| |
In
1948 the Ground Nut Scheme was set up by the Briitish government
under the auspices of the Overseas Food
Corporation to supply the UK with much needed vegetable oil
for domestic use. The idea was to clear huge swathes of bush
land into large areas of agricultural land, using as much
heavy machinery as possible to automate and speed up the
whole process.
Although the site at Kongwa was not the best as far as soil
quality and rainfall were concerned, it was chosen as the
first site in Tanganyika because of its close proximity
to the railway
line at Dodoma which was easier for the transportation of
machinery, building supplies and staff, and of course the
shipment of
the expected crop.
|
|
|
| |
From
the start the scheme ran into serious trouble because
the machinery brought in to clear the land
was not adequate
for the job in hand. The clearing of the scrub and grass
with bulldozers wasn’t too difficult but the removal
of tree roots caused the machinery to break down and there
were not
enough spares, workshops or mechanics to repair them.
|
|
|
| |
All of this caused severe delays in planting the first crop,
added to this when the much needed rain did come the ground
was baked hard by the sun making it almost impossible for the
harvesters to get the ground nuts out of the ground so the
nuts were either left in the soil or dug out by hand.
|
|
|
| |
In consequence only a fraction of the land was ever cleared
and the crop was only about half the expected yield per acre.
|
|
|
| |
In order to house the large staff needed for the project
a township was built including a school and a hospital. The
school initially was intended just for the children of the
staff of the Overseas Food Corporation but it was later opened
up for European children as both a day and boarding school
for all of Tanzania.
|
|
|
| |
The school survived for 10 years until 1958 when it was closed
and the remaining students were sent to school in Iringa. The
hospital is still going strong and much appreciated by the
local population today.
|
|
|
| |
During the 1960s Kongwa was used as a military base for South
African ANC members who had undergone training in the Soviet
Union, Algeria, Egypt and China.
|
|
|
| |
Today on the foundations of the original Kongwa school stands
the primary school of Mynakongo which has 800 pupils. Much
of the area which was once occupied by the school has small
houses and plots of land being cultivated by the local population.
|
|
|
| |
Source
|
|
|
| |
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nU8OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA278&lpg=PA278&dq=history+of+Kongwa+1960s&source=bl&ots=EWz-rOuVuM&sig=DC_Hki7hHKqWGA1OyfHrvwPhm3w&hl=en&ei=lWvOSbnHCIWe-AaTpLnWBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPA279,M1
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
