Today caps off week three collecting data. In one of the villages they were having a village meeting, and we were invited to participate. It was really long (three hours), but also interesting. The village officers spoke about health care, education, agriculture and livestock, and climate change. This year has been a bad rain season, so the village agriculture leader encouraged people to sell their livestock now (remember around 40,000 TSH/ $17 USD), so that they can purchase corn to store – which is currently 60,000 TSH/ $26 USD for 20 kilos. In the coming weeks and months, the price of corn is expected to increase dramatically, but the price of livestock will stay the same, or maybe even decrease, because everyone will be trying to sell their animals in order to buy corn and rice. People eat fried rice balls for breakfast, ugali (corn) for lunch, and rice again for dinner.

 

There was also a person who was very upset that the village did not have enough clean water. My dad actually gave me a Lifestraw filter that holds 12 liters of water, and filters up to 18,000 liters of water. It’s basically a big bladder that uses gravity to pull water through an attached filter on the bottom. I haven’t used it because I’ve just been using the Lifestraw water bottle my dad purchased for me. The beginning of the village meeting was about how their building a new secondary school to encourage more children to get an education, because the closest school is quite far. I told the village that they can use the filter and place it at the new school. I will give it to them next week. It should last them about one year, and I told them they can send me texts and pictures over Whataspp, so if they like it and use it I can mail them a new filter one year from now. I know. The problem with these type of technology transfers is the “sustainability”. But I have something they want, I’m not using it, and for at least one year, if not more, they can have a source of clean drinking water.

 

On Thursday we visited Nane Nane, which is an agricultural fair. In fact, Thursday was actually a national holiday called Farmer’s Day. I was able to meet with other agricultural scientists at Tari Tumbi (formerly Ari Tumbi). One of them was nice enough to take Tony and I on a tour of their demonstration plots. They had planted different hybrid corn varieties bred to have big kernels and be more drought resistant. The plants looked great, especially for the dry season – this is because they had irrigated and fertilized twice during the season. We were also able to see cassava that is two years old. I was talking with one of the professors that we had picked up from the college to take to town last week, and he said that in Tabora people prefer to plant the cassava every year, during the planting season, and they leave it to eat during the dry season when the corn and rice is used up. He said people usually pull up the whole plant – which doesn’t make much sense because it’s a woody perennial and the longer you leave it the bigger the tuber. Additionally, the branches can be coppiced and planted again, but they must be a certain length in order to do so; and the woody stalk can be used for fuelwood. The scientist showing us the demonstration plots confirmed that the tuber is bigger, even at the second year. However, the cyanogenic glucosides tend to build up in the older tubers, which does require the boiling process. The professor from last week also mentioned that people in the Tabora region tend to plant the sweet cassava, and other regions plant the bitter cassava. The sweet cassava they do not process much; as I mentioned before – I’ve been offered straight cassava from the ground. Which still should ideally be sun dried or boiled to reduce the glucosides. This also may be why people prefer to pull it up every year – they don’t like the taste of the older tuber, and perhaps don’t want to go through the effort or don’t know that they can boil it to make it taste better. According to the professor, the bitter cassava used in other regions is for ugali – so people typically know the processing procedure.

 

At the demonstration plots we were also able to see plantings of sunflower, cow pea, pigeon pea, cassava intercropped with maize, sorghum, gliricidia, and hybrid mango tree. Our guide from Tari Tumbi also explained that pigeon pea is really nice for N fixation, but many people don't plant it because the soil in parts of Tabora is not fertile enough. Additionally, those who do plant it also treat it like the cassava, harvesting the whole plant every year - even though it's actually a woody perennial. In my data I do have some farmers planting the pigeon pea, so it will be interesting to talk with people more about this in the focus groups. 

 

One of the best parts of this whole experience has been my relationship with the enumerators, and Ally and Nasibu. They’ve really had my back, and really listened to the information I’ve given them about the scientific protocols to make this project successful. It wouldn’t be possible to do any of this work without their communications with the village leaders, or their feedback as we’ve moved from village to village. During the pre-test I left Ally and Nasibu with copies of my documentation allowing me to work in the region, which they brought to the village chairmen back in March. I’ve had leaders in the village come to me and say – we’ve been expecting you. Which may seem like nothing, but is actually extremely positive – because it means we are welcome, they know who we are, and why we are here.

 

The team has also made sure that people who are not on the randomized lists are taking the surveys, and have helped explain why everyone cannot participate at this time. The enumerators have provided me with very good feedback about their interviews, and I was able to make minor changes to make sure we were getting the information we need. One of my enumerators explained that a lot of people are worried that the Chinese are not purchasing a lot of tobacco anymore – the major exported cash crop of the region. She said that people have gone to the market to sell their product and they’ve instated a quota of how much product they will take per farmer. She said she believes in the next few years they won’t be purchasing tobacco from the region anymore, and people will be in dire need of a new way to make money and provide food for their households. I’ve been able to look through some of the data and see what people are saying at the end of the survey – one of the questions asks “would you like to say anything else about agroforestry, food security…” A lot of people seem to be worried about the weather/climate and their ability to provide food for their households during the dry season.

 

During lunch I am able to talk with the enumerators about everything from politics to beauty. I even explained the difference between nuclear fusion and fission. I know they have so much potential to continue with their education, and have been encouraging them to apply for a bachelor’s degree at the federal university.

 

We have one more week in the field to finish up the survey collection and conduct the focus groups. Time flies towards the end – as always, thanks for following along.