance of traditional seed selection and supply systems as they are all being disrupted by factors such as environmental degradation, cultural change and the devaluation of local varieties. Those who promote biodiversity conservation have begun to fundamentally concern with the provision of adequate plant material to maintain diversity through mechanisms such as 'seed fairs' where farmers display and exchange varieties. Little is known about traditional seed selection and supply system. 'Rural Seed Fairs' are part of seed management. These fairs provide rural farmers with opportunities to display seeds that have not been viewed by researchers before, exposure to under utilized seeds and exchange ideas. These would however be beneficial if farmers were encouraged to display the local/less-utilized varieties and break away from the notion that only improved varieties are better. These are opportunities that all stakeholders, farmers, extension workers, researchers and the government can take advantage of each others' role in agricultural development to improve food security at all levels. These Fairs have not been well defined, planned and implemented effectively. There are occasions such as the annual National Farmers' Day, (Nane Nane) where farmers also display food varieties, but it is a mixture of both local and improved varieties. Not all local/less-utilized are displayed. It is at such fairs that the respective ministries could think of redirecting their resources to the promotion of open pollinated varieties

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instead of allocating millions of shillings for researching new high input demanding varieties. Are gender roles adequately addressed in the modern research work? In the 1960s, the term 'Gender' was at many occasions coined to refer to the relationship between women and men that affect in a substantial way how each are expected to behave. The intensive studies in the 1970s reveal that gender relations are socially, historically and spatially specific and vary according to age, kinship status, religion ethnicity, caste and class situation within given societies. The fact that women bear children and men do not, marks a difference. This biological difference has prompted to the different experience men and women face in life. Women have as such been looked at as responsible for child care, cooking and domestic tasks. As such the involvement of women in activities like agriculture, wage labour force has differed throughout history. Implicitly, women and men have had different and unequal rights and access to land, credit, education, physical mobility and religious participation. The analysis of these differences in roles, responsibilities, obligations and rights reveal that women's and men's daily tasks, opportunities, benefits, and experiences are different in the same society, village and family. Globally, research has demonstrated that there is a presence of 'gender bias' in both social and natural sciences as analysed above. The public have taken men's behaviour and predominance to be 'standard' (e.g men are the 'farmers', 'foresters', 'leaders' etc) whereas women are given little importance.

This bias has affected the social sciences and those disciplines aimed at bridging social and natural sciences amid community development in many countries. It is true that most plant species used by people are maintained in traditional agro-ecosystems and natural plant communities. This is mostly done by women. They process and store harvested crops, and also ensure the supply of seeds for future harvests. Women maintain the supply of diversity through home gardens, wild plant collection, domesticating and breeding plants, and selecting maintaining and exchange seeds. This role has not been fully recognized by the researchers in this country. Agricultural researchers have rarely taken time to study the gender roles of the society prior to the development and production of new varieties. Gender analysis would highly help the researchers realize the roles women and men have, as such utilize those roles in their work. However, it is suggested here that training on gender issues should start from the lower educational grades in order to plant the idea into our future researchers. Has the use of Industrial agricultural chemicals overtaken that of organic chemicals? There is no clearly spelt evidence in this notion, but could depend on area or circumstances. Prior to the introduction of the high input/high output seed varieties there were no demands of agricultural industrial chemicals except for some specific cash crops (coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco etc.). The rural farmers maintained their soil fertility through rotational fallowing and the leaf litter in mixed cropping that provided adequate organic matter to allow water percolation. Crop rotation is not a western practice but is ancient here and the farmers know which

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crop follows which until the plot is left for resting (Nyiira et al 1999). Livestock such as goats and sheep were left to graze on the farms after harvest. These would add some manure through excrement; both urine and dung. Vegetation types would indicate the level of soil fertility and which crops fit such type of soil. Local crop varieties are hard and so not readily susceptible to insect infestation. They have also developed resistance to many diseases through the evolution process. The hybrid seeds were brought in with heavy input packages including fertilizers and pesticides. It is then that these industrial chemicals were made known to the rural farmers. Since these hybrid and improved open pollinated seed varieties are grown as pure stands, the chemicals were only used in these particular plots. Due to crop rotation, however the traditional methods of soil maintenance were disrupted. The chemicals killed all the soil organisms that enhanced the decay of humus in the soil. This has affected the performance of the local varieties grown in these plots particularly after removing the subsidies including the inorganic fertilizers. In many rural areas now organic manure is being promoted to restore the eroded fertility. Inclusion of IK in the National Agricultural Training Institutions 'Information is power': so people say. At any one time everybody is practicing local/indigenous knowledge. This can be intentionally or unknowingly. The present rural extension workers and researchers have not been trained in indigenous knowledge or relevant fields like the recognition of "farmers' groups" that posses a lot of local knowledge that would help them in improving household food security.

