Hunger Threatens Hadzabe, the Africa’s Remains Hunter-Gatherers-Community
By ADAM IHUCHA -- A
severe famine is threatening to wipeout, probably one of Africa’s most
endangered indigenous communities living in northern Tanzania.
Hadzabe ethnic
group, a surviving relic of the hunter-gatherers remains on earth, whose
population does not exceed 1,500, basically survives on what nature provides,
particularly, wild fruits, honey, and wild meat.
However, due to
industrial development, especially logging, agriculture, mining as well as
effect of climate change in Lake Eyasi basin in Karatu district, Arusha, the
fruits and tubers have been depleted.
A Hadza elder,
Kankono Mkanga says that they have reached a point where they could go with
empty stomachs for five days and the government seems unaware.
“We have
reached a point where we can go out hunting for five consecutively days without
spotting any wild animal, getting honey or fruits” Mr Mkanga says.
He blames
farmers and livestock keepers for grabbing their ancestral lands and
deforestation, causing loss of natural vegetation and wild animals, which
constitute the community’s staple food.
“We have witnessed an
influx of farmers and pastoralists taking our natural resource rich land,” says
Mr Mkanga, who believes that such land grab and deforestation have contributed
to the hunger situation they are in as a community.
For centuries, the
remote Eyasi basin had been a Hadzabe base, but now it has turned into
significant agricultural zone with its products being among items eaten on the
dining tables in Western Europe.
Official data shows
that the fertile area is now dominated by nearly 4,000 farmers, who produce
97,328 tonnes of onion annually, accounting for one third of the East African
'Bombay Red' and 'Red Crole' onion production.
Arusha Regional
Commissioner’s office statistics indicate that whereas Eyasi basin has a total
of 3,600 hectors, 2,071 ha out of them were indeed under irrigation farming.
This means that
Hadzabe community, not being in position to defend their own rights, has been
confined into 1,529 hectors out of original 3,600 they inherited from their
ancestral thousand years ago.
Implications
Hadzabe community,
which its traditional life style doesn’t support a culture of keeping food
stock, in recent years, has been dependent on food aid from faith based
organization, government as well as handouts from tourists, all of which have
not been availed to them this year.
“We basically live on
food aid from different churches and the government but unfortunately this year
around no institution has remembered us,” says Hadza senior, Mr. Mambosi
Ashomo.
On dependence on
earnings from tourists, he sadly narrated that they cannot wait for the low
season to come to an end, as hands out from tourist philanthropists are very
helpful.
“Apart from food aid,
we also live on gifts from tourists who visit us but it is not tourists’ season
so we are basically stack” Mr. Ashomo explained.
Lake Eyasi division
officer, Mr. Laanyuni Ole Supuk, confirmed that the Hadzabe group in his area
is in a dire need of food.
“These people are
normally shy and live in the bush so it is so difficult to get in touch with
them and know their plight. But last week I learnt about their hunger through a
well-wisher” Mr Supuk says.
He is currently busy
contacting the high-ranking officials in the central government over the
possibility of getting emergency food to supply to the community.
Mr. Suupuk appealed
to the state and any other well -wishers to supply them with at least 80 tones
of emergency cereals, to start with, as he doesn’t know the exact volume of
food requirements.
Historical
injustice
Their ancestral
homelands originally covered large parts of northern Tanzania with abundant
wildlife resources like the world heritage sites of Serengeti national park and
Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The areas were and still a home to a wide array of wildlife and to a range of flora that includes the magnificent baobab trees of Africa - home in turn to the bees from which the Hadzabe collect wild honey.
But, due to contemporary conservation drive, the government has since turned these areas into national parks where the indigenous people are not allowed to perpetuate their subsistence activities, such as hunting, fruit gathering and honey collection.
The areas were and still a home to a wide array of wildlife and to a range of flora that includes the magnificent baobab trees of Africa - home in turn to the bees from which the Hadzabe collect wild honey.
But, due to contemporary conservation drive, the government has since turned these areas into national parks where the indigenous people are not allowed to perpetuate their subsistence activities, such as hunting, fruit gathering and honey collection.
As a result, the
Hadzabe, are facing severe pressure on their traditional way of life as their
habitats have been converted into conservation areas and agricultural farms.
''The situation is very critical for the tribe, whose population does not exceed 1,500, in the country'' says Edward Ole Lekaita, a Lawyer with Ujamaa Community Resource Team (U-CRT), a NGO working for the rights of marginalized indigenous community in Tanzania.
