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Religion and Attitudes to the Livestock Extension Service

by R. J. Theisen

(An extract from a paper on "Motivation and extension in tribal communities" prepared for the Gutu District Team in January, 1978.)

Christianity as reflected by church attendance is a significant variable in the development of favourable attitudes towards extension services, and is possibly just as important as school education. This is suggested by Analyses I and 2. Analysis I, for example, shows that 63% of men and women are literate, and of these 80% have favourable attitudes; while Analysis 2 shows that 44% of men and women attend church services and of these 82% have favourable attitudes.

However, as there is also a significant positive correlation between church attendance and school education' we cannot, without further investigation, suggest that attitudes are being influenced by the church or Christianity, for it could well be that school education is the overriding factor.2 Fortunately, the influence of school education can be controlled by comparing the attitudes of regular churchgoers with the attitudes of nonregulars, for there is no difference in the school education of people who regularly attend church services and those who do not regularly attend.3 Such a comparison confirms the importance of church attendance and religious practice for it shows that 85% of regular churchgoers have favourable attitudes to the livestock extension service, while only 75% of nonregular churchgoers have favourable attitudes. (The relationship is significant at a probability level of less than ,03). This is also confirmed by other statistics which show that the regular churchgoers obtain significantly better crop yields, aud have a better diet and a lower rate of child mortality by comparison to nonregulars. These findings clearly illustrate a connection between the incidence of church attendances and the socioeconomic development of tribespeople.

So far, the discussion has centred on church attendances, but statistics also show that religious affiliation in itself is an important factor in the development of attitudes. The greatest support, and also the greatest opposition to the livestock extension service, is likely to come from 'proscriptive churches',5 and this will depend on the extent to which the ethics and doctrine of such churches agrees with the agricultural policy and programmes of the extension service. Traditionalists on the other hand generally have undefined and sometimes negative attitudes.

Analysis 3, for example, shows that in Matshetshe the attitudes of the people who belong to the proscriptive Church of Christ are significantly more favourable than the attitudes of Traditionalists. The same situation is also true of the proscriptive Dutch Reformed Church in Gutu, and to a lesser extent the Salvation Army in Bare.6 However, other analyses show that in the Salvation Army the attitudes of men towards the livestock extension service are significantly less favourable than the attitudes of women, which suggests that there may be some opposition between this church and the livestock extension service. This is further confirmed by an analysis which illustrates a significant negative correlation between the church attendance of men in Bare and their attitudes to the extension service. This analysis also suggests that opposition may be building up in other churches as well as the Salvation Army.

It is, however, important to realise that there is generally more support from the church than there is opposition, and that Christianity in general appears to have a favourable influence on the socioeconomic development of rural communities.

All this evidence suggests that extension officials should consider religious institutions when implementing development projects. This does not mean that extension assistants should become active members of the church, or perhaps take part in traditional ceremonies. They should however, in accordance with the influence of local religious institutions, consult both Christian and traditional religious leaders for advice and support in the formation of development programmes and in the application of extension projects. In fact, if these religious leaders are not considered then extension officials could so easily, and unknowingly, find themselves at loggerheads with a local church, or local spirit medium, and this could greatly reduce their efficiency.

Such consideration of religious institutions by extension officials is particularly important in communities which are dominated by proscriptive churches,' for some of these churches have their own agricultural policy which could so easily conflict with Government policy. This has happened in the past where, for example, extension officers have unsuccessfully tried to introduce Turkish tobacco in a prominently Seventh Day Adventist community, where smoking is frowned upon, and where the church has an influential agricultural policy which discourages the growing of certain crops such as tobacco; (Lower Gwelo community in the Midlands of Rhodesia).

In fact, many religious organisations have very effective 'social' extension services,8 and this in itself suggests that if Government extension projects were formulated to gain the approval and backing of these organisations, then there would be a high probability of effective application and lasting success; the two extension services would then work hand in hand, rather than in opposition or along divergent lines.

NOTES

People who belong to Christian denominations other than the Brethren in Christ have been omitted from this Analysis. The Analysis only applies to the Matshetshe community.

1. The reason for this relationship is due to the fact that people who profess Christianity and who attend church regularly have generally been educated in a missionary school. They therefore have a significantly higher level of education than do the traditionalists, nonChristians and non churchgoers, many of whom have never been to school.

2. The importance of Christianity, and in particular the ethics and doctrine of proscriptive churches, such as the Salvation Army, Dutch Reformed, Church of Christ and Seventh Day Adventists, with regard to the development of favourable attitudes and the acceptance and practise of agricultural innovations has been briefly discussed in pages 6 to 7 of my short paper entitled "The Nutrition and Physical Development of Children in Three Tribal Communities of Rhodesia" dated 26.11.77.

3. Regular churchgoers are defined as those who attend one or more services a month, while nonregular churchgoers are defined as people who attend less than one service a month, but more than three services a year.

4. This relationship is significant in Bare at a probability level of less than ,10, and in Matshetshe at less than ,01. In Gutu where there is a high rate of church attendance by the majority of people the relationship is positive but not significant.

5. An explanation of what is meant by proscriptive churches is given on page 6 of my paper on 'The Nutrition and Physical Development of Children in Three Tribal Communities of Rhodesia'. The Dutch Reformed Church in Gutu, the Salvation Army in Bare and the Church of Christ in Matshetshe are all considered to be proscriptive churches.

6. These findings agree with the actual situation concering the socioeconomic development of proscriptive church families, for statistics show that these families obtain better crop yields, have better diets and healthier children when compared with traditionalist families.

7. One of the more important doctrines of the proscriptive churches is the prohibition of beer drinking. This may be an important factor in agroeconomic development, for statistics show that the incidence of beer drinking in family heads (men and women) is related to the development of undefined and sometimes negative attitudes towards the livestock extension service. Beer drinking is also associated with low crop yield, poor diet and underdeveloped children.