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

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Socio-economic profile of Rufiji flood plain and Delta - Vol. 1 Local resource use and management play an important role in shaping the status of biodiversity. In Rufiji district, resource use depends on the type of land ownership that exists in the area such as protected/reserved areas and other types of ownership ranging from inheritance, village government and land exchange through selling or distributing to relatives. 2.5.1 District Resource Potential and Utilisation Resources are a major component, which determine the level of economic activities in an area. Efficiency in resource utilisation and productivity are crucial aspects of development. Rufiji district has important resources including fertile lands, arable land, fishing potential, tourist attractions (SGR and the Delta areas) and labour availability. DANIDA (1998) points out that arable land in Rufiji district is estimated to be 1,067,000 ha, out of which only 62,000 ha (6%) are cultivated. This implies that there is potential for increasing agricultural production. Other resource use potential in the area includes the utilisation of the Rufiji River for hydropower generation and irrigated agriculture. Fishing is considered to be the second major economic activity in the area after agricultural production. However, small-scale fishermen dominate fishing in the area, with poor fishing gears. The catch per unit effort is usually low. 2.6 Infrastructure and access to markets 2.6.1 Road transport Despite the fact that there are a number of road networks within the district, they are only passable during the dry season. Road connections between the district and other parts of the country are fairly good. A road from Dar es Salaam to Lindi passes through Kibiti and Mohoro through the Ndundu or Utete ferries. Despite the frequent operational problems such as breakdowns and shifting of the sandbanks of Rufiji River (URT District profile, 1997), the connection has been very important to the district and neighbouring regions to the North and South. According to DANIDA (1998), transport infrastructure falls into the classified and unclassified categories. Classified transport infrastructure (which includes trunk, regional, district and feeder roads) gives detailed information regarding the length and condition of the infrastructure. DANIDA, (1998) points out that the length of classified roads in Rufiji district is 982 km. District and feeder roads in the district are mainly earth roads with very few gravel roads. Unclassified transport infrastructure comprises of tracks and footpaths, which are used principally by bicycles or people walking on foot. It is reported in DRDP (2000) that the Mkongo-Kipo road is used by more than 2000 bicycles, considered to be less than those on foot. DRDP (2000) further points out that there are two main categories of bicycle users. The first consists of households or individuals who own bicycles and the second consists of those hiring for personal travel as well as transporting various loads. 10
Socio-economic profile of Rufiji flood plain and Delta - Vol. 1 Table 5: Assessment of the District and feeder roads in Rufiji Roads Bridges Culverts Length Fair % Poor % Number Fair Poor % Number Fair % Poor % (km) % Gravel 1 35 70 30 9 40 60 40 60 40 Earth 613 60 40 12 30 70 0 40 60 Overall 648 65 35 21 35 65 20 50 50 Source: Adopted and modified from DANIDA (1998) Fair means significant defects and need for periodical maintenance Poor means extensive defects and therefore need to be reconstructed or rehabilitated 1 There is only one gravel road (Kibiti to Ruaruke) District and feeder roads assessment was done by DANIDA (1998) (Table 5). The assessment shows that about 65% of the roads have significant defects and are in need of periodical maintenance, while 35% needs reconstruction or rehabilitation. Similarly, 35% of the bridges and 50% of the culverts have significant defects and are in need of periodical maintenance, while 65% of bridges and 50% of culverts need reconstruction or rehabilitation. The above shows that road infrastructure is poor and becomes even worse during the rainy season. This has implications on accessibility of both input and output markets. 2.6.2 Waterways Waterway transport in Rufiji District can be divided into the mainland and Delta areas (DANIDA, 1998). The mainland waterway transport is predominantly the Rufiji River. As already mentioned, there are two ferries crossing the river at Ndundu and Utete, while canoes primarily dominate the rest of the transport. In the Delta areas the dominant mode of transport are canoe and by foot. There are numerous points, which are served by the canoes in the Delta areas. The canoes are useful in people as well as agricultural and other essential goods transport. In most cases harvested mangrove poles are also transported using canoes to the main collection points. However, the Delta water is governed to large extent by tidal water, which necessitates timing in order to have smooth navigation. There are very few motorised boats and mostly are belonging to specific projects such as Mangrove, REMP, Health, water department and the Kindwitwi Leprosy Centre. The main constraints in waterway transport can be summarised as: Difficult to haul large loads at a time because of the use of canoes; Problem of mud in many waterways as a result of erosion in upper Rufiji river and; Problems of crocodiles and hippopotamus. 2.7 Review of the methodology used by REMP for the pilot village baseline The aim of this section is to review the methodologies used by REMP to collect baseline information for the selected villages. REMP used a structured questionnaire (Household Profile Form SENR). The questionnaire is well formulated and the questions are considered adequate in collecting baseline information. However some modifications are needed to make the questionnaire suitable even for monitoring and evaluation of the socio-economic changes over time. First observation relates to items that can be calculated and inserted by the researcher without bothering the respondents. For example calculation of net value of production should not appear in a questionnaire as this can later on be calculated after getting the necessary data such as amount produced, amount consumed, price per unit of the amount sold and the associated costs. Second observation relates to specific modifications and additional questions that were thought to be necessary in baseline data collection. These additions were made as follows: 11
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A Socio-Economic Profile of the Rufiji Floodplain and Delta.

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