MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK AND NATURAL RESOURCES

ZANZIBAR CASH CROPS FARMING SYSTEMS PROJECT (ZCCFSP)

WORKING PAPER No.: WP 95/23

NOVEMBER 1995

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TURMERIC

AS A CASH CROP

IN MWAMBE, PEMBA

BY: Aweina Omar

Suleiman Shehe

Martin Walsh (ed)

ZCCFSP

P.O. BOX 2283

Zanzibar

Telephone / fax: (054) 33121

CONTENTS

Page

Preface ii

Introduction: Purpose of the Study 1

Research Methods 3

Turmeric: Origin and Introduction 4

The Introduction of Turmeric to Mwambe 5

The Establishment of Turmeric Production 5

Expansion of the Market for Turmeric 7

Constraints to the Further Expansion of Production 8

The Case of Ali Nyange 8

Land Shortage in Mwambe 9

Declining Fallows and Soil Fertility 10

Alternative Opportunities 11

Labour Constraints 11

Marketing Constraints 12

Conclusion: Lessons Learned from the Study 14

References 16

PREFACE

This is one of a series of five cash crop case studies undertaken by the socio-

economics section of ZCCFSP in Zanzibar. The main aim of these studies is

to analyse the different factors which have led to local cash crop

development, with a view to forming policy recommendations and devising

practical interventions which might further facilitate and promote this kind of

development in the future. We hope that the lessons which are drawn from

these studies will be of relevance to the Ministry as a whole and not just to

projects like ZCCFSP whose primary interest is in encouraging sustainable

cash crop production and marketing.

The present study examines the development and decline of turmeric

production in Mwambe, in the south-east of Pemba. It is based upon

fieldwork and library research carried out by the staff of the socio-economics

section of ZCCFSP on Pemba. Here we would like to take the opportunity to

thank all of the farmers in Mwambe and Jambangome who discussed the

history of tumeric production with us, as well as colleagues in ZCCFSP

Pemba who provided additional background information on Mwambe and its

environs.

Martin Walsh (ed)

Social-economics Section

ZCCFSP Pemba

Wete, November 1995

Other titles in this series:

The Development of Oranges as a Cash Crop in Ndijani, Unguja

(WD 95/22)

The Development of Sweet Potatoes as a Cash Crop in Makangale,

Pemba (WP 95/24)

The Development of pineapples as a Cash Crop in Machui, Unguja

(WP 95/25)

The Development of Mangoes as a Cash Crop in Muyuni, Unguja

(WP 95/26)

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TURMERIC AS A CASH CROP IN MWAMBE, PEMBA

Introduction: Purpose of the Study 1. One of the principal objectives of ZCCFSP is to foster the development

of cash crop production and marketing in Zanzibar and to enhance the

capacity of farmers, traders, and government to participate effectively

in this development. The history of government-directed efforts to

promote cash crop diversification in Zanzibar has not always been a

happy one. Agricultural research and extension have more often than

not followed the top-down model, where researchers and policy-

makers decide what is not followed the top-down model, where

researchers and policy-makers decide what is good for farmers and

extensionists impose it upon them with a minimum of consultation and

consideration for what farmers themselves might think. As long as

clove prices, however, has given agricultural diversification a new

urgency. The adoption and dissemination of participatory approach to

research and extension has been a key feature of ZCCFSP’s response

to this situation, and the present study (one of a series) was conceived

in this light, and not as an academic exercise.

2. If participatory research and extension are to be effective it is essential

for researchers and extensionists to understand how farmers and

traders think and act and why they do so. The traditional approach to

this question, however, it to ignore it until it starts to have a negative

impact upon project or programme objectives (when farmers’ and

traders’ actions do not match expectations) and it is often too late to do

anything about it (especially if a lot of time and resources have already

been expended in reaching this point). Zanzibar provides a good

example of this: before ZCCFSP began work (in November 1991)

almost nothing had been written about farming and marketing practices

on the islands aside from the little that could be gleaned fro the results

of questionnaire-based surveys. Agricultural projects and programmes

were therefore devised and implemented in a virtual void, filled only by

the assumptions of planners and the incomplete or informal knowledge

of implementers about the indigenous practices relevant to these.

3. As ZCCFSP’s own experience has shown, developing and

institutionalising an alternative approach is not something that can be

done overnight. The orthodox model of cash crop diversification and

development is, as might be expected, crop-oriented and often focuses

upon the introduction of new germplasm (new at least to a particular

group of farmers and/or a particular location). The basic method is

simple: it is the researchers’ task to find a crop or variety which has a

promising market, and then to work on ways to introduce it, expand

production and ensure that it reaches the market. It is also an old

method, and one which was employed extensively during the colonial

period. In some cases it succeeds, and a number of the crops being

sold in Zanzibar’s markets are improved varieties which were

introduced through the agricultural markets are improved varieties

which were introduced through the agricultural research station at

Kizimbani. However, many of them were not developed in this way,

and the records of MALNR are replete with time-consuming and

expensive failures, of introduced crops and varieties which have all but

sunk into oblivion.

4. ZCCFSP has continued to work with this model, albeit with a number of

important refinements. These include an emphasis upon on-farm trials,

careful assessments of export markets, and of the potential for

expanding production in terms of what is known about the land

available and the likelihood that farmers’ will grow the crop or switch to

the new variety in the first place. To the extent that this work is

conducted participatively with farmers and traders, it might be thought

of as a compromise between old and new approaches. It is not,

however, entirely free from the problems which afflict the inherited

model. On-farm trials in a range of crops and varieties on both Unguja

and Pemba have been abandoned following their failure for one reason

or another, and while important lessons have been learned in this

process, it is quite likely that similar failures will occur in the future, in

other MALNR projects which operate with this model as well as

ZCCFSP.

