Group Discussion Interview Report
The School for Field Studies, Center for Wildlife Studies,
Moyo Hill Camp, Rhotia, Tanzania
Petros Maskal
Interviewee: Rhotia Village Members
7/25/16, 10:30 am, 3° 17’12.10” S ; 35° 42’51.46” E
The appraisal was intended to gather valuable livelihood, natural resource and wildlife perception information from local rural informants (RI) through open ended and semi structured questions.
We trekked 2km by foot along rural paths of Rhotia, Tanzania in a southwest direction, stopping at random to talk to local villagers at their homes. Most homes were constructed out of red thorn acacia, clay and cattle dung slurry for walls with corrugated metal roofs. Our entire 2km trek was comprised of a forested hill on the left and valley on the right. The lowest point in the valley held a pond of water.
All informants in this region held a farming occupation and they ranged from grandma’s, mothers and senior men. The majority of rural informants (RI) used most of their annual harvest for home consumption (Fig. 1). In situations where natural resources like water were unavailable or irregular, some RI build cement water storage tanks.
When RI was asked about any risks of soil erosion, it was stated that erosion had been a problem and that terracing was used to mitigate it. The RI’s also explained that along with irregular heavy rains and expensive fertilizers causing fluctuations in yield, trying to sell any surplus at local markets was ultra competitive. Most RI’s produced maize, pigeon pea and wheat (Fig. 2). It was understood that maize was a staple crop for home use and that pigeon pea fetched a decent price at market in Rhotia.
When asked about climate change rural informants (RI) agreed there was some kind of change from year to year in the form of increasing temperature and irregular rains, which had caused a decrease in annual yields. Some RI also explained that wildlife conflicts with hyenas and herbivore’s had increased.
As a solution its been suggested that RI increase natural resources and livelihood capacity by forming on contour terraces to capture and hold larger amounts of rainwater. Its also been suggested that water storage tank installment and crop rotations be implemented to increase available water and overall soil health.
This discussion group method has been effective in providing the team with valuable social and physical information about Rhotia and its people. With discussion our team has established a community development benchmark to work from for the future. Its however important to keep in mind that group interviews have inherent limitations if questions aren’t designed accordingly and can tend to marginalize certain minority groups depending on the region.
Figure. 1 The home of an interviewee in Rhotia that is harvesting annual maize for home consumption.
Figure. 2 A maize and pigeon pea field that was recently harvested by our interviewee.
Interviewee: Lepoda, Nyarisa & Maasai Boma
7/28/16, 10:40 am
Medicine-
It was said that several plants are used for medicinal purposes and most notable was aloe soup, honey and sopa bush for healing respiratory illness and bruises.
Boma Construction-
The boma homes are built out of yellow acacia, red thorn and umbrella tree. For walls cattle dung and clay is used. The roof is built with Orkerteham (fine dried grass) (Fig. 3). The boma complex is surrounded by a circle of smaller boma’s owned by sons of the chief elder or Bab and Mam. Most boma complex’s contain a larger central Bab and Mam boma. Every boma contains five to seven single homes and pens for goat, cattle and donkey. The boma complex usually takes 15 days to build.
Natural Resources-
Most boma are built for its proximity to water sources. In addition all livestock are herded by men to watering holes every other afternoon (Fig. 4). The women also fetch water from watering holes for cooking every morning. Most tools and building materials are made out of several acacia species. To maintain acacia forests the maasai save seeds and plant them in livestock pens when they migrate to other locations during the wet or short rain periods. Most Maasai live a low energy consuming lifestyle and relied on gathering natural goods from the surrounding market towns and acacia woodlands.
Fodder-
The herdsmen usually graze goats farther away from the boma at distances of 4-7 km because of their tendency to intensively browse acacia and low water requirement. On the other hand cattle are sent 2-3 km because of water requirement and milk necessity.
Ceremonial
The maasai eat blood-milk-fat pour-age for most meals and occasionally city foods like ugali. Most events consist of weddings, circumcision and warrior promotions.
Household Tools-
Women of the maasai use grass brushes, plastic jars, string for household chores. The men use a standing cane, herding stick, bush knife, spear and ebony club for work and protection.
Figure. 3 The boma house construction in process with rapped acacia.
Figure. 4 The local watering hole in the Arusha Maasai district.
Interviewee: Freddy (Banana Farmer)
7/28/16, 4:05pm, 3° 22’22.57” S; 35° 51’09.12” E
Our informant has lived in Mto Wa Mbu, Tanzania for 40 years. He owns and manages a 0.5 ha banana plantation (Fig. 5). The region as a whole is comprised of mostly rural merchants, tradesmen and vegetable-banana producers. Most crops produced are sold outside of town in Arusha, Karatu, Rhotia and Dar es salaam for a higher price
When asked about his impression of climate change in the region, it was said that over the last 5 years temperature in the dry season has increased and heavy rains in the wet season have caused production problems. These temperature changes have also brought about unusual insect diseases in vegetables-banana crops which has caused a need for expensive pesticides. The banana fruit have started to produce spots, which halts growth once this symptom starts in a tree. With heavy rains many tree’s have died off because banana require a lot of water but it doesn’t like to have its roots in soaking water for more than a few days. These increased levels of water also cause deep gully erosion which impacts irrigation consistency because time is spent fixing and re-diverting furrows.
Our informant only uses manure, lime and sand as fertilizers-amendments in his field and explains that plenty of silt is deposited into his field from higher in the hillsides. The region doesn’t have a shortage of water due to the closeness of the escarpment hydrology. This escarpment produces a year round waterfall which is diverted for irrigation. The irrigation system is comprised of using different sized trenches-furrows and management of water for different producers is conducted using an honor system. Most water is not stored only diverted from its normal flow when needed.
Figure. 5 A banana plantation in Mto Wa Mbu owned and operated by Ricardo a friend of Freddy’s.
When asked about wildlife conflict, the informant explained that he has no issues during the wet season with wildlife but in the dry season baboons and elephants from Lake Manyara National Park raid his fields in search of food. When this wildlife encroachment happens he reports it to the wildlife game officers.
Interviewee: & Hazabe Group
7/29/16, 10:00am
Our informant was 42 years old and has lived in the Mangola, Tanzanian region with a small group for his entire nomadic life. The hazabe group was comprised of 10 men and 7 women with a few infants (Fig. 6). As an hazabe elder most of Angante Joseph Ntloba’s duties were to hunt for bush meat and collect honey.
Angante Joseph Ntloba’s had viewed climate change as a series of major landscape events not in a year timescale. It took time to narrow down a time period for these events but it was found that most major events that our informant started experiencing were in 2001. He explained that in early 2001 to 2005 most rains were infrequent and wet seasons came late with major destructive precipitation that was never experienced before. Most of the annual wet seasons brought plenty of wild game for short hunts. However in the dry season long hunts were the only choice which brought very little game and honey harvest. Then in 2007 large populations of bee’s and insect colonies started to disturb the hazabe camps. This random insect disturbance forced the group to move more often. The frequent re-settlement caused some weeks of starvation for the group. Since then the temperature in the dry season had increased and in the wet season clouds remained gray and just passed over. It was said this years rain had been the first heavy precipitation in a while, which brought a good honey harvest.
Figure. 6 The interview team with the hazabe group after dance and conversation.