Small-Scale Rural Development in Tanzania Under the Global Service Corps Biointensive Agriculture Project: Learning from Lessons Past

Christine Pham
A Senior Essay for the Environmental Studies Major, Yale University

Kathleen McAfee, M.A., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Geography and Sustainable Development, Yale School for Forestry and Environmental Studies. Essay Advisor

John Wargo, M.L.A. Ph.D. Professor of Risk Analysis, Environmental Policy, and Political Science, Yale School for Forestry and Environmental Studies Advisor for the Major

April 16, 2004




Abstract

Tanzania, a country dominated by subsistence farmers, has in recent decades stagnated economically and maintained high poverty levels.  The country’s inability to create true reform due to a national incomprehension and avoidance of the needs and conditions of small farmers shows in its history of ineffective rural development schemes.  However, a new era of development policy has begun: termed the “farmer-centered” approach of rural development, this method attempts to improve farmers’ livelihoods through more localized projects and increased farmer participation in the development and execution of these projects.  This approach serves as an attempt to remedy the historically problematic rifts between development practitioners and recipients which prevented both economic and human development.  The multiple problems of credit, land holding, capital, and environmental constraints faced by Tanzanian peasants complicate rural development, but the recent years’ worth of farmer-centered approach has shown some valuable lessons for future projects.  In this essay I will examine the Global Service Corps project in Biointensive Agriculture, based in Arusha, Tanzania, a rural development project in which I participated between June 17 and July 28, 2003, to see if it effectively addresses the above issues and the needs of its local community.