These, unfortunately are the ones now responsible for the curriculum development in the middle and high level institutions. A lesson learnt by the LinKS project is that of the two workshops held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture with the objective of including Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in the curriculum of undergraduates. There has not been any impact. Not a single curriculum has reflected indigenous knowledge in their curriculum. This also indicates how difficult for the researchers to change from their conventional western training. The graduate course designed at SUA to entail In-situ management, Gender roles in seed management, rural development, IK in the management of seed varieties and biodiversity makes a good entry for LinKS objective in the capacity building. Perhaps, like the gender issues, introducing training in IK right from the lower level institutions would help bring up issues to the higher levels as young trainees progress in the educational system. Discussion and Conclusion Farmers' local knowledge is real and opposed to that of researchers' which is abstract. It is as old as the human race is, and has evolved through the ages as the humans advanced and developed technologies of interacting with the environment, the flora and fauna resources, and general survival. This knowledge has also gone through factors that go against or demoralize its bearers in the rural areas. This has been regarded by modern scientists as ineffective, cumbersome and backward or intuitive. Mainstream development theories do not recognize the value of indigenous knowledge and it is not well documented for integration/sharing.

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The research system in Tanzania has till recently been breeding seed varieties regardless of the rural farmers' quality preferences. They have not been involved in the overall processes of producing new seed varieties and their knowledge has been undermined. As such they are demoralized. The whole issue of hybrid has brought confusion to the smallholder farmers. Hybrids came with subsidized high input packages, and in those areas that received those packages realized the over-performance of these hybrids over the local varieties. Following the removal of the subsidies the production declined and made the farmers even poorer than before. It is not easy to psychologically convince these farmers on improving food production with the local varieties that they have reverted to. Again it is not certain if these farmers' local varieties have not lost their qualities through cross-pollination with the hybrids since they have been growing in adjacent plots. This is the age of information and we are the ones generating the knowledge. Empirical evidence shows that the current generation is losing more information than it acquires. This is exacerbated by the erosion of the culturally based knowledge as the custodians are threatened with extinction. Most of the local knowledge is embedded in languages. Linguistic experts tell it that about 6,000 are of the major languages spoken in the world will die out during this century. This means some thousands of cultural heritages in indigenous knowledge will also disappear. These losses also comprise crop genetic resources, fresh water fish and the domestic livestock breeds. All these have already faced some degree of disappearance. Indigenous knowledge is normally passed on from one generation to another through various means such as tales/stories, practices and observation - not documented.

The currently unchecked urbanization and youth movement process is widening the gap of information flow and renders the accumulated knowledge to redundancy and on to extinction as the elderly (bearers) are bound to die. Development of sustainable agricultural systems depends upon the innovative capacities of farmers, forest dwellers, pastoralists and fisher-folk together with their accumulated knowledge (Nyiira et al.,1999). This urges the current stakeholders to recognize, reward and protect the indigenous systems in the agricultural development and household food security. Successful strategies to secure this require integrated approaches to combine the indigenous farming communities with scientific innovations. It is from here that researchers could make an entry point and learn from the indigenous communities. This will enable them document and use this knowledge to improve crop yields and at the same time initiate information sharing. Lately, some public institutions and other stakeholders, not only in agriculture, but also other sectors have detected the farmers' discontent on being undermined in the overall development forums. Researchers from these institutions have begun involving the local communities with their local knowledge in their conventional studies but not satisfactorily. Personal views and suggestions • The LinKS forum on IK, the framework of

which was tabled at the Bagamoyo National IK workshop must be enhanced to coordinate the IK activities in the country.

• The annual 'Nane Nane Day' where

farmers display various crop and

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livestock varieties should be modified to suit the 'Rural Seed Fairs' system. In here rural farmers who manage to display indigenous less-utilized crop varieties should be rewarded. It is also good joint for tapping local knowledge.

