Ben Maziku
New Member
- May 23, 2024
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Introduction
It took 90,000 years for the first Homo sapiens, which first emerged in Africa, to transition from hunting and gathering to the first farmers. Then, in less than a quarter of that time—10,000 years—we transitioned from farming to the industrial age. From there, technological growth continued accelerating exponentially, taking only 200 years from the onset of industrialization to reach the Atomic Age, and most recently, just 50 years to enter the Information and Computer Age.Currently, the ongoing AI (Artificial Intelligence) revolution is predicted by scientists to lead to human-level intelligence AI (AGI) in about the next 10 years.
SOURCE: Created with DALL-E and Microsoft Paint
The role of technology for the further development of Tanzania is undeniable, and the historical evidence of human race technological evolution above supports this claim.
This proposal outlines a 10-year vision for Tanzania's exponential development by 2035, focusing on three key areas to enhance the economy with technology at its core, under the initiative "Tanzania Tuitakayo":
- Maximizing Tanzania's Agricultural Potential
- Education
- Adopting Cutting—Edge Technologies
The Key Areas of Focus
1. Advancing Agriculture Sector for large manufacturing industries (Processing and Distribution):
Though 65% of Tanzanians are involved in agriculture and about 45% of the land used for agriculture, the sector only accounts for 28% of Tanzania’s GDP. Nearly three-quarters of all Tanzanians contribute to only about a quarter of the country’s development. This highlights a disappointing and inefficient use of manpower in a nation where the economy heavily depends on agriculture.This is a key area where the government should invest heavily in advanced agricultural practices to yield raw materials. Instead of taking these raw materials directly to market, an effective approach would be to pre-process them into intermediate goods and then distribute them at higher prices, as processing adds value compared to bulk raw materials. By providing, supporting, and facilitating the use of quality fertilizers, pesticides, and production tools leveraging efficient technologies to the 65% manpower, this approach would establish reliable raw materials for the manufacturing industry. This strategy aims to eliminate the export of raw materials and instead focus on exporting processed or pre-processed goods.
By doing this, the government would set the initial conditions for development takeoff in the manufacturing industry, with raw materials heavily relying on agriculture.
The next step is to build actual manufacturing industries in carefully selected areas. One proposed approach is to establish several large, mega-project manufacturing industries in selected regions, enabling them to manage the raw materials of entire zones. These large processing industries would receive and handle raw materials directly from these zones, pre-process them before distribution or export, thereby significantly boosting their value.
The main factors for locating these heavy processing industries would include the raw material productivity of the zones and the distribution infrastructure, such as roads and railways.
The following is an example of the possible distribution of three of these processing industries (in red), simulated by a computer algorithm. This algorithm used data on regional production and transport routes to optimize the zones where they may be built:
SOURCE: https://github.com/benny-png/STORIES-OF-CHANGE-AGRICULTURE-TZ
2. Education -an Interactive and Engaging approach:
Currently, education in Tanzania mainly prepares students to be consumers. To be ready for advanced technologies and to compete in the global market, education needs to focus more on innovation and creativity.
In classes, teachers should instruct students on the origins of the concepts they teach, tracing them back to their initial innovators. The syllabus should guide scholars through the process and mindset behind the discovery of theories or equations, as well as significant historical events in the practical world. It should explain the problems the creators were trying to solve or the thought processes that led to their insights.
For example, when teaching about Sir Isaac Newton, teachers could explore his observation of an apple falling and his question of why it fell straight down. Students could learn about the problems Newton encountered, such as explaining the moon's motion, and the thought processes he used until he developed calculus.
SOURCE: Created using DALL-E
By understanding creators’ journeys and using analogies, this approach not only instills the right mindset to Tanzanians and builds connections with education but also makes school make sense for them and see its importance. This would create an intelligent society of creative minds hence pave the way for rapid development.
Kenya is realizing the importance of this and is catching up with advanced world technologies. For example, it announced the addition of coding as a subject in its primary and secondary school curricula to equip Kenyan children with essential digital skills and an active mindset from an early age.
Similarly, Tanzania should update its curriculum to facilitate further development, aligning with the demands of the 21st-century age of information.
3. Adopting Cutting—Edge Technologies: through Research and Innovation
Tanzania is one of the few African countries with its own indigenous language, Kiswahili, which is also the most widely spoken indigenous language in Africa. This is a national prestige and identity, and just like language, a mature country must be able to build, develop and implement its own technologies.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qts5I3gE6o
The first two key areas, agriculture and education, should lay the foundations required to effectively adopt advanced technologies, especially within the first five years. This is because manufacturing and production need to thrive for economic sustenance, and the mindsets of the people must be prepared for true innovation and research.
The best approach to this would involve establishing research facilities in universities and nationally, creating innovation hubs across the country, and facilitating the growth of home-based technology companies to keep pace with cutting-edge technologies.
Conclusion: Technologies have been reshaping the economies of countries that adopt them, from robotics in manufacturing industries, to information technologies, scientific research, and currently, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence. Countries like Singapore, China, USA, Nigeria, and Taiwan have all boosted their economies by taking advantage of these transformations and investing greatly in them. Tanzania should do the same in order to develop.
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