Access to Rural Non-Farm Livelihoods - Natural Resources Institute

5. VILLAGE LEVEL FINDINGS: KITAMBUZA
5.1 Site description
Kitambuza Village is located in Kimuli Parish in Kagamba Sub-County, north-west of Rakai
Town. It is about 1 km north-east of Lwentulege Trading Centre, which is on the main Class
1 murram Kyakasolo-Lyantonde road, about 15 km from its junction with the Kyotera-Rakai
road at Kyakasolo. Various tracks which are motorable in dry weather lead to the
neighbouring villages of Kituntu A and B and Kyaluyimuka.
Most of the settlement lies in a broad saddle between the road to the south-west and swamps
to the north-east which are an extension of an arm of Lake Kijanebalola. To the south-east
and east the village is separated from Dwaniro Sub-County by a steep ridge which runs in a
north-easterly direction for several kilometres, while to the north-west is the smaller hill of
Kyaluyimuka. Rains have been poor since the El Nino floods of 1997, when the road south to
Rakai and Kyotera became impassable – at the time of the study the short rains were
sufficiently late that there were several fields where early planted seed had germinated and
sprouted, but then withered and died.
The 1991 census enumerated 6,518 people in Kimuli Parish, and information from the
community indicate that there about 90 households in Kitambuza Village. Data from
household interviews and general discussions indicate that the dominant ethnic group are the
Banyankole, with numerous Baganda, as well as smaller numbers of other groups, such as
Bakiga. Over the past 20 years many people have come to the area from more densely settled
areas, such as Ankole, in search of land.
There is little community infrastructure within the village. The LCI meets at the home of one
of the councillors, and there is no school – children walk to the Kimuli Primary School on the
main road. There is also little NGO presence, although the Lutheran World Foundation
(LWF) has a contact person in the village 96 , and ICR has assisted with protection of water
sources.
Settlement began when Mzee Dungu Eldad moved to the area from Kimuli in 1964 and
cleared the bush to farm. Initially he grew beans and maize for sale, and kept goats – since
the mid 1980s a market for matooke has also developed, and now he sells that too. Others
followed him to what is now Kitambuza, and although some have now left for other places,
many more are still coming, primarily from Ankole, where there is little land. In the past
there were few non-farm IGAs – Mzee Dungu used to make barkcloth for sale, but most
people just concentrated on farming. As markets for agricultural produce improved though,
people began to have a bit more money, so some started to produce things like beer, or bricks
for sale, instead of just for home consumption. The trading centre at Lwentulege developed
informally in the early 1980s, which helped the people of Kitambuza by allowing them to
buy household items and medicines locally instead of travelling all the way to Buyamba.
Transport has improved dramatically in recent times, and people in the village now own a
total of three motorcycles and one car, as well as “so many” bicycles 97 . The village was not
much disturbed by war, although they were sometimes able to hear fighting in the distance,
but AIDS was a terrible problem, with many people, including some of Mzee Dengu’s own
96 See Box 14.
97 Although Mzee Dungu still has the bicycle he bought as a youth over 50 years ago.
49