Will the Tanzanian authorities repossess the Mulbadaw farm?

Posted 10.05.2013

Below you can read an article published a few months ago in the Tanzanian newspaper "The Citizen". You can also read it on The Citizens homepage here.

Posted by the Citizen  Monday, December 10,  2012

By Zephania Ubwani The Citizen Reporter, Arusha.

Residents of Hanang District in Manyara Region are divided over the fate of the formerly state-owned wheat farms that have been abandoned following the collapse of the Canadian-funded scheme slightly over 10 years ago.

While the livestock keepers, supported by activists, want the farms sub-divided among the locals, others are proposing that they should be leased to serious investors for commercial farming.

The farms, which were managed by the defunct National Agricultural and Food Cooperation (Nafco), covered about 100,000 acres during their peak, meeting at least one third of the wheat requirement in the country.

Many of them have been literally abandoned after the Canadians left amidst wrangling over their fate by varying parties, including the livestock keepers who were evicted from the land in the 1970s.

Although government says some of the farms have been privatised, stakeholders in the district and elsewhere are questioning this as they cannot see them becoming productive as was the case decades ago.

When he visited Hanang two months ago, President Jakaya Kikwete wondered why the disputes over the ownership of the farms have not been resolved and the crop fields put to use for the benefit of the nation.

 In interviews conducted by The Citizen last month, it became clear there was fatigue on the part Hanang residents over the disputed farms, calling on relevant authorities to intervene.

“These farms must be revived because at full production they can meet at least 60 per cent of the country’s wheat needs,” lamented Humphrey Kweka, a retired public servant at Katesh.

He argued that wrangling over the future of the farms would not help the people of Hanang or the nation and instead, would condemn the highly productive area to under utilisation to the detriment of the nation.

Mr Kweka, a former land development officer, took swipe at politicians in Hanang who sought popularity from the voters by falsely promising they would do something about the farms.

“I recall Rose Kamili (the Chadema Special MP) has been agitating for the return of the farms to wananchi. At one time, Sumaye (the former prime minister) was blamed for the abandonment of the farms.

“I don’t support either side because I know politicians are often bent on simply pleasing voters,” he said, suggesting that the farms on the Bassotu plains should be utilised to make the country self-sufficient in wheat.

Currently, Tanzania imports about 80 per cent of its wheat requirement. Mr Kweka noted that there were many experts trained during the Tanzania-Canada Wheat Programme and machinery is lying idle.

The district chairperson of the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) Jackson Mtese, supported the argument, saying the farms should be availed to investors.

However, a former district administrator for Hanang, Mr Mefunya Gapjojiga, warned that it would be difficult to offer the farms to non-local investors without resolving “once and for all” the long-standing land conflict in the area.

He told The Citizen that the conflict between the pastoralists and farmers as regards the farms, on the one hand, and between wananchi and the authorities, on the other, was likely to scare away potential investors, a situation compounded by poor weather.

Contacted yesterday to explain how the district authorities have responded to the President’s call to revive the farms, the Hanang District executive director, Mr Felix Mabula said he was not ready to discuss the matter.

“This is not to say nothing is being done. But I can only talk to you on a working day. I have a strategic plan but currently I cannot divulge any details as I am out of office”, he pointed out.

Early this year, the Hanang MP and minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Investments and Empowerment) Dr Mary Nagu, warned that the government would repossess the farms if the firms failed to run them profitably.

Speaking at a public rally at Bassotu, a few kilometres from the abandoned farms, she said there was evidence that some of the companies or individuals who took over the farms have failed to develop them.

She noted that when the government privatised them, it expected the new investors would revamp production of the estates. The estates are: Murjanda, Warret, Gawal, Setchet, Gidagamowda, Mulbadaw and Bassotu plantations.

A few years ago the authorities announced it was handing over local people, two of the farms, Warret and Gawal, which covered a total of 14,000 acres.

What is appropriate action?

It’s no surprise for HDC that the NAFCO- farms, including Mulbadaw aren’t managed according to the conditions in the purchase contracts obtained from the Tanzanian Government. If someone buys a farm in Norway and don’t apply to the conditions set by the Norwegian authorities in the purchase contracts, he or she will be obliged to sell the farm. We can see no reason why this shouldn’t be the case also I Tanzania.