Ingresos Tributarios Estatales y Municipales

All the emerging characteristics of the impact region shown in this study are consistent with the expected patterns described earlier in the conceptual framework. The impact region is thus considered an extensive zone of mixed rural and urban activities and land use. The two cases have provided a rich menu of survey findings and historical evidence reflecting different types of farming and degrees of participation in rural-urban linkages. The common thread has been a focus on the role of rural-urban linkages on the enhancement of rural and urban livelihoods. This section draws together the emerging policy options and conclusions.

Improve the local potential by providing an affordable spatial framework

One of the critical challenges to enhanced rural-urban linkages is the problem of spatial distribution and availability of socio-economic infrastructure. Currently, the spatial framework of the city has been described as having more linkages with the distant regions than the surrounding settlements (Mwamfupe 1994). Spatial framework implies the functional relationships and the trips experienced in the impact region. Functional relationships comprise social services, i.e. education and health, while ‘spatial’ implies trips, settlement relationships, social attractions and production flows. Transportation costs are a significant part of total costs affecting the survival of small farmers and the entry of new farmers into the farming industry. The two cases and the cross case analysis have demonstrated that transport helps an economy in many ways, such as giving consumers access to places where they can engage in income-generating activities (Mlandizi), consume other goods and services, or engage in leisure and social activities. Besides, transport enters the economy as an intermediate input into production, either directly or as a complement to other factors, for instance, securing inputs or getting output to market. In the case of rural agricultural production, improved transport may lower input prices (intra-village transport in Mlandizi and Masaki is very costly). As a result, low production costs improve access to credit (credit is available at Mlandizi because of easy and affordable transport and the types of the crops grown), facilitate technological diffusion and increase the area of land under cultivation.

Realising the potential for a more indigenous and resilient process of regional development requires a spatial framework consisting of a mix of policies to enhance rural- urban linkages such as:

Provision of local feeder roads (from the farms) in addition to trunk roads to ensure frequent and accessible linkages among all villages in the impact region;

• • •

Creation of two-way information and communication systems that include dissemination of both local knowledge and viewpoints outside knowledge and information, using, for example, popular media such as the radio and television; and

Location of key urban functions that respond to impact region needs in the impact region towns and in urbanised villages, their functions being identified in relationship to the characteristics, needs, and potentials of the impact region and their populations (such as schools, police, dispensaries and water).

Traditionally, infrastructure projects in many rural areas in Tanzania have relied on large well-known construction companies with capital-intensive production methods utilising imported machinery and materials. It is recommended that public sector infrastructure

investment should be directed into labour intensive projects in favour of local enterprises when contracting specialised or small-scale work needed in the project. Local enterprises initially may have to be supported through the provision of basic training in construction work and with credit. The pay off would be the emergence of a local construction materials industry.

A shift from capital to low wage labour intensive projects will reduce the cost of projects in poor communities. There is also the possibility of wage payment in kind i.e. food, shelter and clothing for work programmes. If necessary, the government can further reduce costs by charging user fees, the principle being that services with modest user fees are preferable to the ones with no services and no charges. Labour intensive infrastructure projects increase livelihood opportunities for the poor by:

providing employment in construction and maintenance activities; •

• • •

supporting the development of local enterprises;

targeting public works projects at the local institutions; and

reducing the use of foreign exchange on imported machinery and materials. This can be redirected into investment in the social sector.

Thus, policy-wise this will include identification of areas where growth and organic development of networks in urban or rural areas have occurred, and determine marginal measures and investments that can support them.

Support a multiplicity of activities, forward and backward linkages

Lack of substitute income sources apart from agriculture has been identified as a critical problem in the impact region, especially where socio-economic infrastructure are weak or not available. Increased diversification lead augmented participation in rural-urban linkages and sustainability of livelihoods in both rural and urban areas (Bryceson 1997, Ellis 1999). As such, diversification of income is a desirable policy objective because it gives individuals and households more options to improve livelihood security and to raise their own living standards. One way to strengthen the local economy is to increase the capacity of both urban and rural dwellers to interact, and have one foot in the city and the other in the impact region. In so doing, the stakeholders will be able to tap opportunities arising from either side. In order to enhance rural-urban linkages through diversification of production and capture of upstream-downstream linkages within the impact region, three critical areas for policy reflection are:

Identification of regional potential at the micro-scale through village and district level reconnaissance and research on existing and new economic activities entails significant promise. This will include a list of pioneer products (crops) that can be adopted because they enter the market easily and fetch good prices. Instead of concentrating on traditional crops like coconut palms and cashew trees, there is a need to adapt to new high value crops like tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, papaws, pineapples and cabbages, which are highly demanded by the urban markets throughout the year. Promotion of research and development for innovation in production processes, products (value added) and product design, and marketing are essential.