Mr Lekaita who spent almost four years now, seeking for a better way of helping the probably forgotten indigenous community, says Hadzabe tribe is virtually under threat of extinction as the forests, which are their homes and the basis of their livelihood, have been under threat from other competing land users.
“Special treatment and specific affirmative actions are more than necessary for the survival of this unique and most important group of humans” he noted.
He, however, blamed the situation on poor government policies, which he said do not specifically recognize indigenous rights and cultural practices, rather than favour conservation of huge chunks of land for wildlife hunting at the expense of indigenous people.
''The situation is very critical for the tribe, whose population does not exceed 1,500, in the country'' says Edward Ole Lekaita, a Lawyer with Ujamaa Community Resource Team (U-CRT), a NGO working for the rights of marginalized indigenous community in Tanzania.
Mr Lekaita who spent almost four years now, seeking for a better way of helping the probably forgotten indigenous community, says Hadzabe tribe is virtually under threat of extinction as the forests, which are their homes and the basis of their livelihood, have been under threat from other competing land users.
“Special treatment and specific affirmative actions are more than necessary for the survival of this unique and most important group of humans” he noted.
He, however, blamed the situation on poor government policies, which he said do not specifically recognize indigenous rights and cultural practices, rather than favour conservation of huge chunks of land for wildlife hunting at the expense of indigenous people.
Critics say efforts
to resettle them in permanent villages have failed. Instead, they have
attracted researchers from all over the world and sympathizers among civil
society organisations who insist they should have access to their habitats.
The Hadzabe survive
using the most ancient subsistence practices and technology known to human
beings.
They hunt animals
with bows and arrows and gather wild fruit and plants.
They hunt all manner
of game from small animals such as dik dik, bush pig and antelope, to large
creatures such as wildebeest and giraffe, using arrows with poisoned
tips.
The Hadzabe women and
children gather fruits, honey and tuber roots that make up a large and
important part of their diet.
“Pushing these people
out of their traditional habitat and attempting to settle them permanently or
further integrate them into society may have tragic consequences” Mr Lekaita
warns.
Human rights
activists fear that their rich culture could be lost forever. Not being
in a position to fight for their own rights, the Hadzabe are people in need of
protection, they argue.
Recognition
However, Tanzania
intends to recognized minority groups, including Hadzabe in the new
constitution.
Article 45 of the
blueprint, recognized minority groups - such as hunter-gatherers – mainly
Hadzabe and Akiye ethnic groups, for the first time in 50-years of
independence.
The article
specifically provides that the state shall put in place affirmative action
programmes designed to ensure that minority groups participate and represented
in governance.
Other rights provided
for includes special opportunities in educational, employment and economic
fields, something which was not articulated in the previous constitution.
The draft also
provides that the groups would be given land to develop their practices and
cultural values, settlement and food, among others.
Richard Baalow, a
Hadzabe elder, says that the draft constitution come as a relief to one of
Africa’s last hunter-gatherer tribes.
“We as a community
are very happy with the news that the draft constitution recognises us. We are
also grateful to the commission for taking into consideration our opinions,” Mr
Baalow said in a telephone interview.
He demanded that
parliament enacts specific laws to protect their interests in land and more
importantly, their right to perpetuate their traditional way of life without
restrictions.
At the moment, the
biggest enemy of Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Yaeda Chini is the Wildlife Act of
2009, which has criminalised them as poachers because the law does not allow
anybody to hunt without a licence.
While Tanzania was
taking steps to recognize the rights of minority groups like the Hadzabe, in
South America the Brazilian government was forced to use an air force plane to
fly Munduruku Indians out for negotiations over a new dam that the government
wants to build in their homeland.
The Munduruku
(Mundurucu or Wuy Jugu) are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon
River basin, who in 2010 had an estimated population of 11,640.
United Nations says
in its website that the realization of indigenous peoples’ right to food
depends crucially on their access to and control over the natural resources in
the land and territories they occupy or use.
“Industrial
development, especially mining and logging, as well as urban sprawl have
polluted land, water and air,” reads U.N statement.
The World body
further says the creation of reserves; national parks, private lands and
over-fishing have further reduced the areas and resources available to
indigenous hunters, fishers and gatherers.
Changing
environmental conditions due to climate change that jeopardize traditional food
species further exacerbate food insecurity.
Recent practices
violating indigenous peoples’ intellectual property rights – such as
“bioprospecting” or “biopiracy” – pose a threat to indigenous peoples’ genetic
resources and traditional knowledge.
Indigenous peoples
want to be consulted about the ways their knowledge is used, and to equitably
share in any benefits.
