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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