Ujamaa's Bitter Harvest

"Democracy is a luxury that we cannot afford. There must be guidance from the top, and it will be in the direction of socialism, for that is the only answer for Africa. " So said President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania 13 years ago on the eve of independence from Britain. Today Tanzania faces economic disaster. After a visit to Tanzania, TIME'S Nairobi bureau chief Lee Griggs sent this report:

At least some of Tanzania's current problems stem from Nyerere's dogged adherence to doctrinaire socialism, particularly in the farming areas where 85% of his 14 million people live. Nyerere still sees the solution to his nation's poverty (the per capita G.N.P. is $84 a year) in a system of collective villages that would provide such essential services as schools, clinics and running water.

Nyerere, however, failed to reckon with the African's love for his ancestral land and his sense of independence. In the beginning, the government advocated the establishment of ujamaa (cooperative) villages on a more or less voluntary basis. But last year no fewer than 3 million people were moved--some willingly, some by coercion--from their own admittedly inefficient individual plots to communal villages. The result is that farm production has fallen at a time when Tanzania desperately needs increased agricultural output.

Two months ago, Nyerere had a somber message for his people. "We have no money and we have exhausted our foreign reserves," he declared. "If we do not have adequate rains, we will be faced with serious famine in which people will die." Drought and flood have ravaged the country for two years. Unless the rains that begin in March are normally heavy, the country will face the specter of widespread starvation.

Though the ujamaa program has caused considerable unhappiness, Nyerere is sticking to his 1976 deadline for relocating most of the rural population. Already thousands of small holders have been forced off their land, some at gunpoint. In a few cases, huts were burned to force peasants into unfinished villages with roofless homes and no running water. So far Nyerere, who is still respectfully called Mwalimu (Swahili for teacher), has not been widely blamed for the bungling. But discontent is deepening. Signs have appeared on the walls of Dar es Salaam: MWALIMU, IF YOU ARE TIRED OF RUNNING THE COUNTRY, LET SOMEONE ELSE TRY.

Meanwhile, the Tanzanian economy is sorely beset by failing crops, worldwide inflation and soaring petroleum costs. Because the government paid such low prices for basic agricultural commodities, farmers last year smuggled more than $50 million worth of sisal, cattle, cotton, cashew nuts and corn across the border into neighboring Kenya, where prices were higher, thereby depriving Tanzania of vital foreign exchange. The country's hard currency reserves, in fact, have fallen from over $100 million a year ago to only $11 million at present.

With the government unable to maintain subsidies, prices on basic foodstuffs have jumped 80%, and inflation is rampant. Although Tanzania has millions of acres of potentially arable land, the inefficiency of the collectivized agricultural system--as well as the prevalence of drought and smuggling--made it necessary for the country to import 40% of its food last year. Tanzania has gone begging on the world market for food aid, but with modest success. The U.S. is providing 20,000 tons of grain as a grant and 40,000 more on easy credit, although it turned down a Tanzanian request for 200,000 tons of corn, the national diet staple, on the grounds that it has none to spare.

Produce or Perish. To inspire his countrymen, Nyerere himself has spent the past month upcountry doing daily labor on ujamaa projects. There he recently received Britain's Foreign Secretary, James Callaghan, who promised a welcome $6 million in emergency aid. To conserve what meager foreign exchange is left, Nyerere has banned liquor and tobacco imports, restricted the importation of automobiles and announced plans for rationing gas. "Our motto must be: 'Produce or perish,' " he says grimly. Despite opposition from the World Bank and other foreign sources of financial aid, Nyerere has not cut back on one expensive pet project--moving the country's capital from Dar es Salaam to a more central location near Dodoma, 250 miles to the west in Tanzania's dusty hinterland. Estimated cost of the development: at least $500 million.

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