Sustaining Livelihoods through Organic Agriculture in Tanzania - UMB

Chapter Eight: Challenges to the Development of Organic Agriculture in
Tanzania
Notwithstanding its many benefits, organic farming carries attendant risks and
challenges which also merit consideration if the sector is to be responsibly developed.
These relate to production, labour, gender, market-orientation, and the policy and
institutional framework.
8.1 Production
Organic farmers face many of the same production constraints as conventional
farmers in relation to climate, labour requirements, pest and diseases, land tenure,
distance from markets, infrastructure, credit, education and other inputs. In particular,
the increasingly erratic nature of the rains—fieldwork followed an eight-month
drought in most parts of the country—is a source of major concern for all farmers in
the country, irrespective of their wealth and the size of their landholdings.
For the bioRe organic cotton project failure of the rains has meant that farmers have
had to use three times the normal quantity of seed. The vast majority of producers rely
on rainfed agriculture and lack the necessary knowledge and resources to develop
efficient rainwater harvesting and irrigation systems. Furthermore, burning and
deforestation are commonly used practices which threaten soil and water resources
and are contributing to flash floods.
Pest and disease outbreaks present a substantial risk to those organic farmers without
sufficient knowledge or access to biopesticides. Certain pests such as armyworms
(Spodoptera exempta), quelea quelea and vermin are particularly difficult to control
without the use of toxic chemicals.
Without security of land tenure, organic farmers are much less likely to make longterm
investments in their operations. Thus unclear borders and land conflicts, often
exacerbated by limited water resources, are a significant threat to the development of
organic agriculture. Even where farm boundaries are well-defined, fire can spread fast
across neighbouring farms and, in the case of organic cashew production, causes
severe damage to both seedlings and mature stands.
In spite of increased management intensity, organic practices may initially reduce
yields in the beginning in areas where input-intensive agriculture has been practised
(EPOPA, 2004). The uptake of organic agriculture may impact negatively on the
productivity of crops that have been cultivated using chemically-intensive methods
including coffee and some vegetables. Non-traditional crops and fruit are generally
lighter users of inputs and therefore experience less change (D. Nyange 2006, pers,
comm., 16 January). Such impacts need more careful research in order to address
fears about the ability of organic agriculture to meet the production levels needed to
feed a growing population.
There are a whole host of counterpoints to concerns over productivity declines in
organic systems. Experience has shown that ‘organic methods reduce output
proportionately less than they reduce costs’ making the farmer better off (McRobie: in
Blake, 1987). Lampkin (1990: 595) comments that ‘far from threatening the
populations of developing countries with mass starvation, ecological methods such as
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