The Contribution Of Privatized Tea Factories To Community Development In Tanzania: The Case Of Mponde Tea Factory Lushoto Tanga

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of a privatized tea factory to community development taking Mponde tea factory in Lushoto disrict as a case study. The specific objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which people surrounding Mponde tea factory benefit from the factory through employment, social services like education, health and water supply and to assess the means used by Mponde tea factory to help small scale tea farmers in their production. This study employed a cross sectional design to collect data only once. The study had a sample of 103 respondents. Primary data were collected direct from respondents using interviews and focus group discussion. Secondary data were collected through government records, online libraries, books and research papers from libraries. Data analysis and processing was done through SPSS computer program version 17 and use of qualitative data analysis technique. The findings from the study showed that, people were aware of the privatization of Mponde tea factory and that employment opportunities have increased. The findings also indicate that most of the top positions in the factory are held by foreigners and salaries were too low to sustain basic needs. Findings also show that the different types of jobs do not match with the level of education. Also provision of social services does almost not exist and the health centre does not have equipments and experts who will carry day to day activities of giving services to sick people. The factory buy tea leaves from the small scale tea growers but always farmers claim for the delay of payments. vi This study recommends that the