Creating a more enabling environment for a tertiary sector may reduce costs and allow it to develop even more. The removal of constraints to, and expansion of opportunities for diversification are therefore desirable policy objectives because they give individuals and households more options to improve livelihood security and raise their own living standards. Adopting policies and programmes that enable poor people to access human, physical and

financial assets that can increase their productivity and incomes could do this. For example: enhanced social services (particularly education and health); land tenure reforms; formal and informal finance schemes (such as the supply of low-cost credit); and, support for small-scale enterprises by private individuals, especially in the processing of agricultural produce. The development of high value crop farming and non-farming activities, as well as supportive infrastructure and institutions are also vital for enhanced rural-urban linkages.

Providing for vigorous and sustained economic growth in the tertiary sector creates jobs and incomes for the poor. It also generates public revenues to finance social development and social protection Programmes and strengthens the institutional framework and physical infrastructure for efficient markets. The state, the private sector and the civil society all have crucial roles in reducing poverty and improving the livelihoods of the rural and urban poor by fostering pro-poor economic growth through efficient enhanced rural-urban linkages.

Support migration of people to favoured areas

No wall can stop migration, for all history is the history of migrations. People have constantly moved, and their movement has often greatly enriched the host places. Migration is at the heart of development and, as long as poverty persists or differences between areas continue to exist, people will continue moving to preferred areas regardless of whether they are urban, rich mining or fertile agricultural areas. In an increasingly interconnected world, neither poverty nor privilege can be contained within borders. Thus, we must enhance the understanding of the effects of migration (rural-urban, urban-rural, inter-regional and rural- rural) and the factors stimulating and constraining it. This may involve educating the councillors and politicians on the facts and the many facets of migration.

As a result, policies need to support the migration of people from the city and regions to preferred socio-economic areas while creating infrastructure facilities for the value added processing and employment opportunities. This implies that the city will grow by taking advantage of the spontaneously evolving functional spatial processes. This section argues that policies should aim at supporting migration rather than implicitly or explicitly reducing it, and that negative implications of policies should be more central in debates. The first implication is that policies should be based on the recognition of the centrality of migration to the households' livelihoods, rather than assuming that people are sedentary and immobile. Policy makers often see migration as undesirable and a threat to established life-styles. For example, the Tanzania Government often wants to slow down or reverse rural-urban migration by repatriating machingas (petty traders) in Dar es Salaam city to their areas of origin (Mushi 1994).

Furthermore, issues at the local level need to be addressed in an integrated way between different levels of administration: An example is the management of natural resources and wastes, which often reaches much wider areas than those administered by local authorities; therefore, it requires wider alliances. Similarly, migration is an interregional phenomenon. There is, therefore, a need to form an interregional planning authority involving the planners from the Ministry of Lands and the local authorities concerned to look into how to plan for inter-regional resources. For example, management of natural resources like fuel wood, charcoal, wastes, water sheds and population movement into the impact region needs to be addressed using a regional platform involving more than administrative boundaries. Tanzania has had several interregional planning authorities, such as Uhuru Corridor Highway, Kagera Basin Development Authority and Rufiji Basin Development Authority. The planning and implementation of these authorities were not successful because they were imposed from above. To address such shortcomings, stakeholders and local authorities need to initiate this commission using their own resources with advice from the Ministry of Lands and Human Settlement.

However, supporting migration does not apply in all cases. There are forms of migration that occur in such an exploitative degree that the aim should be to stop them and provide alternative means of livelihoods to the migrants. It is essential to distinguish ‘worst forms’ of migrant labour from those that provide essential contributions to livelihoods. An example of worst forms of migration is the encroachment of forest reserves and wildlife management areas that leads to degradation of environment. Thus, policies need to focus on enabling environments that permit migrants to build up their own livelihoods and express their own identities without affecting the environment. In rural areas with large-scale youth labour migration, gender-sensitive policies are called for to assist those staying behind to enhance their livelihoods and reduce vulnerability.

To sustain livelihood in a vast region like Tanzania where there are varying levels of access to basic infrastructure and economic opportunities, migration of people closer to the more favoured areas (fertile, accessible and have infrastructure services) should be supported. Such migration will naturally enhance the development of rural-urban linkages and diversification of employment as the population and economic activity become denser.

Table 8.1: Rural-urban linkages: Policy and research implications

Issue Policy Research Demographic linkages

Education and skills

Population exchange

Improve the quality and the standard of education in terms of classrooms, teachers, and facilities.