• The role of women as traditional

'custodians' of seeds and agro-biodiversity managers must be promoted. Empower them by provision of incentives following delivery of talks and discussion on seed management (seed selection, storage, planting, intercropping, harvesting, treatment before storage and utilization). They should also be given priority in the LinKS training programmes.

• 'Participatory plant breeding' is a

contemporary approach in incorporating local farmers' indigenous knowledge in agricultural research. Most donors have not been accommodating this aspect in their research support packages in fear of additional expenses. It is thus imperative that external policies on research and the conditions thereof put forward by financial bodies or donors be clearly spelt out and cleared by the relevant ministries and at the most, be of benefit to the host/local community.

• The Agricultural Research Uyole

represents a zone that covers about 19% of the Tanzania mainland population (2000 - 2025 projections). There are many opportunities that other local and external institutions could use in collecting, documenting and disseminating the information on the aspect of seed management and research mainstreaming for food security improvement.

References: 1. Elizabeth Manofu Sibale: Seed security for

smallholders: in 'Spore' No. 95, October 2001

2. Helen Zweifel, (1996): Biodiversity and the

appropriation of women's knowledge. 3. Howard-Bojas, (1999): Gender Relations in

Local Plant Genetic Resources Management and Conservation

4. Julius Francis and Ian Bryceson (2000):

Tanzania Coastal and Marine Resources: Examples Illustrating questions of Sustainable Use.

5. Nyiira, Z.M. et al 1999: Towards a National

Strategy and Framework of Action for Uganda.

6. The World Bank (1998): Indigenous

Knowledge for Development, a framework for Action.

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Strategies for the Establishment of Sustainable Informal Seed

Sub-sector in Tanzania

Dr. H.M. Saadan

Background Sorghum and pearl millet are the staple food crops for farmers in the semi arid areas of Tanzania. It covers a large area and support a vast majority of the populations with inherent resource limitations. The semi arid areas have relatively fragile ecosystems and are most prone to periodic droughts. Rural household in these areas are food deficits in most years and poverty limits their capacity for additional food purchases. For this reason most rural houses have to put priority on obtaining food and incomes for the present which leads to over-utilization and degradation of environment. They cannot afford to make a long-term view in regard to resource conservation and protecting environment. There is therefore a pressing need for strategies that will improve seed, food availability and incomes in these areas while at the same time processing and conserving the natural resource base. Informal seed production and distribution system addresses food security and income generation to the majority of the population living in the rural areas. As the formal seed sub-sector concentrated more on the production of hybrids the informal seed system will focus on the promotion of open pollinated varieties and expand the use of improved traditional varieties. Availability of seed and other technologies at rural house hold level will increase productivity and improve farmers’ income.1 1 Concept Paper presented to Soil Fertility Recapitalization and Agricultural Intensification Project Dar es Salaam April 28, 2000.

Collaborative Research Activities: For many years (1982-1990) National Sorghum and Millet Improvement Programme (NSMIP) under the Division of Research has developed a lot of technologies some of which were in collaboration with SADC/ICRISAT. These technologies included development of new improved varieties, agronomic recommendations and other appropriate packages. However, none of these technologies have reached farmers. Due to low levels of funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, NSMIP had to prioritize its activities to match with funds available in 1992/93. The target areas were central regions of Tanzania and the main activity was on farm variety evaluation. Farmers’ participation was considered to be an important factor because farmers’ assessment was required to determine the acceptability of a variety. The on farm trial was a collaborative effort between NSMIP and SADC/INCRISAT regional center. The objectives were to involve farmers participate in growing improved sorghum and millet varieties and let them assess and rank according to their preference. The other reason was to sensitize farmers to grow new high yielding improved varieties in their own fields. With the financial support from SADC/ICRISAT, NSMIP conducted the first on farm trials in central part of the country in 1993/94 cropping season. Five districts were selected namely Dodoma Rural and Urban, Singida Rural and Urban and Iramba. In each district 5 villages were selected and each village 5 farmers were identified by the extension personnel to participate in the trials. For each crop 4 varieties were selected 3 improved and 1 local land race as a check. The spacing used was 80cm x 30cm leaving two plants per hill. Farmers’ field days were conducted by extension