5. The present study of the development of turmeric as a cash crop in

Mwambe, in south-east Pemba, is one of a series designed to address

this problem. These approach the issue of cash crop development

from a quite different angle, by looking in detail at selected crops which

have already become important commodities without any direct input at

all from government researchers and extensionists, and in some cases

in spite of their efforts.

6. The philosophy behind this approach to the problem is quite

straightforward. Rural Zanzibar comprises more than 100,000 farm

households, most of them with two or more members involved (in

varying degrees) in farming and (to a lesser extent) in the sale of farm

produce. Every year they make innumerable decisions about the

cultivation and harvesting of a wide variety of farm plots, including

major decisions about what to plant, what to sell, and how. In so far as

they are striving to solve agricultural problems (as a means to meet the

requirements of domestic survival and subsistence), they are

conducting agricultural research. From this point of view the number of

formal experiments which government researchers can undertake

pales into insignificance. And while the proportion of farmers’

experiments which have an uninteresting design or result might seem

inordinately high to a formal researcher, the cumulative effects of

farmers’ research can be very impressive, and have consequences

which many government researchers and extensionists can only dream

of. In short, a lot can be learned from looking at what farmers (and

traders) are already doing.

7. By looking at past and present examples of successful cash crop

development it is possible to examine and assess the contribution of a

wide range of factors in each case. This is rather more difficult to do

when retrospectively analysing the failure of on-farm trials, especially

when they have failed at an early stage. Although it may be possible to

isolate the cause or causes of failure, there is no guarantee that this

will suggest ways in which these and other constraints may be

overcome, including constraints which emerge at a later stage of

development. For example, if a trial fails before a crop is harvested,

then there is obviously nothing which can be learned from this about

marketing. The study of ‘real-life’ cases, however, offers a lot more

information and should make it possible to provide much clearer

guidelines to researchers who are experimenting with crops, varieties,

and techniques which have not been known to farmers before. It also

makes it easier to assess the viability of crops, especially tree crops,

which cannot be developed in a short period of time (for example within

the life-cycle of a project) and provides some perspective on the length

of time which the development of any cash crop might reasonably be

expected to take.

8. By comparing a series of similar studies common patterns should

emerge, and this has already begun to happen in the case of the

ZCCFSP studies. The most important application of this is in the

design of more appropriate strategies for fostering the development of

cash crop production and marketing, as well as in predicting what

some of its impacts might be upon different sectors of the farming and

trading community. Readers of this report are asked to consider

carefully what they think the implications of it might be, and what kinds

of intervention might be effective in replicating the kind of development

which has taken place in Mwambe, or how it might be improved upon.

In the final section below the discuss some of the lessons which we

think emerge from this study. This should not, however, be taken as

the final word on the matter, and in a future report we will present an

expanded comparison of all of the case studies and their implications,

which would no doubt benefit from any constructive comment and

criticism which is supplied to us in the interim.

Research Methods 9. This study is based primarily upon fieldwork undertaken in Mwambe

(and Jambangome) by the socio-economics section of ZCCFSP

Pemba between November 1994 and May 1995. Mwambe is located

in the far south-eastern corner of Pemba, on the opposite side of the

island to the southern town and port of Mkoani. Administratively

Mwambe forms a single shehia (formerly CCM branch) within Mkoani

district, and comprises a collection of six main hamlets, each with a

population of more than 100 households. These villages are Mchakwe,

Bwegeza, Chaleni, Jombwe, Kwasasani and Chanjani. Mwambe was

selected as the location of this study because of its fame as the pimary

turmeric-producing area on Pemba.

10. In December 1992 ZCCFSP conducted a PRA in Mwambe, focusing

upon Jombwe, Kwasanani and Chanjani villages. The report of this

PRA provides an outline description of the local farming system and its

wider socio-economic context, and should be consulted for further

background information. The farmers of Mwambe exploit three main

types of land: (1) the deep nchi nene soils, which contain a high

content of cracking clay and are found especially around the villages;

(2) the coral rag (makaani) to the east, this being the most important

area for agriculture, including turmeric production; and (3) the clove-

growing land to the west, which only a proportion of farmers have direct

access to. Severe land pressure has led some local farmers to

cultivate, either seasonally or permanently, much further to the west

and outside of Mwambe altogether. One such group of farmers, in the

Jambangome area, north-east of Mkoani town, were also sought out

for interview in the course of the present study.

11. A checklist of research questions was drawn up prior to conducting

informal interviews with farmers in the field. In addition to group

interviews in Mwambe, a small sample of farmers was selected for

individual interview, focusing upon those who had been named as

playing an important role in the historical development of turmeric

production. The results of this work were written up in the form of

interview notes (retained on file in the ZCCFSP Pemba office) and

subjected to initial analysis by the socio-economics section in early

1995. This led to the decision to follow-up with a further round of

interviews in Jamangome, which were not completed until after the

long rains of 1995 because of problems in gaining access to this area

by road. As indicated above, information drawn from the earlier PRA of

Mwambe has also been incorporated into the present study.

12. A brief literature review has provided additional background data on

turmeric production in both Pemba and Unguja. No attempt has been

made, however, to make a thorough search of the archives or inerview

other key informants either within or outside of MALNR. The full history

of turmeric production and marketing in Zanzibar therefore remains to

be written, as indeed it does for most other crops on the islands.

13. In writing this report we have tried to highlight the main stages in the

development of turmeric as a cash crop in Mwambe, singling out the

principal factors which have contributed towards it. The logic behind

this form of presentation has already been outlined in the introduction

above. Again, we invite anyone with additional information and/or

alternative interpretations to share them with us, and so add to the

potential value of our research.

