2 - Technological development and the restructuring of the relations of production

Summary

The agricultural economy which the Toka practise in the tsetse-infested area of Guta is still strongly oriented to subsistence production by each household. Agriculture depends on typical slash-and-burn techniques. Clearing a portion of woodland for the fields with an axe is done by men, although women and children might assist, particularly with the piling of the cut vegetation on the site and its subsequent burning. The digging of the field with a hoe and its sowing immediately after the onset of the rains is the work of women. Subsequent weeding is mainly carried out by women and children, though men often help. Harvesting is exclusively women's work.

A household consisting of an elementary or polygynous family is a viable unit of production. Under normal circumstances it disposes of enough labour to carry out all the agricultural work, and does not cooperate regularly with other households in the village. It seeks their help only if the successful performance of the work in the fields is threatened due to a temporary lack of labour, typically caused by illness, the woman's pregnancy or the man's temporary absence from the village as a labour migrant. The help of other households, which might then be needed in clearing the new field or possibly in weeding, can easily be mobilised through an offer of beer.

In other Toka areas which are free of tsetse fly, the use of the plough has radically altered the traditional relations of production.