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personnel to sensitize other farmers in the surrounding villages, on the existence of improved varieties of sorghum and pearl millet. During the field days, farmers ranked varieties according to their preferences. Two pearl millet varieties TSPM 91018 and TSPM 91001 caught the attention of almost all the farmers who visited the trials. The result was that farmers demanded that those varieties were made available to them. By December 1994, TSPM 91018 and TSPM 91001 were released as Okoa and Shibe respectively. Farmers who participated in the trials and those who attended field days asked one big question how would they get seed of the varieties they preferred? Initial Aspects of on-farm seed production: While conducting on farm trial in 1993/94 season Mvumi Rural Training Centre (MRTC) in Dodoma rural was a head of NSMIP. What the institute did was to save some of seed for on farm trial and bulked in isolation as source of seed to interested farmers in the following cropping season. This was the first attempt of on farm seed production in the rural communities in Tanzania. Based on experiences from Mvumi Rural Training Centre, in 1994/95 NSMIP encouraged the center to continue and attempted to establish two more centers. These were the Bihawana Farmers Training Centre (BFTC) Dodoma and Mpambaa Regional Seed Farm (MRSF) Singida. Ilonga Research provided seed to all the three centers. The distribution/marketing systems for seeds produced at MRTC were through faithful village extension officers located in different villages within Mvumi. Funds accrued from seed sales were remitted to MRTC accounts office. The price was 150/= per kilogram and was considered to be profitable.

In the same year 1994/95 season NSMIP intensified the on farm trials for sorghum to involve 7 districts instead of 5. These were Dodoma Urban and rural, Mpwapwa, Kondoa, Singida, Iramba and Same (Kilimanjaro Region). Results from the trials on farmers ranking for preference showed that SDS 2293-6 rated very high. Thus in December 1995 SDS 2293-6 was released by the name of Pato. After the release of 3 varieties, NSMIP in collaboration with SADC/ICRISAT had to intensify in on-farm seed production. The main objective was to make the highly accepted new improved varieties be available to the rural communities. While NSMIP was trying to establish seed multiplication centers, the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) had initiated a different approach to seed production in the drought prone areas of Tanzania. CCT is a religious Non-Government Organization (NGO) which is involved in emergency relief. An example is that if a natural disaster occurs such as terminal drought or floods then CCT provides emergency relief services. However in drought prone areas food shortages have been a common phenomenon and donor support is becoming limited. That had an effect on CCT services, therefore to improve the seed and food security in drought prone areas CCT initiated a concept of village seed Banks (VSB) in the respective regions. These regions include Dodoma, Singida, Shinyanga, Tabora, Mwanza, Mara and Kilimanjaro. In each region those districts which are drought prone were identified and 4 villages were selected in each of the districts. The crops involved were early maturing maize and improved sorghum. Implementation plans for village seed banks (1994/95); In each of the participating villages 20 very progressive farmers (VPF) were identified.

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They were characterized by possessing more than 3 acres of arable land. Each of the 20 farmers planted 3 acres of the same variety. The produce from the two acres was used for food whereas that from the third acre was used as source of seed. Twenty percent of the seed harvested from third acre was contributed to the establishment of Village Seed Bank. This 20% seed was kept at village stores to be used when there was severe terminal drought. A butter zone between seed growers and the rest of the farming community was established by allowing 80 farmers to grow the same variety around the VPF. When CCT visited Mvumi Rural Training Centre, they realized that NSMIP was undertaking similar activities of on farm seed production. Therefore the co-ordinator for Emergency Relief from CCT decided to visit Ilonga and meet with the National Sorghum and Millet Research Co-ordinator. We had a long discussion and agreed on the following:-

NSMIP and CCT should work as partners (collaborators)

The concept of Village Seed Bank must

continue, however farmers should produce seed as an income generation.

Tanzania Official Seed Certification

Agency (TOSCA) must be involved for quality control.

Source of seed to seed producers must

be foundation grade.

Successful farmer groups should be registered as seed Grower Associations.

In 1995/96 cropping season Ilonga Research was given the task of producing foundation seed. Over 20 tons of seed was produced and most of the seed was distributed by CCT

in all the 7 regions of Tanzania where they are in operation. Currently the collaborat