When economic growth does not translate into less poverty
The government can not eradicate poverty but can support people to eradicate poverty. (File photo)
Basing on key findings on the performance
of Mkukuta I, the Tanzanian economy has grown by 7 percent per annum
over the last ten years thus achieving the Mkukuta I target of an
average annual growth of between 6 and 8 percent. However, this has not
translated to significant decrease in poverty.
According to the report released by the
Research and Poverty Analysis Working Group of the Mkukuta Monitoring
System, economic growth can drive broad based and sustainable
development and poverty reduction if productive assets and employment
opportunities can be extended to income poor areas.
The report coordinated by Research on
Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) as the secretariat to the RAWG calls for a
shift from a growth to an inclusive growth paradigm whereby investment
is required to create opportunities for people in remote and
resource–rich areas so that greater dividends can be realized from
agriculture, tourism and trade.
Economic experts argue that poverty
eradication must be internally and externally driven and that the poor
must be well involved in the whole process of eradicating poverty. The
poor should be the key players in the process.
An expert of Business Strategies and
Economics, Dr. Elisante Gabriel says the right way to eradicate poverty
is for the poor people themselves to recognize they are the basis in
poverty eradication.
“Some leaders mislead people by telling
them the government would eradicate poverty…this is wrong because the
government is supposed to support the people to eradicate poverty,”
says Dr. Gabriel who is also the Director of Youth Development in the
Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sport.
He says Tanzanians take poverty as an input instead of an output which affects poverty eradication efforts.
Dr. Gabriel says instead of just coming up
with solutions to poverty, the important thing would be finding the
root cause of poverty first. Instead of just giving out loans to the
poor for example, the best way would be tackling the root cause of their
poverty.
He gives an example of education, where many schools have been built but the quality of education provided is poor.
Today we have people completing primary
education without mastering how to read and write. “This is a process
which is caused by a combination of factors… we also have university
graduates who are not employable,” he says.
Dr. Gabriel says focusing on
entrepreneurship skills is not a proper way of eradicating poverty. What
is important is having entrepreneurship spirit, because even those with
entrepreneurship skills are still looking for employment.
He says in order to improve the economic
situation of the country three things must be taken into account. These
are value chain which requires adding value to services and products,
cost chain which requires conducting Cost Benefit Analysis and supply
chain specifically on movement of human capital and raw materials.
An Economist at the Institute of Finance
Management John Kingu says macroeconomic growth must have a good link
with micro level economy for its impact to be felt by poor people.
He says what is currently happening is the
absence of a good link between macroeconomic growth and micro level
economy which has resulted to the growth of the economy not having a
significant impact in eradicating poverty.
Kingu cites the mining sector which he says if well managed could greatly contribute to the growth of the country’s economy.
“This sector is not owned by Tanzanians
and so the profit is being expatriated… there is a need for the
government to put more efforts in tax collection so as to subsidize the
basic needs of the people,” says Kingu
The Poverty and Human Development report
says the lack or shortage of food to sustain good health is a clear
manifestation of extreme poverty thus food security at the household
level is a fundamental goal in achieving sustainable poverty eradication
and development.
With respect to national food security,
Tanzania has been self-sufficient in food production since 2005 with a
peak in 2007 of 112%. However, food shortages continue to be experienced
in some regions. The most recent data by World Food Programme indicates
that around 23% of all households in rural mainland Tanzania were
food-insecure
Households with poor food consumption were
most prevalent in Mtwara (20%), Manyara (17.6%) and Arusha (6.8%). The
highest prevalence rates of households with border line food consumption
were Dodoma (37.8 %), Morogoro (33.8%) and Manyara (42.9%)
Around three-quarters of the population
depend on under-developed smallholder primary agricultural production
for their livelihoods.
The PHDR says modest improvements have
been noted with respect to smallholder participation in out-grower
schemes, access to irrigation, and access to credit and diversification
into non-farm activities.
The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor
of Tanzania (SAGCOT), a large-scale, public-private partnership to
develop the region’s agricultural potential and the Tanzania Agriculture
and Food Security Investment Plan are promising developments in the
sector. However, there is need to consolidate these initiatives and
ensure that more benefits accrue to smallholder farmers and
food-insecure households.
The report also suggests that an expanded
road infrastructure has the potential to directly contribute to poverty
reduction if , building and maintaining rural roads is given a priority
as these are essential for market development and exploit labour-based
technology, in particular, the employment of local communities in road
construction and other public works.
It says a reliable power supply for
producers and consumers underpins economic growth, facilitates
productive employment and contributes to quality of life but the current
power crisis has been a disincentive for investors.
On education the report says substantial
progress has been made to increase access to education. The net
enrolment rate (NER) in primary schools increased from 66% in 2001 to a
peak of 97% in 2007 and 2008. Overall, gender parity in access to
primary education has been achieved.
However, since 2008, the NER has steadily
declined to 94% in 2011, a trend that must be turned around. In 2011, it
is estimated that nearly half a million 7 to 13 year-olds did not
enroll in school.
The transition rate from primary to
secondary schools also rose dramatically from 12% in 2002 to 60% in
2006, but has since fallen to 45% in 2010. The NER in secondary schools
has steadily increased from 6% in 2002 to 35% in 2011 – an impressive
achievement – but the rate falls short of the MKUKUTA target of 50%.
The report however noted that the analysis
of learning outcomes, paints a worrying picture of the quality of
education received by Tanzanian children.
A large-scale national survey conducted in
2011 revealed alarmingly poor numeracy and literacy skills among
primary-aged children.
The findings indicate an urgent need to
improve the quality of tuition, which in turn, will depend on the
increased and equitable deployment of qualified teachers and resources
to all areas of the country.
The significant decline in students passing Form Four examinations further points to the need to address educational quality.
No comments:
Post a Comment