Turmeric: Origin and Introduction 14. Turmeric, Curcuma domestica Val., was probably domesticated in

southern or south-east Asia and is no longer found in a truly wild state.

It has been suggested that it first reached East Africa in the eighth

century AD, carried by the Bornean people who settled Madagascar

and some of whose descendants on the latter island still cultivate

turmeric. However, despite the long history of contacts between the

Malagasy and the Swahili (who founded settlements on the north

Madagascar coast), there is no firm evidence from other sources to

indicate that turmeric was grown in Zanzibar or other places on the

Swahili coast until relatively recently. Turmeric as a crop is not

mentioned in the literature prior to the nineteenth century, and on

Pemba in particular there are no unambiguous traces or records of its

cultivation before its recent introduction in Mwambe.

15. The linguistic evidence suggests that turmeric was first encountered on

the East African coast and islands as a processed trade item, or

perhaps in the form of harvested rhizomes ready for pounding. The

Swahili name for turmeric, manjano, evidently referred originally to

turmeric powder, and was only later extended to include the plant

which provides it. Although ground turmeric is principally used as a

spice to impart both flavour and colour to food, and is one of the main

ingredients in curry powders, one of its chief early uses among the

Swahili-speakers of Zanzibar appears to have been as a dye for

colouring mats and other inedibles. This practice has given rise to the

Swahili term for the colour yellow, rangi ya manjano, which literally

means ‘the colour of turmeric powder’. Curry powder, however, is

given a quite different Swahili name – bizari – suggesting that it was

introduced separately, also as a processed item of trade. The history

of the introduction of turmeric to Mwambe, outlined below, provides

some support for this hypothesis.

The Introduction of Turmeric to Mwambe 16. Turmeric was introduced as a cash crop to Mwambe in the mid-1960s,

solely as a result of local initiative. While it is quite likely that individual

plants had been grown in Mwambe and/or elsewhere in Pemba before

this date, these isolated introductions had no lasting impacting upon

local agriculture. To most intents and purposes turmeric was unknown

as a field crop on Pemba before the 1960s. It appears never to have

been the subject of attention by the colonial Agricultural Department,

and there is no record of any programme to promote its cultivation.

17. Informants agree that turmeric was first grown as a cash crop in

Mwambe by Ali Nyange Ali, a locally born man. Ali Nyange himself

recalls seeing a solitary plant growing in the area in 1957, though he

did not know who had planted it or whose farm, if anyone’s, it was

growing in. As a result he does not consider himself to be the first

person to have introduced turmeric to the area, though he accepts that

he was the first to grow and sell it as a cash crop.

18. On his own account, when Ali Nyange introduced turmeric his primary

source of income was as a trader. He began trading goods between

Pemba, Unguja and Tanga in a bout 1955, and on one of his

subsequent journeys to Tanga he saw turmeric being grown – for

domestic purposes, not for sale. In 1965 he carried some planting

material from Tanga to Mwambe and planted it himself. After

harvesting and drying them in the sun, he gave some of the rhizomes

to women in the area to pound into powder for use as a dye in mat-

making. He took the rest of his harvest to Wete where he sold them to

local shopkeepers by the ratili (pound). He says that he sold the

rhizomes for Tshs 125 per ratili, but this seems far too high a price for

unprocessed turmeric at that time, an it is possible that he was

remembering the total proceeds of his sale.

19. Whatever the case, he says that he did not continue to plant turmeric,

partly because the market was not very promising, and partly because

he was still too busy with his trading activities and agriculture was only

of secondary importance to him. There is no certain record of anyone

else planting turmeric in Mwambe at this time, either as a result of Ali

Nyange’s example or independent innovation.

The Establishment of Turmeric Production 20. According to Ali Nyange, turmeric production did not take off in

Mwambe until 1972-74, when the government of the new President of

Zanzibar, Aboud Jumbe, exhorted people to grow it as a cash crop. As

a result a number of people in Zanzibar began to plant turmeric, and Ali

Nyange was prominent among them. He had no planting material left

over from 1965, but bought it from a shop in Chake Chake. Thereafter

he began to cultivate turmeric for a second time in Mwambe, and

continued to produce and sell it until the 1980s.

21. Other informants in Mwambe remember the sequence of events

somewhat differently. They agree that turmeric production on a wide

scale began about twenty years ago, and that Ali Nyange was the first

to grow and sell it. They recall, however, that he began by selling small

quantities of turmeric powder, presumed to have been brought from

Unguja, to women in Mwambe. This powder was used, as already

mentioned above, as a dye in making floor mats. Whether he began

this trade as a result of his first experiment in growing turmeric in 1965,

or whether he was already bringing turmeric powder to Mwambe at that

time, is not recorded.

22. The establishment of turmeric production in Mwambe in the early

1970s was closely linked to a parallel development at Mkwajuni in

northern Unguja. The village history recorded in the course of

ZCCFSP’s 1993 PRA in Mkwajuni indicates that turmeric was first

cultivated there on a large scale in 1972 – 73. As in Mwambe, turmeric

was planted solely for its use in making a yellow dye for mats, baskets

and similar products. In a 1992 study of turmeric production and

marketing in Zanzibar, ZCCFSP researchers were told that turmeric

was established first in northern Unguja, and that planting material was

taken from there to south-eastern Pemba in 1973. The farmer who is

said to have taken turmeric to Mwambe at this time, Kombo Sheha

Hassan, subsequently provided other local farmers with rhizomes for

planting, while some procured planting material themselves from

northern Unguja.

