Tanzania's Nou forest, in the Manyara region of the country's temperate north-east, provides livelihood for over 200,000 people. They depend on it for food, water and a valued raw material - raffia, from the Raffia Palm (Raphia).
Raffia is part of daily life in the forest, where an abundant water supply and fertile soils provide favourable growing conditions. The versatile palm has multiple uses: raffia culms (stems) are commonly used as supporting beams in buildings and the leaves make effective roof covering. There is also a long-standing tradition of raffia use in textiles - baskets, mats, hats and rope can be woven from the flexible fronds. These goods were produced primarily for use within the villages, but are now sold locally and abroad, generating much-needed income.
Previously the situation was very different when a combination of rapid population growth and the need for productive agricultural land devastated large areas of the forest. In particular, unrestrained grazing, illegal logging and uncontrolled forest fires contributed to soil erosion, silting of the rivers and destruction of the area's biodiversity. Over-harvesting and unsustainable methods of collecting raffia also contributed to the destruction of parts of the state-owned forest, threatening the village's water supplies and depleting most of the raffia. Faced with a potential environmental catastrophe, the Tanzanian government banned the collection of raffia from the forest.
With the help of two NGOs, the ban has been revoked and forest communities are now weaving their way to a brighter future. FARM-Africa Tanzania and SOS Sahel Ethiopia established the Nou Joint Forest Management (JFM) project, a participatory forest management (PFM) scheme, bringing villagers and the government together to manage the forest sustainably.
As a result raffia production has been domesticated, with large quantities now grown in homesteads on the forest perimeter. Areas of the forest have been replanted and the crop is also grown in swampy areas to avoid clearing more land. Furthermore, villagers no longer uproot the raffia during harvesting, but leave the roots intact to allow plants to regenerate.
While the men of the villages harvest and collect the raffia, the women weave. In 2005, also as part of the Nou JFM project, raffia weavers' groups were established to help villagers improve the quality of their products and identify new market opportunities. As a result, demand has been increasing...
New Agriculturalist