The Village of Mhonda

Village Center, Mhonda


The village of Mhonda is located in the Mvoromero district of the Morogoro region. In order to arrive to the village center, you drive along quasi-paved freeway from Morogoro for about an hour, turn off along a dirt road for 45 minutes, and then continue along a narrow, dirt walkway that you drive over with extreme bumpiness for another 45 minutes. In short, Mhonda is in the middle of no where.

However, these farmers plant and harvest pineapples, oranges, passion fruits, and tomatoes. Unfortunately, most do not think of their farming as a commercial opportunity – as a result, despite selling much of it over to middle men for severely depressed prices, they often never see returns. Middle men have been successful here in only paying farmers for what of their produce sells from them – not the total amount that is actually picked up by the middle man. As a result, the average annual income is around $230 (yes, per year) and there are few alternatives for people to elevate their standard of living.


Don't let their deadpan serious faces fool you, the farmers of Mhonda spent much of our meeting poking a little fun at this muzungu

We traveled to Mhonda to collect field data and demographics on farmers producing pineapples, oranges, passion fruit, and mangoes in the area. After being introduced by the local field officer in Swahili, one farmer asked me in English: “Are you from Obama?” I replied, yes, which seemed to offer confidence in my ability to increase his income by talking to me. This first farmer meeting was helpful in understanding how to phrase or adapt questions that are most relevant to collecting the data I need, and how to listen for additional information offered by farmers about how to identify their challenges when they don’t realize they are complaining. Mhonda is unique in its wide array of fruit harvesting but it is not terribly unique in its harsh living conditions for anyone living outside larger towns.