23. There are indeed close connections between the people of Mwambe

and those of Mkwajuni and other villages in northern Unguja. Mwambe

and the islands off the southern Pemba coast were settled by Tumbatu

(speakers of a distinctive Swahili dialect) from northern Unguja in

relatively recent historical times, and these two related groups of

people still maintain regular contact across the channel which

separates Pemba and Unguja. The transfer of turmeric technology

from one island to the other is therefore not surprising, although, as Ali

Nyange’s account suggests, there were also other sources of planting

material available to Mwambe farmers, who were further encouraged to

grow turmeric by government exhortations to do so.

24. Whatever the means by which turmeric reached Mwambe’s farmers in

the early 1970s, it is clear that at this time they primarily valued the

crop and its processed product as a source of dye, especially for use in

mat-making. The finely woven mats of Mwambe, known as mikeka ya

Chole, are made from ukindu, the leaves of the Wild Date Palm,

Phoenix reclinata (Swahili, mkindu). This grows wild in the areas in

which the women cultivate, including Bopwe, Chambani, Kiwani, and

Mzambarau-Buduru. The leaves are cut from the top and centre of

(usually) young trees and dried in the sun before being sliced into

thinner lengths of fibre. These are then woven into the long strips (kili)

which are finally sewn together to make the mats. The ukindu of

Mwambe is said to be darker when dried than ukindu from Tanga

(which is also stronger and longer lasting) and this may be one reason

why a lot of effort is put into dyeing it. Some mats have 8-10 different

colours: the greater the number, the greater the value of a mat. The

ukindu is dyed either before or after it has been woven into kili strips. If

the dye is applied before, then different colours can be woven into a

single ukili strip. Turmeric is a particularly favoured dye because mats

coloured with it attract good prices. Mats with many different colours

can sell on Pemba for around Tshs 2,800 – 3,000, while those with less

sell for Tshs 1,500 upwards (at early 1995 prices). The women of

Mwambe are well known for their mats, and girls are taught to make

them from an early age, four years old and upwards. They are often

brought to town, however, by male hawkers.

25. Ali Nyange is said to have started growing his own turmeric when he

saw that there was a high demand in Mwambe for the dye. Other

farmers, including some of his customers and their families, then began

to follow his example and planted their own turmeric. Eventually

production reached a point where demand for his own produce had

dropped quite significantly (suggesting that this might be another

reason why he subsequently moved out of the business: as an

entrepreneur he was only satisfied by the high profits which he made in

the early days of the trade).

Expansion of the Market for Turmeric 26. Turmeric production was initially established in Mwambe on the basis

of the local market for turmeric dye. The second phase of expansion is

said to have begun when farmers realised that it had domestic culinary

uses. At first it was sold just to the local shops in Mwambe, who

retailed the powder to consumers. After a short period farmers also

begun to take it to shops further afield, in the towns of Mkoani and

Chake Chake. At this time (in the mid-1970s?) the price offered to

farmers was around Tshs 30 per pishi of turmeric powder.

27. Before this trade developed, consumers on Pemba were only familiar

with bizari, curry powder, a common ingredient in many local dishes,

especially in the towns. The bizari sold on Pemba was and is of two

different kinds. Bizari nzima, ‘whole curry powder’, consists solely of

cumin. Cumin is rarely cultivated on Pemba (though it is reported to

grow well on the coral rag), and all the bizari nzima is imported. Bizari

ya mchuzi, ‘soup (or souce) curry’, is based on turmeric powder, either

unmixed or with cumin added. It is said that when people on Pemba

realised that turmeric powder was the same as unmixed bizari ya

mchuzi, they began to buy the local product. As a result many

domestic consumers now prepare their own curry sauce by frying

purchased cumin powder and then mixing it with turmeric powder.

28. Most purchased turmeric has already been pounded and ground into a

powder: shopkeepers generally refuse to buy turmeric unless it has

already been processed. This is done by farmers themselves before

they sell it, usually by the women and girls in their homes, sometimes

by children for money. Three turmeric processing methods are known

in Mwambe. The simplest method used by farmers is to wash the

rhizomes, pound them when fresh, and then dry them in the sun before

grinding them into a powder with a pestle and mortar. The most

common method used is to cut the washed rhizomes into slices, with

are then sun-dried on a mat for two to three days before grinding. A

third method involves boiling the washed rhizomes, which are then

sun-dried for about six hours before being ground. The drying and

grinding process is then repeated over the next two to three days until

a fine powder has been produced. This last method, which results in a

better quality product, is also the most labour-consuming, and therefore

not widely practised. In Unguja the rhizomes are boiled, sun-dried, and

then sold whole, to be machine-ground by the buyers. The absence of

a suitable grinding machine on Pemba means that this process, which

conforms to international standards, cannot be employed on the island.

29. As the local demand for turmeric powder increased, the marketing

system also became more developed. In the 1970s processed

turmeric was usually taken from the farm to the towns by the farmers

themselves, who hawked their harvest around the shops much as Ali

Nyange had first done in Wete. In the 1980s, however, the lolcal trade

in turmeric was partly taken over by middlemen. Whatever effect this

has had upon prices and profits, many farmers feel that this system is

advantageous to them, because it reduces the amount of time, effort,

and money they have to spend in finding buyers and also provides

them with a more assured market for their produce.

Constraints to the Further Expansion of Production 30. Although turmeric production expanded in Mwambe through the 1980s,

and the 1992 PRA team felt that it could be expanded ever further, a

number of constraints (and alternative opportunities) have emerged

which make continued expansion in Mwambe unlikely, as well as in

other parts of Pemba. There are number of indications that after two

decades of relatively unimpeded development turmeric production in

Mwambe has already entered a period of slower growth and

consolidation. In some ways it is at a critical stage: unless the

constraints to further expansion can be overcome, then turmeric

producers will increasingly shift their resources to other cash crops,

with the result that turmeric production may even decline. However,

while this would be a negative outcome for the prospects of turmeric, it

would not necessarily be a backward step for Mwambe’s farmers.

