Assessment of Surface Water Resources in Great Ruaha River Sub-Basin Tanzania: Application of WEAP Model for Water Allocation and Utilization Impacts Analysis

The Great Ruaha River (GRR) sub-basin is one of the most important waterways in Tanzania as it supports important economic activities. The sub-basin is progressively faced with an inevitable situation of increasing water demand among competing users while the quantity and quality of water is diminishing. The focus of this study was to assess allocation of existing (2012) and future (up to 2025) quantities of surface water in the GRR sub-basin with consideration of priorities given in the Tanzania Water Resources Management Act, 2009 in the order: domestic, environment, agriculture, livestock and non-domestic. Simulation of water allocation scenarios of irrigation expansion (IE) and implementation of environmental flow requirements (EWD) and their impacts on met demands was done by using WEAP model. Results showed that under current and future conditions, available streamflows are sufficient for the first two water use priorities. Implementation of EWD and IE scenarios will change demands in comparison with reference scenario by 80%, -38% and 45% and shortages by 147%, 123% and 13% in Little Ruaha, Ndembera and Kisigo catchments respectively. To eliminate water shortages, construction of reservoirs, use of alternative supply sources (especially in agriculture) and water demand management measures are recommended

Land Use/Cover Change and their Impacts on Streamflow in Kikuletwa Catchment of Pangani River Basin, Tanzania

Streamflow perturbation is highly prevalent in Kikuletwa catchment. However, little is known concerning land use/cover change (LULCC) with regard to streamflow perturbation in the catchment. This study aims to detect the historical and predict future LULCC and assess their impacts on streamflow amounts using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. Supervised classification of Landsat imagery data for 1985, 2000 and 2015 years was done in ERDAS 14 Imagine software. Future prediction of LULCC was done using Module for Land Use Change Evaluation (MOLUSCE) tool, a QGIS plug-in. An accuracy ranging from 79% to 82% was obtained for all steps. The results revealed that, from 1985 to 2000; 1985 to 2015; 1985 to 2030 and 1985 to 2050 the percentage of area change in cultivated land is +21.1%; +29.2%; +38.2% and +42.7%, respectively; forest is - 2.3%, -3.1%, -3.8% and -5.8%, respectively; and shrubland is -6.3%, -10%, -15.7% and - 16%, respectively. The performance of SWAT model during calibration were 0.74, 0.75, 0.51 and -0.5% for NSE, R2, RSR and PBIAS, respectively. The impacts of LULCC indicated that, between 1985 to 2000; 1985 to 2015; 1985 to 2030 and 1985 to 2050, the percentage increase in average simulated annual flow is 4.7%, 6.8%, 12.6% and 19.3%, respectively. Surface runoff increased from 25.2 mm (baseline) to 34.5 mm (36.9%); 36.2 mm (42.4%); 41.4 mm (64.3%) and 47.6 mm (88.9%), respectively. Base flow decreased marginally from 82.2 mm (baseline) to 79 mm (-3.8%); 77.8 mm (5.4%); 75.4 mm (-8.3%) and 73.9 mm (- 10.1%), respectively. Thus, apart from climate effects, streamflow perturbation in the catchment is also related to disturbances of catchment influences such as LULCC as revealed in this study. The study is useful for land planners and water resources managers and policy makers in managing resources sustainably.&nbsp

Spatial and Temporal Variation of Rainfall and Streamflow in the Kikuletwa Catchment of Upper Pangani Basin, Tanzania

Streamflow and rainfall records from 1980 to 2015 as a (common period for the analyzed stations) were used to analyze the variations of rainfall and streamflow in the Kikuletwa catchment. Also, the analysis of the longest time series available at each station up to 2015 (referred to as the whole series in this study) was conducted to relate past rainfall and streamflow changes, at the tributaries of Kikuletwa River located above the Rundugai natural springs as recommended from previous studies. Various methods such as simple statistics of the mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variance, and graphs were used to analyze intra-annual variations. Multi-year variability was analyzed by trends and change point tests using MannKendall and Pettitt tests respectively. The results of the study revealed the spatial variation of rainfall which was related to elevation differences. The streamflow amounts were found to vary from upstream to downstream. The whole time series analysis of annual rainfall and streamflow amounts revealed a decrease in rainfall and streamflow amounts for almost all stations though a significant decrease was only observed at two stations located on the upstream (for rainfall) and two stations located above the Rundugai natural springs (for streamflow). During 1980 – 2015, trends analysis indicated significant decreasing trends only in annual rainfall amounts at the two stations located on the upstream of the catchment with Z values of -3.20 and -2.68. In contrast, average annual flow trends analysis indicated significant decreasing trends at four stations out of five with Z values of -2.52, -2.28, -1.99 and -3.4 and, at one station insignificant decreasing trend was observed. The findings revealed the existence of other catchment influences to the streamflow changes other than rainfall during 1980-2015. The study provides very useful information that decides the necessity for separating the climate and human influences to the streamflow changes to find the most influencing factor

A systematic review of rodent pest research in Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming systems: Are we asking the right questions?

