On November 17-18, over 400 smallholder farmers gathered for the 27th annual meeting of MVIWATA or the National Network of Small-Scale Farmers Groups in Tanzania. Peoples Dispatch spoke to them about their struggle for dignity and justice<\/p>\n
Hundreds of smallholder farmers gathered in the city of Morogoro on November 17 and 18 for the 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania or the National Network of Small-Scale Farmers Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA). <\/p>\n
The organization was founded in 1993 by self-organized farmers in the wake of the country\u2019s first Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) under the IMF and the World Bank between 1986 to 1989. The neoliberal reforms ushered in during this period marked an absolute departure from Tanzania\u2019s centrally-planned economy under socialist president and leading anti-colonial figure Julius K. Nyerere.<\/p>\n
In 1967, Nyerere issued the Arusha Declaration<\/a>, committing Tanzania to the principles of socialism and self-reliance and paving the way for nationalization of key industries and the collectivization of agriculture. \u201cThe peasantry and the workers were declared as the engines of the Tanzanian economy, there was massive state investment geared towards them. Farmers were depending on the government and selling their produce through cooperatives,\u201d Theodora Pius, the Head of Program at MVIWATA, told Peoples Dispatch<\/i>. <\/p>\n However, this changed with the withdrawal of the state in the SAP-era reforms. At the same time, Pius added, while there were strong cooperatives of farmers growing cotton, tea, and coffee, other farmers growing maize and small grains were not a part of these collectives. Under these circumstances, MVIWATA was born. \u201cGroups of farmers came together and decided that they would travel throughout Tanzania to call on peasants to unite and have a unified voice, to demand their inclusion in national policies, to demand better prices for our produce, and to provide alternatives on agricultural extension services. It was their dream to ensure that MVIWATA goes to every village in Tanzania,\u201d Pius said. <\/p>\n MVIWATA has organized farmers stretching from groups at the grassroots all the way to a national network as the issues that it was founded to address three decades ago continue to persist in Tanzania today. <\/p>\n \u201cThe system that oppressed the farmers in the late 80s and the 90s is the same today, it has just changed faces. Our priorities have remained the same, we continue to speak on issues of land, on markets, on access to finance \u2013 just the context has changed,\u201d Pius said. In response, MVIWATA has continued to update its strategies. <\/p>\n Leading up to this year\u2019s meeting, the organization developed its 2022-2026 strategic plans, identifying six areas of priority. The first is to \u201cretain the dignity of the farmers as a class.\u201d The second area is agroecology and food sovereignty. \u201cThe agribusiness model has been used against our people, our rights, and the planet. This model has taken away our land, our seeds, our culture and our dignity,\u201d Pius said.<\/p>\n \u201cAgroecology and food sovereignty is an alternative system which tells us that farmers can produce in a just system that respects the rights of the producers and the consumers, the environment and biodiversity. It tells us that we can produce keeping in mind that food is a right, not just a mere product to be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast, there has been a proliferation of agribusiness, Pius explained, with villages being told that conventional farming and agribusiness were the \u201cmissing link\u201d for wealth creation for farmers.<\/p>\n MVIWATA is also organizing extensively around land rights and security amid growing evictions, land grabbing<\/a>, land speculation, and with farmers not having access to land.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day there are reports of evictions, of people being told to vacate their villages and move. The pressure of capital is pushing people from their lands. This is taking place under the guise of investments for the \u2018national benefit\u2019 but also through other, formalized means. The majority of people facing these evictions are farmers in rural areas,\u201d Pius stated. \u201cIf a farmer is evicted but they want to remain on their land, they are allowed to stay but only if they cultivate particular crops wanted by the investors.\u201d<\/p>\nEnsuring dignity and justice for farmers<\/b><\/h3>\n