Support migration to favoured areas by providing socio-physical services and infrastructure.

Increase the capacity of both urban and rural dwellers to interact, to have one foot in the city and the other in the impact region and to react to opportunities. Policies should focus on enabling

environments, enabling migrants to build up their own livelihoods, and express own identities.

With respect to the migrants’ areas of origin, investigate ways of facilitating remittances, and channels to invest these in a productive and sustainable production. Investigate the effects of migration on agriculture, poverty alleviation and inequality.

It is essential to

distinguish ‘worst forms’ of migrant labour from those that provide

essential contributions to their livelihoods. Economic linkages Diversification Ownership of assets

Develop formal credit financial organisations services and introduce savings mechanisms.

Provide an enabling environment to multiple activities by improving services to the informal sector.

Formulate land policy that supports diversified activities in favour of gender, allowing all groups to participate in rural- urban linkages.

Which policies are most effective in expanding rural networks and channelling credit to the poor?

Why is the non-farm sector in the impact region not dynamic and deeply rooted?

Infrastructure linkages Roads and

Communication

Provide rural feeder roads and all weather trunk roads.

Introduce or reinforce trunk road

Is there a critical minimum package of infrastructure?

maintenance units to avoid ad-hoc repairs.

Institutional linkages Norms and rules

Local

organisations

Discourage gender segregating norms and cultures to enable all groups to participate (youth, women and men) in rural-urban linkages.

Recognise the role of social organisations; avoid policy that undermines them inadvertently.

Promote helpful informal social institutions that can help both rural and urban people to assert their interests and organise easy access to resources.

Support informal credit institutions by either providing parallel financing or avoiding formalising the existing local institutions.

Investigate ways to promote useful informal social institutions.

Source: Field survey, February 1999 to March 2000

Promote innovative social organisations

Lack of recognition of local institutions in the impact region was identified as a fundamental problem plaguing the enhancement of rural-urban linkages. These findings support a policy by governments, non-government organisations and donors to invest in institutions, either directly or indirectly by creating an environment friendly to the emergence of local associations. The findings also indicate that investments in local organisations deserve to be part of livelihood development programmes since the returns to investment in institutions are larger for the poor than for others. The creation of local associations in the context of the impact region’s development process also requires a balanced approach to capacity building of both local government and local associations.

In order to enhance rural-urban linkages and have an impact on livelihoods, the policies must focus on developing institutions that the poor can use to assert their interests and organise access to resources. The bottom line must be the local institutions that empower the poor to take part in defining the rules that determine their lives. Only when the poor and their interests are represented in institutions at the national level will there be a policy for the poor. This can be adequately done by empowerment through enablement, which involves building on the existing traditional knowledge as illustrated in figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1: Empowerment through enablement Exchange of ideas Gain local knowledge Take notice of local interests Pay attention to local people

Helping the local people to learn and adapt Learning from the

local people

Building on locally crafted knowledge

Fit into place

Hook up

Source: Author’s construct

Local institutions are likely to occur when stakeholders have a common understanding of the problems they face; have low discount rate; they trust one another and have autonomy to make some of their own rules. The informal relationships discussed in the two cases were formed because of the existence of the above conditions. The informal credit relationship between farmers in Mlandizi and the urban traders is of crucial importance to the livelihoods in both rural and urban households, and ought to be considered for policy recommendations. Formal credit markets are difficult for small farms because of high cost transaction of providing formal credit in rural areas; and that commercial banks often do not lend to small farmers because they cannot make profit.

However, land policy in rural areas cannot be separated from rural finance in particular credit. The more informal credit is assured, the weaker the arguments to favour large farms. For instance, failure of the formal sector to provide credit to the rural people has evolved an informal relationship between the farmers and the traders that has proved to be very successful in enhancing rural-urban linkages and improving the economy of the rural and urban households. These results confirm other results by Woolcock (2002) that the absence or weakness of formal institutions is often compensated for by the creation of informal organisations. However, this is one area where care is needed if one decides to intervene. These relationships could be working because they are informal, impromptu and people- based. As the discussion has shown, there is no documentation and thus no record is kept. Intervention could lead to disastrous results. The best enabling policy here could be one that indirectly assists these linkages by providing supportive infrastructure and services. In this way, we would be taping the requirements and the processes used by the actors involved, and build on them to improve capacity and reduce vulnerability.

Regional and local policies can support exchanges between rural and urban areas at the household level, and can help transform the institutional relationship between the traders and the farmers from a coping to a productive strategy which requires investments but increases