Sisal Industry in Tanzania Since Colonial Era: Uncovered Modern Slavery to Liberation

By M.G. Tenga

In this book, I do not intend to write in detail about the sisal plant and its husbandry as such account in thoroughly discussed in the book titled Sisal by G. Lock and others. This book will only carry full history as regards to when and how sisal came to Tanzania and its post independence development. It will also discuss how the industry was managed by both German and British Colonial regimes with emphasis on how sisal cutters were recruited within the country and deplorable conditions of their employment-which might lead one to suspect that the recruitment exercise was somehow another form of modern slavery in modern times when British, Greeks, and Asian nationals were managing sisal estates during the British colonial rule.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 15, 2008
• ISBN: 9781462823512

M.G. Tenga

About the Author At the end of my school life, I joined the local government service as treasurer and secretary to the Pare District Council, 1951–1956; and immediately thereafter, I joined the sisal industry, first with Amboni Ltd. in March 1957 and then with Lugongo Estate from October 1960 and remained in the industry for some forty-six years up to July 2001 when I retired as managing director of Lugongo Estate Limited.

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Copyright © 2008 by M.G. Tenga.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 02/04/2022

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER I:INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II:CUSTODIAN OF ENEMY PROPERTY

CHAPTER III:MASSIVE RCRUITMENT OF LABOUR

FROM UP-COUNTRY

CHAPTER IV:CIVIL COMMOTION ON A SISAL ESTATE

CHAPTER V: WORKING CONDITIONS ON A SISAL FIELDS

CHAPTER VI:LABOUR HOUSES OR LABOUR CAMPS

CHAPTER VII:LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE CAMPS

CHAPTER VIII:DESTINY OF THE RECRUITED

SISAL CUTTERS

CHAPTER IX:SISAL RESEARCH

CHAPTER X:TRADE UNION IN THE SISAL INDUSTRY

CHAPTER XI:NATIONALIZATION OF SISAL ESTATES

CHAPTER XII:FACTORS THAT CAUSED SHARP

DECLINE IN FIBRE PRODUCTION

CHAPTER XIII:DISSOLUTION OF TANGANYIKA SISAL

GROWERS ASSOCIATION (TSGA)

CHAPTER XIV:AFTERMATH OF PRIVATIZATION OF

ONCE-NATIONALIZED SISAL ESTATES

CHAPTER XV:FIBRE PRODUCTION SINCE 1898

CHAPTER XVI:THE TANZANIA SISAL BOARD

CHAPTER XVII:SISAL MARKETING CENTRE IN EUROPE

CHAPTER XVIII:FORMATION OF THE TANZANIA SISAL

GROWERS, SPINNERS, AND MARKETING

ASSOCIATION

CHAPTER XIX:WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME IN

SISAL INDUSTRY

CHAPTER XX:MKONGE DAY OR SISAL DAY

CHAPTER XXI:PRODUCTION AND EXPORT

OF BALER TWINES

CHAPTER XXII:LARGE ORGANIZED PLANTATIONS

CHAPTER XXIII:FUTURE SCOPE AND VIABILITY OF

THE SISAL INDUSTRY

CHAPTER XXIV:LONG-TERM STRATEGIC INVESTMENT PLAN FOR PROSPECTIVE SISAL SMALLHOLDERS

CHAPTER XXV:RECREATION

APPRECIATION

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PREFACE

In this book, I do not intend to write in detail about the sisal plant and its husbandry as such account is thoroughly discussed in the book titled Sisal by G. Lock and others. This book will only carry full history as regards to when and how sisal came to Tanzania and its postindependence development. It will also discuss how the industry was managed by both German and British Colonial regimes with emphasis on how sisal cutters were recruited within the country and deplorable conditions of their employment—which might lead one to suspect that the recruitment exercise was somehow another form of modern slavery in modern times when British, Greeks, and Asian nationals were managing sisal estates during the British colonial rule.

As the author of this book, however, I feel duty bound to introduce myself to my esteemed readers who would like to know my background and my deep involvement in sisal industry almost for half a century.

At the end of my school life, I joined the local government service as treasurer and secretary to the Pare District Council, 1951-1956; and immediately thereafter, I joined the sisal industry, first with Amboni Ltd. in March 1957 and then with Lugongo Estate from October 1960 and remained in the industry for some forty-six years up to July 2001 when I retired as managing director of Lugongo Estate Limited.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply indebted to Mr. Salum Shamte, managing director for Katani Ltd., and Tanzania Sisal Board for the useful information and statistics obtained from them; without which, this book would not have been accomplished.

At domestic level, I am deeply indebted to our son, Dr. R. W. Tenga, ISD (New York), of the law associates for his legal counsel, for the vital information he passed on to me for which I thank him abundantly. I would like to thank our son, Charles Tenga, who aroused my interest and encouraged me to write this book. My profound thanks also go to our daughters, Margaret Tenga and Rosemary Tenga, for their patience in the preparation and typing of the manuscript.

Similarly, I should never forget my late wife, Penuel, and our three sons—Freddy Tenga, Robert Tenga, and David Tenga—for their unfailing support and encouragement.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Sisal was introduced in Tanzania by a German agronomist Dr. Richard Hindorf, who despite restriction in the export of sisal plant materials from Mexico, he managed to buy some one thousand sisal seedlings from Yucatan in Mexico and sent them to Hamburg in Germany in 1893. In Hamburg, he was disappointed to observe that only two hundred seedlings had survived. He then shipped the same number of seedlings to Tanga Port in Tanzania, where only sixty-two survived on arrival. These sixty-two seedlings were planted by Dr. Hindorf himself at Kihongwe on the southern side of Pangani River (Mwera). Sisal was next planted at Bushiri. Therefore, these plants founded the sisal industry in Tanzania and the