One
of the first things that caught my attention when I arrived in Sinoni Village
was the water irrigation system. Coming from a
developing country myself (Guatemala), and being habituated to chaotic,
nonfunctioning community dynamics, I was ready to face almost everything but a
decent and somewhat well functioning, community based water management system. This is how it works...
The
mfereji, otherwise know as an open water canal or channel, works as a community service, from 7am to 5pm.
The water comes from the Themi River, in Njiro, and all of the money that comes
from fees and fines is used in the maintenance of the mfereji from the river to
town. Every farmer in the community is
entitled to 1 or 2 hours a week of water, depending on the size of the plot. This
schedule is arranged through Wilson Laizer, or Willy, our next door neighbour. He is also the one in charge
of the mfereji revenue, and reporting to the village elders (which themselves
report to the municipal officials, which report to the district officials,
which report to the regional officials). When water is scarce, and
consequentially not enough for irrigating large plots, night hours can be
arranged. You can also lend or borrow hours of watering from other farmers.
There is only one simple and strict rule about using the mfereji: Use it in your time. If you block the mfereji; use it out of your scheduled hours; or claim that you are using it in someone else’s hours without their prior consent, you get fined. Fines are generally 20,000 Tanzanian Shillings (Tzs) (approximately $20AUD), but can vary depending on the attitude of the offender.
In order to withstand water shortages and the exhausting labor that implies carrying water to irrigate, we’ve built a hafir. A hafir is a plastic lined dam. Ours is 7 meters long per 1.5 metre wide at the top and 1 meter wide in the bottom, and 1.5 metre deep. It holds approximately 8,000 litres of water.
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| The local water irrigation system - the mfereji |
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| Farm workers (John, Richi and Elias) prepare the channel(s) for water from the mfereji to flow in between the farm garden beds and into the farm hafir (plastic lined dam). |
There is only one simple and strict rule about using the mfereji: Use it in your time. If you block the mfereji; use it out of your scheduled hours; or claim that you are using it in someone else’s hours without their prior consent, you get fined. Fines are generally 20,000 Tanzanian Shillings (Tzs) (approximately $20AUD), but can vary depending on the attitude of the offender.
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| Water from the mfereji travels down the channels in between the garden beds. |
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| John Laizer (fws Farm Manager) oversees the farm water irrigation system. |
In order to withstand water shortages and the exhausting labor that implies carrying water to irrigate, we’ve built a hafir. A hafir is a plastic lined dam. Ours is 7 meters long per 1.5 metre wide at the top and 1 meter wide in the bottom, and 1.5 metre deep. It holds approximately 8,000 litres of water.
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| fws Volunteer Village Farm hafir. |
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| Elias channels the water around the garden beds. |
Last but not least, there is a land transfer fee for the mfereji. If you decide to buy land from another farmer in the community, you must pay 150,000Tzs (approximately $90AUD). This fee falls into that kind of dodgy bureaucratic revenue which is so common in developing societies. Asking around about the real use of this revenue to a local farmer, I get a smile and: “If there’s a problem with the mfereji they’ll fix it, if not, they will all celebrate with sodas.”
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