Food systems under stress (FSUS) project FSUS/PRA workshop – Tanzania Magindu Village, Kibaha District, 23-25 August 1993.

Abstract

Magindu village lies within the Coastal Region and is situated 25 km south of Chalinze (about 45 minutes by car along a sandy track) just beyond the intersection with the Central Railway Line. The village is inhabited by Wakwere and Kutu cultivators (90) %) and Maasai cattle keepers (10%).

Magindu's history can be summed up as one of consecutive droughts and people moving in and out of the area. Al though drought occurs periodically, rainfall is not necessarily a limiting factor, and can go up to 800 mm a year. The soils, however, are not very deep. (Dodoma is much drier, but a lot of aid and research is already focused on that region).

In 1990-1991 Magindu suffered terribly in the drought, which was so severe that it put Magindu on the political map. Ministers visited the area.