Abstract:
Income generating activities (IGA) is the combination of number of livelihood activities done by low earners who trying to make ends meal. These include Small Business, Poultry keeping, farming, Food vendors or local restaurants, the association paid job such as quarrying, mining, construction or other activities such as carpentry etc. People usually conduct income generating activities of one kind or another during the low period in the normal occupation, or unemployment time. The IGA play a significant role in meeting family food needs. This is particularly the case when a harvest is poor and employment opportunity is a problem.
In Tanzania socio–economic activities are conducted with many people with purpose of poverty reduction. It is estimated that more than 45% of the total GDP of Tanzania come from SMEs, this means SMEs contribute significantly in the economic development than any other sector.
The study assessed the three years operations of IGA project in Rufiji District in order to see if the project is viable or note. The viabilities of this project in Rufiji District (pilot area) will encourage the Government of Tanzania with cooperation of Belgium Technical Cooperation (BTC) to implement the project to all Tanzanian communities. Specific objectives were to examine the contribution of IGAs to the development of VICOBA in Rufiji District, assess the effect of environment on IGA and the way its support VICOBA and to examine the relationship between IGA and VICOBA in the district. The research was conducted in Rufiji District in which 30 IGA groups are the targeted population. The research work was done between January and April 2013 while data was analyzed between May and June 2013 in which scientific package SPSS 17 was used to analyze the data. Under this package specific tools used are such as Descriptive statistics, Perceptive values, Central tendency, Dispersion and Distribution. Findings realize that IGA have contributing much in the development of VICOBA as well as improvement of the livelihood of the community of Rufiji. This means that sustainability of IGA in Rufiji District will encourage the Government of Tanzania to implement the project all over the country.
