By Zirack Andrew
THE report by National Bureau of Statistics of 2018/2019 on the Level of poverty, revealed a rather conflicting issues of natural resource endowments, agriculture and translation to the level of living standard.
Residents living in five regions, Dar Es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Njombe, Morogoro and Songwe; were pointed to be 'richer' compared to their counterparts from Simiyu, Lindi, Geita, Mwanza, Kigoma, Tabora and Singida, who ranked the lowest- the bottom seven.
A quick glance at these figures will shock everyone who ever heard of these 'bottom seven'. These are regions that are naturally endowed with extractives which traditionally attract better prices in the international markets than food crops.
When you talk of minerals or natural gas, then you swiftly reflect back to many of those regions touted to be the poorest.
The report detailed that 92 per cent of people in Dar es Salaam lived beyond poverty line per day whereas Kilimanjaro (90 per cent), Njombe (87 per cent), Morogoro (80.7 per cent) and Songwe (79.3 per cent).
If there is anything interesting in this report is that - with an exception to Dar es Salaam which is the net importer of food - all the well-to-do regions are the major agricultural hubs in the country.
Surprisingly, if you mute Njombe and Morogoro, the rest are located at the borders which suggest that in agriculture, it is not enough that you produce but if you don't add value you are likely to eat the humble pie.
In most cases, when traders from Zambia, Kenya, Malawi or Comoro comes they don't buy paddy but takes rice.
By the time a Comorian trader loads rice in the ship for Mutsamudu port in Comoros islands, millers in Usangu, Ubaruku or Tunduma have already got their money which will be used tomorrow to buy more of paddy for milling which again farmers will use the same cash to buy more farm implements and lease bigger farms so they can produce more next year.
And the cycle starts over again. Even the muted two regions are benefitting from the fact that they are inextricably linked to the Southern Agricultural Corridor which is reputed to be made up of regions with unmatched capacity to produce food.
This brings us to the most important yet less spoken topic; the incontrovertible centrality of agriculture in Tanzanian economy.
There have been discussion around the world that any economy that wants to advance or at least appear to be one, then it must abandon manufacturing sector and invest in establishing service sector, because that's where sophistication is and we don't need to be like our ancestor who struggled with inventing machines.
It is behind this ridiculous thinking that the West (U.S and Europe) has 'abandoned' manufacturing by shipping it to China, making it the workshop of the world. In U.S and Europe, service sector is the leading employer by providing jobs to around 80 per cent of the population.
Britain for instance is too much into service to the extent that President Nicolas Sarkozy refers to them as the country that has 'no industry'. With all their chest - thump and white collar economy they take pride in creating, they lose so much in foreign exchange and jobs to China and by so doing surrendering their political and economic influence to the Dragon of the East.
What Tanzania cannot afford to do is thinking like them and end up failing like them. Not only that we got to make manufacturing work again in this country, it is critical to note that all the processing activities must be around the agricultural sector.
If we will manage to do just a half of our potential, the so called living standards will be easily inflated in a shorter period. If there is anything the 'bottom seven' has to teach us, is that natural resources are largely for the few and that their trickle down effects are relatively cumbersome.
Only few people are employed in the technology intensive sector and even when they are extracted, money paid to the Government in terms of tax and dividends, do not directly reach a common mwananchi, as they are likely to be invested in public goods like hospitals, roads and schools. These investments do not directly affect people's purchasing power in the market.
That's where the question of poverty emerges. So semi-arid regions like Singida, Lindi and Tabora can excuse for their poor performance which is largely attributed for not being able to integrate in the vast economy of Tanzania that is hell bent in Agriculture.
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