Goat rearing helps villagers fight poverty.

Deep in a hilly village of Itonya lives a man called Yoram Mienda. His village is within Kilolo district, and is located nearly 100 kms from Iringa municipality.

At 65, Mienda was used to small-scale farming, growing traditional cereals to feed his family. However, his farming activities were not enough to make him live a decent life because of low productivity. In a nutshell, farming didn’t give Mienda enough income to meet daily needs.

Worse enough, people in the area had stopped growing tea and coffee decades ago, putting most of them in a tight angle, when it came to getting money. Mienda and his colleagues in the village had to find other means of getting a livelihood. One of the options was for them to get into the forest for small wild animals for food and sometimes for timber.

They also collaborated with some businessmen who needed hardwood timber from the Udzungwa forest reserve. They risked getting into the forest for cash. All those activities posed serious threat to the forest as sometimes hunting small wild animals involves fire, which is one of the serious concerns in forest conservation. Illegal logging for whatever reasons is not allowed in the forest reserve.

Right now, things have changed in Itonya village as Mienda and some villagers who used to illegally get into the forest are good ambassadors of forest conservation.

Most of the over 3,000 people in the village are very positive with the idea of participatory forest management. This is so due to the introduction of an environmentally friendly project in the village. Dairy goat rearing project has changed people’s livelihoods in the area. Mienda is one of the beneficiaries in the project that was designed to give people income generating activities. He is now busy with his goats, which give him money on a daily basis from milk sales.

The idea, which was hatched and financed by the Eastern Arc Mountains Conservation Endowment Fund (EAMCEF), was meant to reduce pressure on forest resources.

Recounting, where he started, Mienda says: “It was like a dream when my name was mentioned as among the beneficiaries of the dairy goat rearing project. My name was mentioned at the village meeting where 18 people were picked to get into this project three years ago.”

Before getting one of the improved dairy goats, Mienda and his colleagues, had to undergo some theoretical and practical training on how to operate the project.

“Many of us had no knowledge on how to take care of goats…this is a new phenomenon in this area. We thank EAMCEF and other experts for making this idea possible,” he says, as he takes his goats to the pastures.

In Itonya village, 18 people benefited from the project, whereby each beneficiary got one goat. Since 2009, Mienda has many goats generated from the project and now is assured of getting money from selling milk.

He gets 10 litres of goat milk a day. And one litre is sold at 1,000/-. So, everyday Maenda gets 10,000/-, an amount which is enough to make him live a better and happier life.

The arrangement of this project, when one gets one goat he/she is supposed to give one male goat child to another villager who wasn’t part of the first batch of the project.

“The idea is to make sure that the project spreads to all the villagers living around the forest reserve,” says Benson Mgeni, coordinator of the Dairy Goat Project.

He says there is a very close link between goat rearing and forest conservation.

“Here people get animal protein from goats. They also use goat’s waste to fertilize their farms and increase production per acreage,” he says, adding that the move also slows down pressure to the forest reserve.

Since 2009, when the project kick-started in the five villages, which are adjacent to the Udzungwa forest reserve there today are more than 140 goats.

“We started with just 60 goats, which were given to the first batch of the beneficiaries, but now many people are in this project,” says Mgeni, who is the Kilolo District Livestock Officer.

“To us, this is a success story when it comes to forest conservation as people will be concentrating on the projects than encroaching the forest…we appeal to people to adopt the idea,” says Francis Sabuni, the EAMCEF Executive Director.

He asserts that his fund has been enhancing understanding on the linkages between socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation through binding implementation arrangements among project beneficiaries.

“We have helped villagers get alternative income sources in addition to forests…Itonya is one of the villages in Kilolo district, which have benefited from the support by the fund,” says Sabuni.

He says dairy goat keeping is one of the many projects introduced to communities in a bid to reduce people’s reliance on natural forests.

It is estimated that since 2009, more than 250 dairy goats and 1,000 improved chickens have been disbursed to villagers across areas which are close to Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains .

