Analysis of the Immediate and Long-Term Impacts of Transferring of Men’s Labour Force from Agriculture to Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tanzania

Abstract

In Tanzania, agriculture has been earmarked as a priority area to stimulate economic development, However, challenges facing the country’s agriculture motivate an increasing number of men to transfer of labour into artisanal small-scale gold mining leaving women behind to sustain the livelihoods of their household. In literature on Tanzanian economic development, there is a gap on the actual impact on household welfare  prompted by men laborers switching to artisanal small-scale gold mining. This paper therefore, investigated different factors that explain the phenomena with the special focus on artisanal small-scale gold mining areas of Nyarugusu village, Geita Region, Tanzania. Data was collected from 200 women who had taken up household headship after their men migrated in search of gold. From this sample, data was collected regarding their demographic factors; education history, attitudes and perceptions about economic benefits and negative impacts of artisanal small-scale gold mining using a combination of tools and methods, which included; semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and in-depth one-to-one interviews. The data was analyzed both descriptively and statistically using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS version 16.1) to establish the effects of transferring men's labour force from agriculture to artisanal small-scale gold mining on agriculture. Results revealed a number of immediate and long-term impacts on agriculture caused by the transferring of men's labour force from agriculture to artisanal small-scale gold mining. This included; immediate and long term impacts on agriculture as well as the change that happened in agriculture in comparison  when men were helping in agricultural activities to when it was only women working on agriculture. The major recommendation was that, Tanzanian government should consider to put in place community empowerment programs such as: cooperatives and involve all other stakeholders to invest in tailor-made ‘hands-on’ awareness programs for such disadvantaged communities, to improve their personal skills so as to benefit both in mining and other entrepreneurial endeavors hence reduce the transferring of men's labour force from agriculture to artisanal small-scale gold mining.

Keywords: left behind women, agriculture, artisanal small-scale gold mining, livelihood impacts, Tanzania