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					Due to practicing subsistence farming farmers in the Coast Region have had no opportunity to improve their economic wellbeing. Deterring factors for poor agricultural production in the Region can be categorized as follows: Weather: Unpredictable weather e.g. seasons of prolonged draughts, seasons of too much rain resulting into floods. Physical features: The Region is predominantly flat and sandy with a few hills and valleys. Many big and small rivers pass through to enter into the Indian Ocean. This makes the Region prone to flooding during long rain seasons. The Region has suffered from deforestation for a long time to the extent that vast areas of land have been left without trees. As a result potential farm areas have been affected by soil erosion and turned into valleys. Communication infrastructure: Very poor roads passable only during dry seasons, and there are no reliable/permanent bridges over many rivers hence confining people to one area during heavy rains. Poor farming practices: Setting fire to clear land for farm work has had a very negative effect on the land. All plants including grass and other small animals and bacteria are burned leaving the soil bare and without nutrients. The set fires intended to cover a small area in most cases run out of control resulting in enormous destruction of forest and farm crops thus causing loss and damage to the farming activity itself. Farming technology: Backward farming technology is still predominant in the Region. The hand hoe is the main tool for farming for the majority of farmers. This limits the farmer to a very small acreage hence low production. Mono-crop farming method is still the major practice. Food crops usually follow the traditional pattern, e.g., where rice is the traditional food then farmers will grow paddy only and where cassava is the traditional food farmers will grow cassava only. Mixed farming has not been practiced very much. As a result when/where a crop fails due to any reason the farmers and the entire community suffer because there is no substitute food crop. Lack of know how for enriching the soil fertility by simple methods of the use of compost manure results in poor production and poor quality of food. Traditions: Some of the cultural/traditional customs of the people in the Region contribute to poor agricultural performance. For the coastal people women are supposed to engage in farm activities in order to feed the family. Men are not directly involved in farm work although they hold the power and authority over the harvest. This reduces the manpower needed to produce food for the family. Likewise girls in the family are expected to work in the fields with their mothers but since they are married very early the mother remains the sole main food producer in the family for a long time. The boys on the other hand are not ascribed any specific role to carry in the family. They too marry quite early to start their new families. However, many of the young people leave their villages and go to urban centers in search of employment opportunities. Unfortunately, given that most of them have only primary education and with no work experience they find out that jobs are hard to get. Given not much choice these job seekers end up doing manual jobs by selling their labor on a daily basis in especially the building and road construction industry. The unlucky ones find themselves engaging in illegal undertakings e.g. drug pushing, pickpocket etc. Inadequate extension services from the Government: There is an existing government structure that could ensure that the farmers benefit from the resources supposed to be given by the Government in terms of extension services and consultation. All six Districts of the Coast Region have Agriculture Offices and in all Divisions and Wards there are government employed agriculture and livestock extension officers. Ideally this team of experts is expected to help the farmers improve farm production and offer them expert/technical advice on how to deal with most of the above mentioned problems. Unfortunately, this is not the case due to limited resources allocated to the District offices for the provision of these services. At the end of the day it is the farmers who become the victims of this inadequacy. Is There An Alternative? Our Agriculture Program has started working towards that alternative in 20 villages in the Coast Region.	OFM MIDP
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