“This is why the fund is asking for more financial support from environmental partners to make its endeavors achieve its desired missions,” Sabuni says.

He notes that the responsibility of controlling depletion of the country's largest forest if for all people who live on planet earth.

Last year Norway signed an agreement with the fund worth 9bn/-, which enables EAMCEF implement a five-year project in the five mountainous region forests which currently face an annual depletion rate of 0.1 per cent due to human activities, such as uncontrolled fire, conversion of natural habitats to agriculture and illegal logging.

Other challenges include unsustainable collection of firewood and building materials, and inappropriate mining activities.

Eastern Arc Mountains plays an imperative role for the livelihood of Tanzanians in different ways, as it acts as water sources for irrigation, power, industrial and domestic use for cities and urban centers located in the central and eastern part of Tanzania.

“Irrigation schemes in coastal regions including Morogoro, Tanga and Kilimanjaro depend on water flowing from these mountains. That’s why we want the entire ecosystem to be conserved and it will be sustainably conserved if communities living along those areas are empowered in different ways,” Sabuni says.

Mbuzi ufugaji husaidia wanakijiji kupambana na umaskini.

Deep katika kijiji hilly ya Itonya anaishi na mtu mmoja aitwaye Yoram Mienda. Kijiji chake ni ndani ya Kilolo wilaya, na iko karibu kilomita 100 kutoka manispaa ya Iringa.

Katika 65, Mienda ilitumika ya wakulima wadogo wadogo, kwa kuongezeka nafaka ya jadi na kulisha familia yake. Hata hivyo, kilimo shughuli zake hazikutosha kufanya naye kuishi maisha ya heshima kwa sababu ya uzalishaji mdogo. Kwa kifupi, kilimo hakutoa Mienda mapato ya kutosha kukidhi mahitaji ya kila siku.

Mbaya zaidi ya kutosha, watu katika eneo alikuwa kusimamishwa kuongezeka chai na kahawa miongo kadhaa iliyopita, kuweka wengi wao katika angle tight, wakati alikuja kupata fedha. Mienda na wenzake katika kijiji alikuwa na kupata njia nyingine ya kupata riziki. Moja ya chaguzi ilikuwa kwa ajili ya kupata ndani ya msitu kwa wanyama wadogo porini kwa ajili ya chakula na wakati mwingine kwa ajili ya mbao.

Wao pia alishirikiana na wafanyabiashara baadhi ambao walihitaji hardwood mbao kutoka Udzungwa hifadhi ya msitu. Wao walihatarisha kuingia katika msitu kwa ajili ya fedha. Shughuli hizo zote tishio kubwa kwa msitu kama wakati mwingine uwindaji wanyama wadogo porini inahusisha moto, ambayo ni moja ya matatizo makubwa katika uhifadhi wa misitu. Uvunaji haramu kwa sababu yoyote hairuhusiwi katika msitu wa hifadhi.

Hivi sasa, mambo yamebadilika katika Itonya kijiji kama Mienda na baadhi ya wanakijiji ambao kutumika kinyume cha sheria kupata katika msitu ni mabalozi nzuri ya uhifadhi wa misitu.

Wengi wa watu zaidi ya 3000 katika kijiji ni mazuri sana na wazo la usimamizi shirikishi wa misitu. Hii ni hivyo kutokana na kuanzishwa kwa mradi wa mazingira ya kirafiki katika kijiji. Maziwa ya mbuzi ufugaji mradi imebadilika vipato vya watu katika eneo hilo. Mienda ni moja ya walengwa katika mradi huo ambao iliyoundwa na kutoa watu shughuli za kuzalisha kipato. Yeye sasa ni busy na mbuzi yake, ambayo kumpa fedha kila siku kutokana na mauzo ya maziwa.

wazo, ambayo zimeundwa na unaofadhiliwa na Milima ya Tao la Mashariki Hifadhi Endowment Fund (EAMCEF), alikuwa na maana ya kupunguza shinikizo juu ya rasilimali ya misitu.