Instead it might be taken to indicate the basic dynamism of their

farming system, and farmers’ ability to respond to changing

circumstances and the opportunities available to them.

The Case of Ali Nyange

31. Before examining the constraints facing turmeric farmers one by one, it

is instructive to look at the subsequent career of the farmer who

introduced turmeric to Mwambe, Ali Nyange. Having been the prime

mover in the development of turmeric as a cash crop, he abruptly

stopped growing turmeric in the 1980s when he took up employment

as a jahazi or dhow sailor. After a few years of this work he returned to

the land and moved with his family to Jambangome, 10 km to the

north-west of Mwambe, where he still lives and farms. In the

nineteenth century Jambangome was a thriving settlement and port

with a large community of Indian traders. Its fortunes declined in the

early twentieth century and nothing is now left of the former town but its

overgrown ruins. A number of Mwambe farmers moved and settled

there in the 1980s, while others continue to visit and farm there on a

seasonal basis.

32. This movement was prompted by an increasing shortage of land for

cultivation in Mwambe and the rather better prospects which

Jambangome offered and still offers. Although most of the land in

Jambangome has individual owners, many of them do not live or

cultivate in this area. When Ali Nyange first moved there he was given

land by its previous owner and has since continued to clear the

uncultivated bush expand his faming area. On his own account

Jambangome provides better crop harvests than at Mwambe. This

may be because the newly-cleared land there is much more fertile than

that at Mwambe, where land pressure is increasing and fallows

declining as a result.

33. Turmeric, however, is not grown by the farmers at Jambangome.

When Ali Nyange first arrived there he planted turmeric but stopped

when he realised that he could make more profit from other crops. At

present majimbi, cocoyams, are his main cash crop. He says that

turmeric thrives best in well-heated soils (‘udongo wa joto jingi’),

especially those on the coral rag or which are near to the coral rag and

of the same type. Agronomic research provides a somewhat different

perspective on this last observation. The deep coral rag soils of

Mwambe are among the most naturally fertile on Pemba, and they

hagve good moisture retention properties which make turmeric a viable

crop in the open. Elsewhere turmeric usually requires some shade if it

is to grow well. In the wetter clove-growing areas of Pemba, however,

including Jambangome, large-scale turmeric production is constrained

by the prevalence of Leaf Blotch (Colletotrichum sp.), a serious disease

which can cause total crop loss. Farmers do not know the cause of

this ‘leaf-disease’ (‘ugonjwa wa majani’), and have no effective means

to treat it.

34. Ali Nyange’s later history, together with that of other Mwambe farmers

who have moved to Jambangome, provides an interesting perspective

on the current state of turmeric production, the constraints it faces and

the opportunities which it provides. Ali Nyange is evidently an

innovative farmer and entrepreneur with a keen eye for the best

opportunities available. The fact that he has moved out of Mwambe

and moved out of turmeric production suggest that since the 1980s this

is not where he has perceived these opportunities to lie. He apparently

shares this view with other farmers who have moved to Jambangome,

though some of the seasonal visitors there continue to grow turmeric

back home in Mwambe.

Land Shortage in Mwambe

35. The movement of farmers from Mwambe to Jambangome has taken

place in response to the increasing land shortage in Mwambe itself.

The 1992 PRA team concluded that the land had reached saturation

point. Population has increased rapidly in recent years and although a

large area of land is available for cultivation relatively little of this can

support permanent cropping.

36. The dominant land type is makaani, coral rag, mostly comprising

shallow soils with many outcrops of rock. These soils are not very

fertile, and are mainly cropped with bulrush millet, cowpeas, green

grams, and tomatoes. In some places, however, there are deeper

pockets of soil which support a variety of root crops, maize, bananas,

and, where the soil is deep enough, orange trees. These are also the

main areas for turmeric production. The relative scarcity and value of

these deeper pockets of soil is such that individual farmers have

established more or less permanent use rights to them. This pattern of

de facto private ownership contrasts with the situation which obtains

elsewhere on the makaani, where the land is still considered to be

communal property and treated as such. This means that whereas all

the farmers in Mwambe can access makaani land, as population grows

only a shrinking proportion of them can take advantage of these more

fertile pockets of soil, and there is no room for them to expand the type

of cultivation which these pockets allow.

37. Relatively few people have access to the bopwe, deep clove (and rice)

growing soils to the west of Mwambe. Most villagers do have access

to the nchi nene, ‘thick land’ around the villages. However, this land

mostly comprises kinako soils with a high content of cracking clay, and

suffers from poor drainage and variable fertility. Both the bopwe and

the nchi nene are under private ownership, and access to them is

therefore also limited and declining as population increases. They are,

moreover, less suitable for turmeric production than the deeper

makaani soils, at least from villagers’ point of view and in terms of the

alternative uses to which they can be put.

Declining Fallows and Soil Fertility

38. One consequence of land pressure has been a progressive reduction

of fallow periods on the makaani. This in turn has had a negative

impact upon soil fertility, reducing farm outputs and therefore putting

further pressure on the land.

39. Fallows on the shallow makaani soils have declined to the extent that

there are now few areas of mature, regenerated, bush to be seen.

