Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Weekly Sneak: A Smartphone In One Hand, A Pitchfork In The Other.

Re title: that's what I am imagining a desirable revolution would look like in good old TZ. A young wo/man holding a smartphone in one hand and a pitchfork in the other:
"It is the politics of making agriculture 'young' that holds appeal. There is the technological uptake that is always a little bit easier for the young than for the older generation to engage with. There would be all the benefits of increasing labour and productivity etc. But hidden in there, there is the potential of fusing the two largest political groups in almost every African country: the agriculturalists and the youth. 
As a mega mass with access to all the benefits of the information revolution, they might actually be able to wrestle a fair share of the political capital from the rural areas. For thriving and lucrative- and savvy- farming communities roads would get paved, school budgets would actually be met, teachers and doctors might be incentivized to stop avoiding rural postings. Seed catalogues might end up with half-clad models extolling the appeal of this seed variety over that one but it seems a small price to pay for making farming 'sexy.'" 
Vive la revolution.

It is week gajillion of my self-imposed exile from talking about current political affairs in TZ and I am just about ready to chew through my own foot to escape the boredom and frustration. Thirty-forever days left to go...

A little birdie told me...

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