Rodent pests are especially problematic in terms of agriculture and public health since they can inflict considerable economic damage associated with their abundance, diversity, generalist feeding habits and high reproductive rates. To quantify rodent pest impacts and identify trends in rodent pest research impacting on small-holder agriculture in the Afro-Malagasy region we did a systematic review of research outputs from 1910 to 2015, by developing an a priori defined set of criteria to allow for replication of the review process. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We reviewed 162 publications, and while rodent pest research was spatially distributed across Africa (32 countries, including Madagascar), there was a disparity in number of studies per country with research biased towards four countries (Tanzania [25%], Nigeria [9%], Ethiopia [9%], Kenya [8%]) accounting for 51% of all rodent pest research in the Afro-Malagasy region. There was a disparity in the research themes addressed by Tanzanian publications compared to publications from the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region where research in Tanzania had a much more applied focus (50%) compared to a more basic research approach (92%) in the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region. We found that pest rodents have a significant negative effect on the Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming communities. Crop losses varied between cropping stages, storage and crops and the highest losses occurred during early cropping stages (46% median loss during seedling stage) and the mature stage (15% median loss). There was a scarcity of studies investigating the effectiveness of various management actions on rodent pest damage and population abundance. Our analysis highlights that there are inadequate empirical studies focused on developing sustainable control methods for rodent pests and rodent pests in the Africa-Malagasy context is generally ignored as a research topic

Effect of synthetic hormones on reproduction in Mastomys natalensis

Rodent pest management traditionally relies on some form of lethal control. Developing effective fertility control for pest rodent species could be a major breakthrough particularly in the context of managing rodent population outbreaks. This laboratory-based study is the first to report on the effects of using fertility compounds on an outbreaking rodent pest species found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Mastomys natalensis were fed bait containing the synthetic steroid hormones quinestrol and levonorgestrel, both singly and in combination, at three concentrations (10, 50, 100 ppm) for seven days. Consumption of the bait and animal body mass was mostly the same between treatments when analysed by sex, day and treatment. However, a repeated measures ANOVA indicated that quinestrol and quinestrol+levonorgestrel treatments reduced consumption by up to 45%, particularly at the higher concentrations of 50 and 100 ppm. Although there was no clear concentration effect on animal body mass, quinestrol and quinestrol+levonorgestrel lowered body mass by up to 20% compared to the untreated and levonorgestrel treatments. Quinestrol and quinestrol+levonorgestrel reduced the weight of male rat testes, epididymis and seminal vesicles by 60-80%, and sperm concentration and motility were reduced by more than 95%. No weight changes were observed to uterine and ovarian tissue; however, high uterine oedema was observed among all female rats consuming treated bait at 8 days and 40 days from trial start. Trials with mate pairing showed there were significant differences in the pregnancy rate with all treatments when compared to the untreated control group of rodents

Climate change and crop yields in Zambia

This dataset contains temperature and rainfall data obtained from the Zambia Meteorological Department and maize yield data obtained from the Central Statistical Office aggregated at the district level for 30 years. The beans yield data is available upon request. Further, we merge this data with rainfall and temperature predictions from the HadGEM-ES2 global circulation model

Climate change and crop yields in Zambia

This dataset contains temperature and rainfall data obtained from the Zambia Meteorological Department and maize yield data obtained from the Central Statistical Office aggregated at the district level for 30 years. The beans yield data is available upon request. Further, we merge this data with rainfall and temperature predictions from the HadGEM-ES2 global circulation model.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Platforms for institutional change: assessing the potential of livelihood enhancement groups as community entry points in Zambia

