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

Socio-economic profile of Rufiji flood plain and Delta - Vol. 1
3.6.2 Expenditure on other household items
Respondents were presented with a list of different household items and asked how much the
household spent per year for each item (see also appendix 1). The results are summarised in figure 5
and detailed statistics per consumer item per AEZ are presented in appendix 4.
Figure 5 and appendix 4 show the expenditure on other items in the household. The highest
expenditure items in the sampled area are other consumption good such as household items, clothes
etc. Other high expenditure items are fishing, savings and education. Savings in the survey area
seemed to be high and are next to consumption goods expenditures. This may give an indication of the
future acceptance of the savings and credit schemes in the area. The lowest expenditure item is
contribution to the village government. This may be interpreted as either the contributions are set at
the lowest level or people have a negative attitude towards the village government. This is an issue,
which need further investigations.
Delta north has highest expenditure on other consumer goods, education and drinks/
refreshments.
3.7 Marketing and trading characteristics
It was mentioned in section 2 that transport infrastructure (road and waterways) play an important role
in access to markets. The major means of transport of crops to market in survey areas are, in order of
importance: bicycle, canoe, head and motorised transport. For fish transport, the majority use
motorised transport (48%), followed by bicycle (29%) and on foot (23%). Sometimes a combination
of the above mentioned is used. Lorries are mainly used to transport timber forest products (magogo)
(more than 50% of the harvesters). For non-timber forest products the local means of transport are
canoes, head, bicycle, and when distance travel is needed ‘jahazi’ (for Zanzibar markets) and lorry
transport (for Dar es Salaam markets) are essential.
For most agricultural crops, the selling period is right after harvest i.e. between July and October.
Food crops are normally sold to individual buyers, neighbouring villages and to retailers and traders.
For cash crops like cashew nuts and sesame the main outlets are private traders, retailers and other
middlemen.
The main destination of timber forest products (Magogo) is Ikwiriri. Harvesting and selling is
normally done during dry period (June to December). The main buyers are timber processors
and retailers/traders/middlemen.
Table 49: Mean overall quantities of selected commodities traded in the survey area
Commodity Mean n Std Deviation Min. Max.
Magogo (pieces) 26.7 3 15.3 10 40
Finfish (Kg) 3987.3 22 9807.2 40 45000
Ukindu (Vichanga) 1479.0 11 2297.9 30 6000
Cashewnut (Kg) 107.4 11 129.6 9 450
Timber (pieces) 700.0 1 - 700 700
Simsim (Kg) 145.0 6 132.0 20 360
Rice/paddy (Kg) 558.3 12 436.7 120 1500
Maize (Kg) 1053.3
3 861.7 60 1600
Sweet potatoes (Kg) 100.0 1 - 100 100
Peas (Kg) 295.0 6 411.4 20 1000
Chickens (number) 21.0 5 22.2 8 60
Coconut (number) 3384.0 5 2624.7 120 6000
Salt (Kg) 733.3 3 152.8 600 900
Prawns 105.0 3 95.4 3 192
Source: Survey data (2000)
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