Tobacco Leaves

[All images via Hannah Ayers]

Smoke and dust seem to be unavoidable in this city. On Sunday I woke up to the distinct smell of someone burning something outside my window. While the dust won’t wipe off my skin. I’ve taken to using baby wipes. At least I feel clean for all of twenty seconds.

Voluntarily inhaling smoke is something only the expats indulge in yet this region happens to be one of the most prominent tobacco growing regions in Tanzania. Tabora is full of tobacco farmers and company representatives who all happen to be incredibly nice people with the most interesting stories to share. One of the tobacco gentleman very graciously offered to take us with him to a tobacco market in a village last Thursday and gave us the lowdown on the process and industry. Considering all my experience in Africa up till this point has been in the NGO sector, it was quite enlightening seeing a functioning industry despite it’s controversial nature. The government takes an active role in encouraging the industry and the system of grading and loaning inputs is quite efficient. In the Tabora region farmers grow the tobacco plant and keep removing leaves as they ripen. Then they burn them in specially built tobacco burning huts to remove all the moisture from them. These are then sorted by the farmer according to grades and then sold at a very organized tobacco market where officials check the merchandise and buyers make bids.

The Millennium Villages Project does not encourage the production of tobacco which is quite understandable considering the nature of the organization and the worldwide condemnation of the tobacco industry. There have been attempts to encourage cotton growing within the region as a cash crop (see Jeff Sachs in TIME July 2007) but the farmers did not take well to this scheme and the initiative was abandoned. From what I remember in Pakistan, cotton is very susceptible to pests but it would be interesting to look into other reasons why this may have failed. It makes one wonder what other cash crops could be grown in Tabora which would not carry the negative connotations of tobacco, yet be able to function within a successful business model. What high return crops/industry would encourage private investment?

When I first landed in Tanzania, it seemed like they had a decent supply of sugar cane and I couldn’t help considering potential sugar mills like those in Punjab which have made their owners quite rich. Also in Tabora itself lowland rice paddies can be seen everywhere and must have decent rice production in the wet season. Yet the dry season completely cripples the system and the wet season merely serves to keep it on life support. Random thought which is probably quite naive: What if we pooled all aid money and concentrated it entirely on water access? Would all other sectors sort themselves out?

Additional Links:

CropWatch: The Tobacco Industry Impacts on Tanzania by Ross Hammond (1997)

Tobacco.org: Article Listing for Tanzania

Tobacco Barn

Tobacco Grades

Tobacco Market

So here start the usual monthly/bimonthly missives from the heart of this itty bitty safari hostel smack in the middle of the car repair shops in Dar es Salaam. The room has skylights on each end which are always open and consequently I can hear each and every word uttered by my neighbours. Also was woken up frantically by knocking on my door at 5:30 a.m. today morning and the conversation went somewhat like this:

*frantic knocking*
Saira: *ignores first bout of frantic knocking*
*MUCH LOUDER frantic knocking*
Saira: Who is it? *one eye refusing to unstick*
Knocker: Wade
Saira: Wade who?
Wade: I just wanted to make sure you guys have woken up for the safari. So psyched!
Saira: I think you have the wrong room (followed by quite a few choice expletives in the reccesses of her brain)

So… lets see… usual headings:

Turkish Delight and ze Awesome Nibbling Party of 6 (well 5 ) which consumed it:

I will live in Istanbul some day. Seriously. Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Did a two day stopover with five awesome friends of mine, which included regular yelps of surprise when timed lights in the dorm bathroom went off, the 100+ pictures of the sunset we took from the Asian side, the Monica kidnapping (pseudo) by locals for a photography session in the Blue Mosque and so forth. We also happened to be there when one of the local teams won a football game and the whole town went ballistic. Streams of people literally flowed towards Taxim square where we happened to be staying and despite it being a Sunday the streets were jammed at 2 a.m. As for the Turkish delight, I’m not much of a fan but my fellow travellers partook with relish.

Bongoyo: Hannah Quickeye, Laura Babblefish, Saira uh…(I’ll come with something) and Vinay as the mysterious Charlie:

Quickeye due to her being able to pick up on things Laura and I seem to be completely missing; from returning keys when exiting the hostel to God knows what. Google babblefish. Bongoyo is an island off the coast of Dar. Involves getting on one boat and then another boat and then yet another boat and stepping onto my version of paradise. Oh and not forgetting the pre- and post- gelato.

Rat Brawl on the Rooftop of the New Africa Hotel complete with Heart Jarring Dare Devil Act:

So… we went to dinner at New Africa Hotel. Some swanky Thai place on the 9th floor. Decided to have desert after and somehow managed to get seated at a deserted poolside table. Did I mention swanky? Now generally when one uses a word such as “swanky” one does not expect New York size rats trudging along on terraces. But there it was. Trudging along. Until… it met another equally massive member of it’s species and before one could say “Whatthecrap”, both rats gave high pitched squeaks, stood on their hind legs, grabbed each other by the arms in true wrestling fashion and toppled off the ledge. Out of sheer concern for their safety (Im sure) one of our party gave quite the exclamation after which yet another topple took place with the rat landing at ground level barely 5 feet from us and scurrying away into the undergrowth. Lets just say… we will not be staying at this “swanky” hotel in the future.

I distinctly remember promising someone a poem on some obscure topic yet can’t for the life of me remember who I made the promise to and what the topic was so… maybe next time.

Miss you all!

Just finished up another project which has been in the works for awhile. Head over to https://sites.google.com/a/globalmdp.org/columbia Working on getting a shorter URL.