Published online: 10 Aug 2017To address the livelihood problems faced by the poor and vulnerable in Northern Province of Zambia, a novel collective action approach called livelihoods enhancement groups (LEGs) was used as a platform for facilitating research on development initiatives to generate change. Using focus group discussions and key informant interviews, this article assesses the potential of using the LEGs approach in generating change. The livelihood changes observed arose with the LEG as a platform through which different knowledge nodes interacted. Livelihood areas that LEGs affected included crop production, livestock production, nutrition, and access to credit. Afin de discuter des problèmes de subsistance auxquels sont confrontées les personnes pauvres et vulnérables dans la Province Septentrionale de la Zambie, une nouvelle approche d'action collective appelée Livelihoods Enhancement Groups, ou LEGs, (Groupes d'amélioration des moyens de subsistance) a été utilisée en tant que plateforme de recherche sur des initiatives de développement visant à générer du changement. Basé sur des groupes de discussion thématique et des entretiens avec des informateurs clés, cet article évalue le potentiel de cette approche pour générer du changement. Les changements observés dans les moyens de substitution ont augmenté avec l'approche LEG en tant que plateforme d'interactions entre différents noyaux de connaissance. Les domaines de subsistance impactés incluent la production agricole, l'élevage du bétail, la nutrition et l'accès au crédit. Para abordar los problemas vinculados a los medios de vida enfrentados por la población empobrecida y vulnerable de la Provincia del Norte de Zambia, se impulsó un novedoso enfoque de acción colectiva llamado “grupos destinados al mejoramiento de los medios de vida” (leg por sus siglas en inglés); se trata de una plataforma encaminada a facilitar la investigación de aquellas iniciativas de desarrollo orientadas a generar cambios. A partir de discusiones realizadas en varios grupos de enfoque y de entrevistas con informantes clave, el presente artículo evalúa la posibilidad de usar el enfoque de leg para promover la generación de cambios. En este sentido, se constata que los cambios que tuvieron lugar en los medios de vida surgieron tras el uso de los leg como plataforma en la que interactuaron diversos nodos de información. Éstos incidieron en varias áreas vinculadas a los medios de vida, por ejemplo, la producción de cultivos, la cría de ganado, la nutrición y el acceso a créditos

Evaluation of sweet wormwood (artemisia annua l.) as stored grain protectant against maize storage weevil (sitophilus zeamays, motschulsky) and larger grain borer (prostephanus truncatus, horn) on stored maize grains

African Journal of Science and Research,2016; (5)3:07-10The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effects of Artemisia annua powder on the mortality of S. zeamays and P. truncatus in the treated maize grain. The experiments were set up as a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The experiments were conducted in SUA Pest Management Centre(SPMC) for 8 weeks. The treatments consisted of different levels of natural protectant A. annua powder (viz: 0.5 g, 1.0 g and 10 g) and untreated control. Actellic Super Dust was included as a standard insecticide control. The data collected included the number of dead and live insects, number of damaged maize grains and percentage damage. Grains treated with Actellic dust, and A. annua powder at all tested levels had significantly controlled S. zeamays insect. Maize seeds treated with Actellic Super Dust surpassed other treatments in controlling P. truncatus due to lower number of live insects and damaged seeds. Artemisia annua at 1.0 g and 10 g had an effect on number of damaged seeds and dead insects as compared to the control. Generally, A. annua powder is effective in controlling these tested storage pest species of maize grains

Evaluation of sweet wormwood (artemisia annua l.) as stored grain protectant against maize storage weevil (sitophilus zeamays, motschulsky) and larger grain borer (prostephanus truncatus, horn) on stored maize grains

African Journal of Science and Research,2016; (5)3:07-10The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effects of Artemisia annua powder on the mortality of S. zeamays and P. truncatus in the treated maize grain. The experiments were set up as a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The experiments were conducted in SUA Pest Management Centre(SPMC) for 8 weeks. The treatments consisted of different levels of natural protectant A. annua powder (viz: 0.5 g, 1.0 g and 10 g) and untreated control. Actellic Super Dust was included as a standard insecticide control. The data collected included the number of dead and live insects, number of damaged maize grains and percentage damage. Grains treated with Actellic dust, and A. annua powder at all tested levels had significantly controlled S. zeamays insect. Maize seeds treated with Actellic Super Dust surpassed other treatments in controlling P. truncatus due to lower number of live insects and damaged seeds. Artemisia annua at 1.0 g and 10 g had an effect on number of damaged seeds and dead insects as compared to the control. Generally, A. annua powder is effective in controlling these tested storage pest species of maize grains