These are reportedly restricted to the more distant areas of Kuji and

Shamiani islands, where seasonal migration and farming was reported

to be declining in 1992 because of an increasing incidence of cassava

mealy bug. While some makaani plots are only cultivated in alternate

years, others are cropped every year. This only permits the growth of

weeds between cultivating seasons, though after four years or so this

may reach a point where cultivation is no longer economical (when

crops have to be weeded four times in a season) and the plot is

abandoned.

40. The deeper pockets of makaani soil are sometimes cultivated on a six-

year cycle of three years’ cropping followed by three years’ fallow.

However, with negative consequences for soil fertility. This pattern of

intensified production is also reported to have led to an increase in the

incidence of pests and disease on a wide range of crops. The main

problem for turmeric growers is Leaf Blotch (Colletotrichum sp.),

though as Ali Nyange indicated, thisw seems to be more serious in

areas of higher rainfall like Jambangome.

41. The intensification of agricultural production on makaani soils has also

made it more difficult for farmers to keep livestock, especially cattle, in

Mwambe. The principal constraint is said to be the declining

availability of fodder. Livestock-keepers are further discouraged by the

increasing incidence of conflict with cultivators over crop damage. As a

result the number of cattle in Mwambe has fallen. The potential

benefits of livestock-keeping for soil improvement are not widely

recognised, and the reduction in cattle numbers means that there is

very little manuring to counter the decline in soil fertility.

Alternative Opportunities

42. Farmers have responded to this situation in a number of different ways.

A small but significant proportion of them have sought land and opened

up farms in the west of Pemba. While some of these farmers cultivate

seasonally in Jambangome and elsewhere, others, like Ali Nyange,

have moved out of Mwambe altogether and settled permanently on

their new farms. Although he and other farmers in Jambangome tried

at first to cultivate turmeric there, the somewhat different conditions

(resulting in a higher incidence of Leaf Blotch) and potential for growing

other crops for sale (including cassava and cocoyams), led them to

abandon the attempt.

43. Many of the farmers who have remained in Mwambe have also

changed their cash cropping strategies. The most notable

development since the 1992 PRA has been an increase in the

production of crops, especially bananas, for the Zanzibar town market.

In 1992 bananas were mainly considered to be a local food crop:

although they had once been traded in some quantities to Unguja, this

trade had come to a virtual standstill following a decline in regular boat

services between the islands. The recent improvement in these

services, however, has resulted in a marked increase in the volume of

bananas and other fruits exported to Zanzibar town through the port at

Mkoani. This has had a positive effect upon banana production

throughout Pemba, and especially in Mwambe, where oranges are also

beginning to find a wider market. In Mwambe bananas and oranges

are principally grown on the nchi nene and deeper makaani soils. The

fact that bananas can be sold throughout the year and consumed as

food makes them a particularly attractive crop to farmers. The main

impact of this new development upon turmeric has therefore been

negative, as farmers have increasingly shifted their attentions away

from it.

44. As the 1992 PRA made clear, off-farm activities also play an important

role in the economic strategies of Mwambe’s householders. Ali

Nyange’s movement in and out of different forms of enterprise and

wage labour is just one example of this from a reasonably well-off

household. Off-farm income is equally important to poorer households,

though it contributes less to their overall subsistence. Growing land

pressure and its consequences for the ability of households with little

land to live off it means that off-farm income is increasing in importance

for this group. Although clove-picking is no longer an attractive source

of income, many others are exploited by Mwambe households. The

long list of off-farm activities reported in 1992 includes fishing,

carpentry, stone-collecting, lime-making, basket-making, mat-making,

pole and firewood-collecting, petty trading, and wage employment of

different kinds.

Labour Constraints

45. Another factor which makes turmeric a less attractive crop than others

is the labour involved in processing it. As we have seen, shopkeepers

prefer to buy turmeric in powdered form. There is no suitable grinding

machine on Pemba, and turmeric therefore has to be processed

manually. This is a relatively time-consuming task, and one which

takes longer and involves even more work if a high-quality product is

desired. The process which produces the best powder also begins

with boiling, and this requires the collection of firewood by women

and/or added expense in purchasing it. Not surprisingly, the most

common method used is one based upon sun-drying and which does

not involve repeated grinding. This results in a medium-quality product

which is at least better than the powder produced by the simpler and

quicker method of pounding then drying fresh rhizomes.

46. Processing is normally the work of women and girls in the household,

though sometimes non-household members, including children, are

paid to do it. Turmeric demands a higher labour input from women

than most other local crops. At the same time women’s returns from

the crop are limited by the fact that powder is usually sold by their

husbands or other male family members, even when the crop

nominally belongs to them. Women’s control over turmeric income is

therefore restricted, though the extent to which this may be an issue

varies from household to household, depending on how decisions are

taken within the household and the uses to which the income is put. It

can be assumed that women’s enthusiasm for turmeric as a crop was

greater when its primary use was in dyeing the mats and other woven

goods which women made. As the market has changed, however, the

benefits from turmeric have become more diffuse, and it remains a

‘women’s crop’ only in the sense that women perform most of the

labour.

47. From this point of view turmeric compares unfavourably with other

crops, like cassava and bananas, which involve less labour and offer

higher returns to these labour inputs. In addition to making more cash

available to household (if not necessarily the women within them) on a

regular basis, these crops are of direct benefit to women and children

because they are also consumed as staples. When alternative

opportunities are available, as they now are in Mwambe, women are

likely to shift their labour out of turmeric and into crops which provide

them with more immediate benefits. This is one reason why turmeric is

not an important crop in resource-poor households: another reason

being their limited access to suitable land. To this extent turmeric

resembles another local spice crop, chillies. Although more land is

available for chilli production, the labour requirements (in this case the

onerous task of harvesting) are such that many householders, and

especially women, will not invest in the crop even though it has an

assured market.

