Understanding poverty through the eyes of the poor: The case of Usangu Plains in Tanzania

Abstract

Descriptions and perceptions of poverty and its myriad dimensions are as many and varied as the ways in which poverty affects the daily lives of the poor. Poverty is not simply an issue of income. When the poor themselves are asked what poverty means, they highlight a range of aspects. Rather than income-related issues they highlight concerns related to intangible assets, such as a sense of voice vis-à-vis other members of their community as well as their state of health, literacy and access to assets. This paper presents results of analysis that emanate from a participatory poverty assessment (PPA), which was conducted in Usangu Plains between 2002 and 2005. The assessment involved the use of a number of poverty measures including among others, the wealth ranking and livelihood analysis using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results of analysis showed an array of poverty indicators differing from one locality to another. However, the access to land with moderate slopes and water for irrigation ranked as the most important indicator. In addition, rice production was perceived as one of the key factors that lift a household from a lower to a higher level of well-being. A person who harvests adequate rice was perceived as having almost everything such as money, food, can build a good house, and has social status in the community. The poor households harvest little rice because they cultivate little land using mostly their own family labour and they have therefore, problems in securing their daily meal. Other indicators included the possession of livestock, education level, membership of local societies and associations as well as the ability to pay for health services. The quantitative analysis for the subset of the ‘poor’ households showed lower direct dependency on water related activities compared to other households. This illustrates the impact of reduced access of poorer households to natural resources (water and land resources in particular), which force them to rely more on other sources of income, and mainly on sale of labour. The decomposition of total income showed that of all the household income-generating activities, irrigated agriculture represents an inequality-decreasing source of income.