Kwamtili is an old cocoa plantation located at the foot of the Usambara Mountains, approximately 60 km west of the port of Tanga in northeastern Tanzania. The Usambara Montains are part of the Eastern Arc, one of the most sensitive, protection-worthy areas of the world. In the higher regions, there are still many natural forests, which are populated with numerous rare animal and plant species; the lower regions are farming areas. Civilisation exerts tremendous pressure on the forests; this situation will persist if the local population cannot benefit directly from the nature reserves and if not enough other adequate income opportunities exist.

Kwamtili_Landschaft

Since two thirds of Kwamtili are covered with forests, the current plantation owner, Dennis Fielder, is seeking to combine assistance for the local population with support for the environment. Like his predecessor, he works closely with the smallholders from the five surrounding villages. Besides cultivating their land with maize to maintain their self-sufficient lifestyle, the farmers also grow some cocoa, which is then processed in Kwamtili and sold from there.

Although the plantation is not very profitable and notwithstanding limited financial resources, Dennis Fielder nevertheless tries to alleviate the poverty among the smallholders in various ways and to improve their living conditions and health. Not only does the plantation provide them with gainful employment, but they are also given young cocoa plants for cultivation; they can obtain small credits, moreover, and a kindergarten and a small medical centre have also been established.

Increasingly longer and increasingly frequent dry periods make the situation for the village’s inhabitants even more difficult. No rainfall and thus no harvest spell hunger: not only is there no maize, but also no revenue from the cocoa, as well as less work on the plantation. Since many saplings wither before they bear fruit for the first time, the development work undertaken in recent years is also ruined.

Kwamtili Community Development Project

Kwamtili_Arbeiter

„Food for Work“ emergency assistance

When there was no rain once again in 2008, Dennis Fielder sought financial assistance. Because he did not simply want to distribute money or food, he initiated two programmes that would involve the local population on the one hand, and benefit it on the other.

One of these programmes was the road repair programme. The local population took part with enthusiasm, since everyone benefited from the improvements. Here, heavy loads are transported by bicycle, often bearing up to 100kg. Better roads, without deep potholes, now make this very arduous task much simpler.

The second programme involved attending to and cutting the old cocoa plantings of wido-wed farmers’ wives who lacked the possibilities to undertake such work themselves.

Programme participants received provisions and pocket money. Every day, other people were involved so that everyone could benefit from the programmes.

Both programmes received financial assistance from the UsitawiNetwork Club Bern, which also helped secure additional funds.

Kwamtili_Arbeiter_2

Further projects

Since such emergency situations recur time and again, the support measures already in place will be continued and also partly expanded on the one hand; on the other, there are plans to tackle existing problems in a more fundamental way.

Besides expanding the tree nursery for cocoa plants, plans are also underfoot to increase the revenue of the plantings by first appraising their condition and thereafter adopting well-targeted measures, and to thereby improve the income situation of the smallholders. Farmers will also be offered more courses and advice, and the programme will be further supported by granting an increasing number of small credits.

Furthermore, various ideas will be evaluated in order to tap new and less rain-dependent sources of income. One such idea would involve bee and silkworm breeding. A slightly larger project is the Kwamtili Private Forest Reserve Project, which would include using the forest for soft tourism. Since non-indigenous trees and plants should be replaced with indigenous species, this reserve project also involves establishing a nursery for indigenous plants and trees.

What is new about the Kwamtili Community Development Project is that it considers Kwamtili – its plantations, its forest, and the surrounding villages and their inhabitants – as an integral whole. An overall concept can help adopt measures benefiting both the people involved and the natural environment.

The UsitawiNetwork International project working group lends the Kwamtili Community Development Project financial support, but chiefly provides advice and contacts.