Marketing Constraints

48. Although the market for Mwambe turmeric grew significantly in the

1980s, it appears that this growth has now slowed down considerably.

Indeed many farmers report having difficulty in disposing of their crop,

even though total production in Mwambe is said to have declined.

49. There is little local market now for turmeric dye. The main reason for

this is that the market for dyed mats and similar products from

Mwambe has contracted, largely because of their high cost. This in

turn is a function of the cost of obtaining high quality ukindu (the leaves

of the Wild Date Palm, Phoenix reclinata) from Tanga, which is now

preferred by both producers and customers to the inferior type which

grows in Mwambe. Customers on Pemba also have much less

disposable income than they had in the past, before the decline in

clove prices, and multicoloured mats are a luxury which few people can

now afford.

50. As mentioned above, there is also little demand either on or off the

island for unprocessed rhizomes. Shopkeepers in Pemba usually

demand the processed powder, if they buy it at all. At the time of our

study farmers who did sell reported receiving Tshs 150-200 per kg of

fresh turmeric, while the price of powdered turmeric was in the range of

Tshs 550-600 per kg.

51. The market for powder also appears to have contracted, at least

relative to its supply from Mwambe. It has clearly suffered in

competition with bizari ya mchuzi, ready-mixed curry powder, which is

being brought in from Mombasa (also Tanga) and whose ingredients

(cumin and turmeric) often ultimately originate from India. Many

shopkeepers prefer to stock this good-quality powder rather than buy

the local turmeric (which they or customers mix with imported cumin),

and they order it from the ‘informal’ traders who travel regularly by boat

to the southern Kenya coast. While curry powder containing Mwambe

turmeric is still a common sight in the shops at Mkoani, very few shops

in Wete stock it now, although they did in the past. A quick survey only

found one Wete shopkeeper who bought processed turmeric from

Mwambe, who said he preferred it because of its stronger taste.

52. One of the advantages of imported curry powder over local turmeric is

that it is available all year round. Although it is possible to store

powder, very few Mwambe farmers do so because they prefer to seek

a quick return to their crop. Turmeric is usually planted during the short

rains, in November, and harvested the following October and

November. However, many of them have difficulty in finding buyers

during the peak season, when prices are at their lowest. One Mwambe

farmer interviewed in November 1994 complained that he had three

sacks of turmeric which he had tried to sell but in vain, and similar

experiences were reported by others. Some farmers therefore choose

to harvest early, in September, or after the end of the season, when

prices may be up to 20% higher. Interviewees complained that they

were forced to do this, making it clear that they did so in order to be

sure o a market, rather than just obtain a higher price for their crop.

Middlemen and other buyers tend to come to Mwambe out of season:

during the peak season farmers often have to market their turmeric

themselves.

53. Given these local marketing constraints, there seems to be little

immediate prospect for expansion of the external markets. The export

of turmeric to Unguja has been affected by the same factors which

have led to the contraction of the market within Pemba. Export costs

and procedures further discourage this trade, as they do trade with

Tanga and elsewhere on the mainland.

54. The type and quality of Mwambe turmeric also make it difficult to sell in

any quantity outside of Zanzibar. Two main types of turmeric are

recognised and traded on the international market: Alleppey and

Madras. Allepey is used principally in colouring foodstuffs, while

Madras, which is much more in demand, is used to flavour them.

Mwambe turmeric, like all the turmeric grown in Zanzibar, has been

described as a poor-quality Alleppey type. It has a poor curcumin

content and excessively high oil content, which means that has

insufficient pigments, is difficult to grind, and has too strong a flavour

for most of the market (the feature which one Wete shopkeeper found

attractive). As a result Mwambe turmeric has very poor prospects on

the international market, and is also unlikely to sell well regionally, for

example in Kenya. This is one of the reasons, of course, why even

within Pemba it is suffering in competition with curry powder of Indian

origin imported from Mombasa.

Conclusion: Lesson Learned from the Study 55. The following is a summary of the principal lessons which we think can

be drawn from this study.

56. The development of turmeric as a cash crop in Mwambe was achieved

by local farmers with minimal inputs from the government agricultural

research and extension services. Turmeric was first introduced on the

initiative of a local farmer and trader. Although the expansion of

production in the early 1970s owned something to President Jumbe’s

campaign to expand agriculture, it is likely that farmers were already

doing so in response to the famine of 1971-72. This famine, which

Pembans generally blame upon government policies at the time (and

especially the restriction of food imports) severely affected the whole of

Pemba and prompted an expansion of food and cash crop production

throughout the island, especially on the coral rag and in other

‘marginal’ areas. Our report on The Development of Sweet Potatoes

as a Cash Crop in Makangale, Pemba, describes another example of

this.

57. Turmeric was originally grown in Mwambe, as in northern Unguja,

solely as a source of yellow dye for the local mat-making and

handicraft industry. Turmeric germplasm had not been a subject of

government research, and farmers used the planting material which

was already available on Unguja and the mainland coast.

Appropriately enough, this was (and is) an Alleppey type turmeric

whose main use elsewhere is also in colouring, though usually of

foodstuffs rather than handicrafts.

58. The realisation that turmeric powder also had culinary uses, and was

one of the two main ingredients in imported curry powders, stimulated

a second phase in the expansion of production and marketing. The

difficulty which shopkeepers had in obtaining imported spices prior to

economic liberalisation in the mid-1980s presumably contributed

towards this development, and encouraged them to buy the local

product. As the market expanded so too did the role of middlemen,

who purchased processed turmeric in Mwambe and traded it to the

towns of Pemba. Quantities of Mwambe turmeric wee also carried

across to the Zanzibar town market by shopkeepers and other traders.

