Home to Field Distance in Western Bagamoyo, Tanznaia: Lessons for Rural Development Policy and Practice

Abstract

Long home to field distance and its impact on agricultural productivity attracted concern from researcher after Tanzania’s villlagisation programme in mid – 1970s, but has drawn less attention in recent years.  This article establishes the status, causes and implications to rural development, of home to field distance in Western Bagamoyo, Tanzania.   Home to field distance has increase as farmers abandon agricultural land near village that is exhausted due to continuous cultivation without adequate use of external inputs.  Land near the village has become scarce and more expensive as is demanded for settlement development.  Farmers seek land, which their families had occupied prior to villagisation as well as clear fresh bush land that is father away from residential areas.  To cope with long home to field distance, farmers migrate temporarily to the field where they live in temporary structures for three to six months.  These farmers’ strategies to alleviate the distance problem are not sustainable as they lead to further land degradation.  Policy and practice for rural development need to take into account farmers’ needs for agricultural intensification and their temporary mobility.