Conceptualizing Rural Development in Tanzania Rural Development as an End in Itself?

Abstract

sum up, I will say that the building of Socialism in Tanzania as any other Third World Country is inconceivable outside a total process of agricultural and industrial revolution. Rural Development will condemn these countries to be suppliers of raw materials. This is reducing the countries to the position of Neo Colonies. I am only stating the obvious when I say that Tanzania is moving inexorably towards rural development. The impetus comes mainly from the fact that, the majority of people in Tanzania (over 85%) live and work in the rural areas. where the highest Gross Domestic Product is generated. This can clearly be seen in the light of Mwalimu's statement when he said “while others aim at the moon, we must aim at the village” . For Tanzanians, eradicating disease, ignorance and poverty of the masses in order to uplift their standard of living, is the equivalent of the American and Russian ventures to the moon. It is in this general trend that the "frontal attacks (e.g. Ujamaa and the Decentralization Programmes) "Operations (e.g. Villagization moves and the famous 1975 Village/Ujamaa Village Act and recently the urge to transform villages into multipurpose cooperative societies dealing with all kinds of producing and marketing activities) were all meant to make the "adventure" into villages a success In short 9 the argument here is that Tanzania is now working hard to develop the rural areas in order to raise the standard of living of her people. The concept of rural development (Revolution) has gained popularity in recent years as the politicians and academic analysts have begun to recognize the importance of people in the rural areas and their development. Rural revolution is indeed one of the many catch phrases that have found their way into the vocabulary of development planning, not only in Tanzania, but also in all the developing countries in the world. But what does the concept of rural development really mean? At least at the philosophical level. A meeting of experts on, the development of Rural Life and Institutions in West Africa held in Accra Ghana defined the concept of rural development thus: Rural Development is the process whereby a series of quantitative and qualitative changes brought about within a given rural population result in improved living conditions for the population through an increased production capacity. This definition lays emphasis on essentially two aspects of rural development, namely increasing the productivity of the rural population, and improving the social well-being of the people. S.S. Mushi outlines at least five main types of resources or inputs which entails rural development in Tanzania, namely: a) Organizational resources (administrative and coordinative structures at various levels). b) Technical resources (by government). c) Ideological/ Political resources (by the Party) d) Material resources (by government) and e) Human resources (by ten peasant) But in order to talk of teh rural development phenomena scientifically, however, one must necessarily begin with an appreciation of teh material base