Turmeric marketing, however, never developed to the point where it

was regulated or otherwise managed by an association of producers.

59. In the 1990s, however, the market for Mwambe turmeric began to

contract. In many respects this has been a consequence of

liberalisation. The local type of turmeric was perfectly adequate for its

original purpose – dyeing – and was readily adopted as a food spice in

the absence of serious competition from outside. Under more

competitive conditions, however, it has been unable to compete with

imported curry powders, especially those of Indian origin which are

brought into Pemba from Mombasa. The lack of cultivated cumin on

Pemba means that the principal ingredient of curry powder has to be

imported, and it is inevitable that traders will also bring in ready-mixed

cumin and turmeric powders if they can. This is especially so given the

higher quality and better taste of the (presumably) Madras type

turmeric which is used in imported curry powders.

60. Another advantage of the imported powders is that they are available

all year round. Most turmeric farmers in Mwambe do not store their

crop or the processed product but are keen to sell it at the first

opportunity after harvest. Pemba’s internal supply of turmeric is

therefore strictly seasonal, and few if any of the traders or shopkeepers

who buy it show any inclination to store or keep large stocks of it either.

One reason for this is that many of them operate with limited working

capital and only buy stock as they need it. Otherwise the ready

availability of better imported powders, which are already mixed, gives

them little incentive to build up stocks of the inferior local product.

61. This situation suggests that one solution might be to introduce Madras

type germplasm and thereafter promote storage of the processed crop

by either farmers or traders or both. Indeed ZCCFSP has recently

brought new turmeric germplasm into Unguja. However, there are a

number of other constraints to turmeric production in Mwambe which

have seen total output decline in recent years, and would therefore

work against a solution of this kind. One of these constraints is the

growing shortage of suitable land on which to grow turmeric,

exacerbated by shortened fallows which have in turn led to a decline in

soil fertility and the consequent productivity of the land. The plots of

deeper makaani (coral rag) soil on which turmeric grows best are

increasingly being converted to private ownership. As population

grows proportionately fewer farmers have access to them, especially

those in poorer households. At the same time farmers with access to

this land are unable to expand production, but instead have seen their

turmeric yields decline.

62. Turmeric production has also relatively unattractive to many farmers

because of the labour required to process it. There are no suitable

grinding machines on Pemba, and all of the processing has to be done

by hand. This labour is mostly performed by women and girls, and the

returns they obtain from it appear to have diminished over time. When

turmeric was first introduced it was a ‘women’s crop’ in the sense that

women were the primary consumers of the processed proeduct, in the

form of the yellow dye used in colouring handicrafts. The development

of turmeric as a widely marketed spice crop, however, has meant that

women’s control over the product and income from it has declined, and

its benefit to their households become more diffuse.

63. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that women now

complain about the labour involved in processing turmeric. One result

of this is their avoidance of the most labour-intensive processing

method, which would otherwise produce a better quality and more

competitive powder. Another result is their readiness to switch their

labour to crops which provide them with better and more immediate

returns. These include crops like cassava and bananas which can be

consumed directly by household members as well as sold more easily

and at different times of the year.

64. Farmers in Mwambe have been quick to exploit other opportunities in

response to this situation. A wide range of off-farm activities provide

income for households in different wealth categories. A number of

relatively wealthy farmers have sought land in Jambangome and other

parts of western Pemba where they farm either seasonally or

permanently and grow cash crops other than turmeric. In Mwambe

itself the recent improvement in boat services between Pemba and

Unguja has resulted in a marked increase in banana production for the

Zanzibar town market, while orange growing and marketing is also

beginning to take off.

65. From this point of view the decline in turmeric production is not a great

loss. The history of many other cash crops in Zanzibar suggests that

twenty years or so is a reasonable period to expect a particular crop to

retain its dominance in a particular location. A more important

consideration is whether or not the local farming system remains

dynamic and agriculture within it sustainable. The current situation in

Mwambe provides some grounds for optimism. The greatest threat to

local agriculture, however, is the inability of the land available to

support a growing population. The continued degradation of the coral

rag is particularly worrying, and it remains to be seen whether a more

viable land use system will emerge. Experience from elsewhere in

Zanzibar suggests that fruit tree planting is a step in the right direction,

but other ingredients of an efficient mixed farming system (including

manuring by cattle) are currently lacking.

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1993 Marketing and Transport in Pemba Island, Working Paper No. WP

93/12, Zanzibar Cash Crops Farming Systems Project, Ministy of Agriculture,

Livestock and Natural Resources, Zanzibar.

Fox, Diana and James Packham 1994 Rural Income Earning Opportunities

in Zanzibar with Regional Analysis (2 vols.), Technical Report TR 93/10,

Zanzibar Cash Crops Farming Systems Project, Ministry of Agriculture,

Livestock and Natural Resources, Zanzibar.

Kombo, Abdalla Ali and Rashid Khamis Ali 1992 Turmeric Production and

Marketing in Zanzibar, Working Paper No. WP 92/7, Zanzibar Cash Crops

Farming Systems Project, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Natural

Resources, Zanzibar.

Purseglove, J. W., E. G. Brown, C. L. Green and S. R. J. Robbins 1981

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Taylor, S. J., C. L. Green and G. A. Hone 1994 Turmeric: A Techno-

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Woods, Rupert 1994 Spice Strategy Paper: Opportunities for Spice Crops

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Report TR 94/15, Zanzibar Cash Crops Farming Systems Project, Ministry of

Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources, Zanzibar.

ZCCFSP 1992 Report on a Village PRRA: Jombwe, Kwasanani and

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ZCCFSP 1993 Report on Mkwajuni Village P/PRA: February 8-12, 1993,

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