D. W. Malcolm - Sukumaland: A Study of Land Use in Tanganyika

Volume 45

D. W. MALCOLM

First published in 1953 by Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.

This edition first published in 2018

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1953 International African Institute

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ISBN: 978-0-8153-8713-8 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-48813-9 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-59567-5 (Volume 45) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-48817-7 (Volume 45) (ebk)

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BY

D. W. MALCOLM, M.A., Agric. (Oxon.)

Published for the

INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN INSTITUTE

by the

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
1953

Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C.4

GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON

BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI CAPE TOWN IBADAN

Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

T HIS study of rural problems in Sukumaland began towards the end of 1936 as an investigation into the circumstances of population maldistribution in the four Sukuma districts of Mwanza, Maswa, Kwimba, and Shinyanga, in the Lake Province of Tanganyika. During the progress of the inquiry into the Sukumaland systems of cattle ownership and land tenure, a considerable amount of information was obtained concerning such matters as grazing rights, indigenous systems of pasture reservation, resettlement, and agricultural practice, which are component factors in the problems arising from the maldistribution of population and stock.

By the end of 1938, when the first edition of this study was submitted to the Tanganyika Government, the field investigation, in conjunction with the combined experience of several officers who had served in Sukumaland for many years, provided much information covering a wide field in the sphere of rural economy. It was therefore possible to compile a preliminary survey and to submit recommendations on the beneficial utilization of natural resources in Sukumaland under the title of the Sukuma Land Utilization Report.

In that first edition of this study extracts of the information obtained from all sources were included in the appendix. The text was copiously referenced to this selection of evidence which amounted to 100,000 words. In preparing this revision I feel that the reader would find so many footnotes and so much detail in the appendix tiresome. Thus the extracts of information have been almost entirely omitted. Copies, however, exist in the Colonial Office library and in the Secretariat, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanganyika.

Since the end of 1938 Sukumaland has seen many changes, some of which have profoundly affected the fundamental problems facing the people in this area. While the basic structure of Sukuma society has remained unchanged, not only is the problem of soil fertility deterioration ten years more urgent but also new factors have arisen which accentuate the need for drastic remedial measures if parts of this country are to be saved from becoming semi-desert areas subject to endemic famine conditions.

Of these new factors, perhaps the most important is the virtual elimination of rinderpest, which was carried out by the Veterinary Department in a widespread and highly successful campaign in 1942. With the practical disappearance of this cattle-killing disease, natural biological control of the increase of stock has been seriously upset. On the other hand, as a war-time measure, it became necessary to introduce the compulsory marketing of cattle in order to provide a steady supply of tinned meat for the Forces in the Middle and Far East. This increase in the consumption of male cattle does not, however, counter-balance the natural herd increase caused by the uncontrolled multiplication of females, and consequently further measures, beyond those recommended and accepted by Government in 1938, have now to be considered.

In southern Sukumaland dust storms at the end of the dry season indicate the spread of desiccation. The food shortages in Sukumaland in the last few years, which have necessitated the importation of thousands of tons of grain, show the difficulties the people now have, in years of tricky rainfall, as a result of great stretches of the more easily cultivable land having been reduced to a low level of fertility; though, in some years, it may be said that any food shortages are induced as much by stalk-borer damage, striga damage, and bird damage, as by the other factors; the heavy soils are difficult to farm using only hoe cultivation. Further, it can be seen that newer areas at present still fairly fertile are being exploited as were the older areas. These facts give us warning of what we must expect if the seriousness of the situation and the urgency of remedial action is not fully appreciated. It has taken about forty-five years, since the first fields were cut out of the bush in Nyashimba village, for the population to multiply and to reduce soil fertility to a point which has caused all but three villagers to move elsewhere. Those who have gone are doubtless repeating the process elsewhere, but within the congested cultivation steppe there is not enough space to permit this long-term rotational use of land to continue indefinitely, as it will take some time for such ruined land to regain its fertility under grass and bush fallow. Until this destructive process is stopped, recurrent food shortages and famines will inevitably becomes more frequent, more widespread, and more serious.

Besides these factors, which affect the urgency of the problem rather than its intrinsic quality, another development has taken place which influences the organization designed to undertake the task of rehabilitation in Sukumaland. This development is the federation of all the chiefdoms of Sukumaland to form a single unit of African local government, with central headquarters at Malya. Previously the existence of four separate districts in Sukumaland, each with its federation of chiefs and its separate Government staff, led me to recommend the appointment of a special development team of officers who would control and co-ordinate reconstruction and development work throughout the whole area. Now, this inter-district and inter-departmental team is in being at Malya and, as a result of the federation of Sukumaland, they have the advantage of being connected with the new federal African government (with headquarters at the same place) with which they work in close collaboration. To make this federal development intelligible to those who are not acquainted with the structure of native administration in Sukumaland, it is therefore necessary to add some brief notes on the history, development, and functions of the federations of chiefs, their courts, and treasuries.