By George Sembony, Lushoto

Two years ago, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda directed the Tanga regional leadership to take urgent measures to end a conflict between Dindira villagers in Korogwe District and Lushoto-based Mponde Tea Company.

Apparently, the conflict centred around the ownership of part of the 1000-acre Sakale forest, and the PM, issued the directive when he was on a tour of the area to try to find a lasting solution to the problem., 

He asked elders to plead with Dindira villagers to accept a request  to allow the company collect 6000 cubic meters of firewood that had already  been felled. The idea was to avoid an imminent shortage of firewood that threatened tea processing.

But the PM’s request has not been honoured up to now, and nobody knows where the over 6,000 cubic meters of firewood went. Tree felling in the forest also still goes on unabated despite the order to lock out the feuding parties from the forest.

Meanwhile, the standoff is not only jeopardising the cordial relationship between the investor and local farmers. It could see one of the main industries in the area close, with dire consequences on tea farming and job creation.

The Mponde Tea Company’s management has asked authorities to intervene once and for all and save the sub-sector from the incessant farmers’ unrest. They want Sakale Forest Plantations handed over to the factory so as to be assured of a constant supply of firewood.

The company’s managing director, Mr Shaddad Mulla, says the company is now forced to buy firewood as far as 80 kilometres away at an exorbitant price of Sh27,800 per cubic metre against the usual Sh4,500.

“We cannot sustain production anymore without a sure source of firewood,” he says. Yet closure of the factory could spell disaster for over 6,000 smallholder tea farmers from five tea schemes and over 100,000 other people who indirectly depend on tea growing to eke a living.

Farmers also own part of the factory through the Usambara Tea Growers Association (Utega) which bought the factory from the Tanzania Tea Authority (TTA) in 2000. These earn nearly Sh800 million from the sale of tea leaves while about 400 workers are employed and make Sh400 million in monthly wages.

Mr Mulla says the standoff was caused by incitement to invade the forest caused by some people, while others had turned establishment of the firm into a political issue. 

Worse still, the invaders have vowed not to allow the factory into the 100 hectares forest despite reports that the area had been included in the sale agreement when the factory was privatised. In this connection, a 99 years lease on the farm- no.546- was issued.

The company says it made an investment of Sh670 million in the forest for the last eight years before the claimed intruders arrived, and this is now in danger of melting away. “We are asking ourselves why these people have seen it right to invade the forest now and not before the privatization process,” he wonders.

He says it is also disheartening that the authorities do not seem to be concerned, despite the implications of the crisis.

The factory manager, Mr Stephen Wahome, says it is nearly impossible to turn to alternative sources like fuel. He explains that the factory is normally required to have a six-month stock of firewood, but it now has a stock for only a month.

He says they expected members of a Parliamentary committee led by Mr Zitto Kabwe Zitto, which recently visited the factory, to have a solution to save the factory and farmers.

An assistant secretary of Utega, Mr William Shelukindo, said  the current crisis resulted from a misunderstanding between companies which buy firewood.

“Currently, the forest is being harvested by some people, but we do not know if they have permits or don’t. The Prime Minister gave an order to stop invading the forest, but it is being depleted now and the

factory is suffering,” he laments.

He says tea is the main employer of people in the area and farmers know that the absence of a reliable source of income could hurt the area’s economy.