The Effects of Poverty on Natural Resources in Ilkerin Village Arusha District, Tanzania

ABSTRACT This section summarizes the effects of poverty on natural resources in Ilkerin village, Arusha district, Tanzania. The research analyzed the following objectives; finding out the main causes of poverty, the effects of poverty on natural resources and possible measures to alleviate poverty. The methods of raw data collection during the research included selection of sample of 150 respondents out of the total population of 1234 using a simple random sampling technique. Questionnaires, interview guide and observation were used. 270 (21.9%) out of 300 Naromoru village population live under the poverty line, Lengj ape has 265(21%) out of 270 people living under the poverty line, Kisongo has 300 (24.3%), Kiranyi has 150 (100%) and Losipa 195(15.8%) people live under the poverty line. It is tabled that out of 1234 total population in Ilkerin village, 1180 live under the poverty line making the figure of 95.6%. Concerning the causes of poverty, 120 (80%) of the respondents agreed that the area has a high population growth while 30(20%) said the population growth is not high. 140(93.3%) of the respondents do not use modern technology while 10(6.7%) of the respondents use little of the modern ploughing and sowing technology. 130 (86.7%) of the respondents agreed that the area has poor soils which do not support agriculture while 20(13.3%) said the soils were good. The 20 respondent were from areas near the rivers. Jovin A.Batukari, (2000) in the publication titled “cooperatives and poverty alleviation”, the metrological report stated that in the last five years the climate on which the country’s agriculture dependant on, has been fluctuating and this has led to the decline of output since the farmer has not been in position to predict the seasons as they used to do. 5(3.3%) agreed to having enough land for their agricultural a~d other productive activities where as 145(96.7) said the land is not enough for agriculture and other productive activities. 110 (73.3%) of the viii respondents agreed that poverty affects forests, 30 (20%) disagreed and 10 (6.7%) were not sure of either two. 120 (80%) of the respondents said that fisher men do not use proper discriminative nets due to the demand of fish in the area which is a result of famine, only 30(20%) of respondents supported fisher men to be selling mature fish. Basing on the findings, wild animals have decreased in numbers due to poaching and hunting in both gazetted areas and forests. Basing on the findings, high birth rates, poor cultivation technology and land shortage led to a high poverty rates among the population in the village resulting to natural resource extinction habits. Despite the high levels of natural resource extinction, the government should not give up on sensitization of the population about the importance of natural resources, teach them better farming methods, educate them on the population control and construct dams for irrigation to save the, soils.