Akinukuu, ambako alianza, Mienda anasema: "Ilikuwa kama ndoto wakati jina langu ilitajwa kama miongoni mwa wanaofaidika na mradi wa maziwa mbuzi ufugaji. Jina langu Ilielezwa katika mkutano kijiji ambapo watu 18 walikuwa ilichukua kupata katika mradi huu wa miaka mitatu iliyopita. "

Kabla ya kupata moja ya mbuzi bora wa maziwa, Mienda na wenzake, alikuwa na kuteseka na baadhi ya mafunzo ya nadharia na vitendo juu ya jinsi ya kuendesha mradi huo.

"Wengi wetu hakuwa na maarifa ya jinsi ya utunzaji wa mbuzi ... hii ni jambo jipya katika eneo hili. Tunawashukuru EAMCEF na wengine wataalam kwa ajili ya kufanya wazo hili inawezekana, "anasema, kama yeye anachukua mbuzi wake kwenye malisho.

Katika Itonya kijiji, 18 watu wamefaidika na mradi, ambapo walengwa kila got mbuzi mmoja. Tangu 2009, Mienda ana mbuzi wengi yanayotokana na mradi na sasa ana uhakika wa kupata fedha kutokana na kuuza maziwa.

Yeye anapata lita 10 za maziwa ya mbuzi siku. Na lita moja ya kuuzwa katika 1000 / -. Hivyo, kila siku Maenda anapata 10,000 / -, kiasi ambacho ni ya kutosha na kufanya naye kuishi maisha bora na ya furaha.

mpangilio wa mradi huu, wakati mmoja anapata moja mbuzi yeye / yeye ni walidhani kutoa mbuzi mume mmoja mtoto mwingine mwanakijiji ambaye hakuwa sehemu ya kundi la kwanza ya mradi.

"Wazo ni kuhakikisha kwamba mradi kuenea kwa wanakijiji wote wanaoishi kuzunguka msitu wa hifadhi," anasema Benson Mgeni, mratibu wa Mradi wa mbuzi maziwa.

Anasema kuwa kuna uhusiano wa karibu sana kati ya mbuzi ufugaji na uhifadhi wa misitu.

"Hapa watu kupata protini za wanyama na mbuzi. Wao pia kutumia taka mbuzi mbolea mashamba yao na kuongeza uzalishaji kwa acreage, "anasema, akiongeza kuwa hatua hiyo pia kupungua chini ya shinikizo ya msitu wa hifadhi.

Tangu 2009, wakati mradi kick-ilianza katika vijiji tano, ambayo ni karibu na hifadhi ya msitu wa Udzungwa kuna leo ni zaidi ya 140 mbuzi.

"Sisi ilianza na mbuzi 60 tu, ambayo walipewa awamu ya kwanza ya walengwa, lakini sasa watu wengi ni katika mradi huu," anasema Mgeni, ambaye ni Wilaya ya Kilolo Mifugo Afisa.

"Kwetu sisi, hii ni habari ya mafanikio linapokuja uhifadhi wa misitu kama watu watakuwa kuzingatia miradi ya kuingilia msitu ... sisi kukata rufaa kwa watu kupitisha wazo," anasema Francis Sabuni, Mtendaji EAMCEF Mkurugenzi.

Yeye anadai kwamba mfuko wake imekuwa kuimarisha uelewa juu ya uhusiano kati ya kijamii na kiuchumi na uhifadhi wa bioanuwai kupitia mipango ya kisheria utekelezaji miongoni mwa walengwa wa mradi.

"Sisi ulisaidia wanakijiji kupata vyanzo mbadala ya mapato kwa kuongeza misitu ... Itonya ni moja ya vijiji katika wilaya ya Kilolo, ambayo yamechangia katika msaada kwa mfuko," anasema Sabuni.

Anasema maziwa mbuzi kushika ni moja ya miradi mingi imeanzishwa kwa jamii katika jitihada za...