Browsing by Author "Bungaya, Mayo"

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    Development Interventions and Environmental Change in Karatu, Tanzania, 1930-1980
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2011) Bungaya, Mayo
    This study uses the case of the present day Karatu District in North-Eastern Tanzania to investigate the history of development interventions in Tanzania between 1930 and 1980 and examines their impacts on environmental change. The study focused on three major development interventions; the tsetse fly clearing campaigns, the introduction of the cash crops and settlement/resettlement schemes. Relying mainly on archival and oral sources as well as on narratives, the study examines these interventions in the context of changing historical circumstances. The study has revealed that colonial and post-colonial development interventions lead to the following impacts. First, it transformed the District from a subsistence economy to a cash crop economy which led to irreversible environmental changes, most of them being negative. Secondly, changes in environmental conditions resulted in the changes in the socio-economic development which in turn affected the living conditions of people. Although development interventions aimed at eradicating tsetse flies, opening up of new settlements for people and livestock and introducing cash crops, their implementation brought negative implications. Implementation of development interventions brought short-lived achievements in terms of food and cash crop production and environmental conservation. From the late 1960s. Karatu was characterized by series of environmental changes and a decline in the production of food and cash crops. Deforestation and soil erosion became common environmental problems. This dissertation elaborates on these changes and relates them to the socio-economic and political forced behind them.