A Socio-Economic Profile of the Rufiji Floodplain and Delta.

Socio-economic profile of Rufiji flood plain and Delta - Vol. 1
The history of Rufiji District is linked to the development of the coastal Swahili culture and
the trade links between the East African coast and the Persian Gulf countries. As a result there
is merging/link of cultures. Even today, there are a few people of Arab origin in the district.
Because of a strong Muslim influence, Islam is an integral part of the Rufiji culture guiding
both the religious and social systems.
Table 3: Population comparisons
Category 1978 census 1988 census % change
Male 64249 74223 15.52
Female 71293 78437 10.02
Total 135542 152660 12.63
Dependency ratio 98.18 105.82
Source: URT (1988) Population census Regional Profile (COAST) Bureau of Statistics.
A comparison was carried out between the 1978 and 1988 population census. The results are
summarised in table 3. The results show that there is an increase in population of about 12.63% over
the period. This gives roughly an annual growth rate of 1.3%.
Similarly, the dependency ratio changed from 98.18 in 1978 to 105.82 in 1988, implying that the
proportion of the population that is unable to work (Children below 4 and adults above 65) has
increased. This implies more production activities are required in order to meet the increasing
population as well as the worsening dependency ratio. The dependency ratio may have further
worsened now, but in the absence of a recent population census it is difficult to make reliable
projections.
The population census of 1988 shows that about 25% of the population of the district live in the Delta
area. According to the estimates made by the DANIDA (1998) report, about 54.8% and 38.4% of the
Coast region population are in Soft-core and Hard-core 2 poverty respectively, and these figures are
above the national averages of 51.1% and 35.9% respectively.
2.4 Sources of livelihood strategies
Farmers in the Rufiji flood plain and the Delta area have evolved a system of land use over time that is
well adjusted to the uncontrolled and unpredictable floods of the Rufiji River. This land use system is
based on inter-planting and rotating rice, maize, beans and to a lesser extent cotton. In addition, there
is utilisation of available natural resources like fishing in the rivers and lakes, harvesting of wood
(large forests of mangrove) and non-wood products.
Generally, household incomes in Rufiji district consist of two main components (Havnevik 1983). The
first component comprises income related to primary and secondary productive activities such as
agriculture, forestry, fishing and crafts. The second component consists of transfers and tertiary
incomes such as remittances.
2 Soft Core poverty as defined by the World Bank is the level of income of T.Shs 46,173 and Hard Core poverty
is defined at Tshs 31,000 per capita per annum.
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