Types of development: the scale of their impact on population redistribution and sources of data

This paper will use the notion of development projects in two ways. The narrow, and more common, usage refers to readily identifiable schemes with a starting date, a specified location and extent, and – commonly – a pre-determined population size (or set of sizes), at least for the early years of the scheme (Lele, 1975: 8–11). In Tanzania, examples of the range of development projects of this sort include: estate production of tea, coffee, sisal and wattle; irrigation projects to extend rice farming on formerly uncultivated lands; the designation of forest reserves and game parks, such as that controlled by the Conservation Authority in Ngorongoro and in a host of less well-known but sometimes very extensive game reserves (the Selous and Ruaha Parks for instance); the planned expansion of existing towns, as in the case of Dodoma following its choice as the new capital; the construction of hydroelectric and water control schemes in the Pangani and Rufiji river basins; the mining of diamonds and gold, each with its peculiar organization and effects on population redistribution; and the building of cement, textile and other factories in towns or in the countryside. All of these were associated with the movement of people (Thomas, 1971; Egero, 1974). However, the numbers involved were relatively small – often only a few hundreds, occasionally up to tens of thousands, seldom more.