Ecosystem health and sustainable agricultural development in Ihemi cluster

Agricultural landscape provide a range of ecosystem services apart from producing crops. However, the inter-linkage of the ecosystem services and agricultural activities is poorly understood. For over 50 years, agriculture has been conducted without considering the natural ecological processes that safeguard agricultural production in the long run. To ensure that agricultural systems are sustainable, we have to make sure that the crucial ecosystem functions in the natural landscape are protected. Agricultural intensification, dramatic land use changes, application of agrochemicals and intensification of resource utilization are among the factors contributing towards biodiversity loss. The process of agricultural intensification is associated with an increase in labour inputs, increase use of natural and artificial fertilizer, use of improved seeds, change in technologies, change in agricultural mechanization & frequency of cultivation, changes to the landscape such as irrigation or soil conservation measures. The agricultural inputs, for instance, have altered the key-hydrological processes of rivers, lakes, floodplains and groundwater-fed wetlands, damaging their ecosystems and services that they provide. Agricultural intensification affects large parts of terrestrial area, therefore, assessment of its contribution to biodiversity loss is critical for successful conservation in the future. Irrigation, clearance of natural vegetation, and the construction of water storage facilities have all altered the timing and natural variability of water flows, damaging ground water recharge and wetland areas. It is claimed that agriculture in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) is developed in harmony with the natura

Round potato production in Southern Highlands of Tanzania: are smallholder farmers becoming commercial?

The subsistence production is chosen by farmers because it is subjectively the best option. However, subsistence farming on small and fragmented plots risks not reaching even farmers’ own food requirements, let alone producing a surplus. Therefore, it would have been expected that farmers would be commercialising production of profitable food crops. One of the more profitable food crops than many others as studies show is round potato (Solanum tuberosum). Nonetheless, the extent to which farmers have commercialised round potato production was not known. This study was then undertaken to fill this knowledge gap by analysing the proportion of land allotted to round potato production and the extent to which the crop was oriented towards the market by using the commercialisation index. A sample of 510 farmers was visited from three districts of the southern highlands of Tanzania. Results showed that round potato production was highly commercialised. This was evidence by the proportion of land that was allotted for round potato cultivation and the commercialisation index. About 20 to 67% of the total land under cultivation was allotted to round potato production and about 88% of the produce was sold. However, both the cultivated land and output per capita were small

Round potato production in Southern Highlands of Tanzania: are smallholder farmers becoming commercial?

The subsistence production is chosen by farmers because it is subjectively the best option. However, subsistence farming on small and fragmented plots risks not reaching even farmers’ own food requirements, let alone producing a surplus. Therefore, it would have been expected that farmers would be commercialising production of profitable food crops. One of the more profitable food crops than many others as studies show is round potato (Solanum tuberosum). Nonetheless, the extent to which farmers have commercialised round potato production was not known. This study was then undertaken to fill this knowledge gap by analysing the proportion of land allotted to round potato production and the extent to which the crop was oriented towards the market by using the commercialisation index. A sample of 510 farmers was visited from three districts of the southern highlands of Tanzania. Results showed that round potato production was highly commercialised. This was evidence by the proportion of land that was allotted for round potato cultivation and the commercialisation index. About 20 to 67% of the total land under cultivation was allotted to round potato production and about 88% of the produce was sold. However, both the cultivated land and output per capita were small

L'eau pour l'irrigation ou l'hydroélectricité ? Questions complexes d'allocation de l'eau en Tanzanie

International audienceThe need for achieving efficient, equitable and sustainable use of water resources to meet water demands of different sectors is pressing, particularly in areas where water resources are dwindling. Along with this is the quest for having a good understanding of the value of water in its different uses. Using a simplified model derived from the residual imputation approach (the Change in Net Income Model)we assess the value of water in irrigated paddy and hydropower generation in the Great Ruaha River Catchment (GRRC) in Tanzania. The estimated productivity of water (PW) in irrigated paddy ranges from 0.059 to 0.250 kg/m3 (for withdrawn water) and 0.126 to 0.265 kg/m3 (for consumed water). The PW in hydropower generation is estimated to range from 0.45 to 1.68 kWh/m3. In monetary terms the value of water in irrigated paddy is estimated at 15.3 Tanzanian shilling (Tsh)/m3 (for water withdrawn) and 0.19 Tsh/m3 (for water consumed). The values of water for hydropower generation are relatively higher than for irrigated paddy, ranging from 59 to 226 Tsh/m3. Yet, irrigated paddy also supports livelihoods of about 30,000 agrarian families in the GRRC, with gross revenue of about Tsh 15.9 million per annum and GRCC paddy contributes about 14 24% of national rice production. We conclude that understanding the value of water in its alternative uses is key to fostering informed debate on water management and allocation, identifying the basis for making agreeable' trade-offs, the potential for improvement and creating linkages with water allocation options particularly in agricultural-based economies, where agriculture competes with other sectors and where water re-allocation decisions may involve large transfers of water from the sector generating the highest pro-poor returns (agriculture for this case) to the sectors generating the highest economic returns (hydropower generation and industrial uses)

Challenges and opportunities for sustaining the Usangu wetland in Tanzania

Despite the many benefits that wetlands provide, the same resources constitute one of the most threatened, degraded and lost habitats in the world. Sustaining them and restoring the lost ones require a thorough understanding of the roots of the problem and the means to overcome it. Based on this ground, a study was conducted in Usangu Plains in the southwestern part of Tanzania using various Participatory Rural Approaches (PRAs) and a semi structured questionnaire so as to explore the challenges and opportunities for achieving sustainable management of the Usangu wetland. The following major challenges were identified: a) the challenge of ensuring a year round environmental water flow to the Usangu wetlands, b) the challenge of resolving the “paradigm dichotomy” between the natural resource conservationists and local communities (i.e. the conservation dilemma of whether to adapt a complete preservation approach or a flexible conservation approach to wetland resources, by allowing multiple uses of wetland resources), c) the challenge of winning the support of the local communities or actively involving them in ensuring sustainable management of wetlands, and d) the challenge of ensuring a thorough understanding of the trade-offs between utilization and sustainability of wetland resources, given the current rate of degradation and losses. Community-based conservation was perceived as the most preferable wetland conservation approach, which seeks to co-opt the managerial capacities of the wetland resources to the local people themselves, who have been very often by-passed in the conventional approaches