Optimizing System of Rice Intensification Parameters Using Aquacrop Model for Increasing Water Productivity and Water Use Efficiency on Rice Production in Tanzania

Producing more rice while using less water is among the calls in water scarce regions so as to feed the growing population and cope with the changing climate. Among the suitable techniques towards this achievement is the use of system of rice intensification (SRI), which has been reported as an approach that uses less water and has high water productivity and water use efficiency. Despite its promising results, the use of SRI practice in Tanzania is limited due to less knowledge with regard to transplanting age, plant spacing, minimum soil moisture to be allowed for irrigation, and alternate wetting and drying interval for various geographical locations. The AquaCrop crop water productivity model, which is capable of simulating crop water requirements and yield for a given parameter set, was used to identify suitable SRI parameters for Mkindo area in Morogoro Region, Tanzania. Using no stress condition on soil fertility, plant spacings ranging from 5 cm to 50 cm were evaluated. Results suggest that the yield and biomass produced per ha increase with decreasing spacing from 50 cm to 20 cm. Preliminary field results suggest that the optimum spacing is round 25 cm. However, the model structure does not take into consideration number of tillers produced. As such, the study calls for incorporation of the tillering processes into AquaCrop model

A gendered analysis of perception and vulnerability to climate change among smallholder farmers: the case of Same district, Tanzania

Climate and Development 2016, Vol. 8(1): 95–104,Climate change affects women and men differently. However, there are few location-specific studies that can support interventions or policy development that can tackle this issue. To help build that body of knowledge, this article looks at gender-differentiated vulnerability among smallholder farmers in one sub-Saharan African country: Tanzania. Data were collected through household questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions in Same District, northern Tanzania. Results revealed notable inequalities distributed across genders. Women bear the biggest burden from climate change impacts. For example, women shoulder 63% of productive tasks, such as ploughing and crop sowing, compared to 28% by men. On the other hand, resource ownership and expenditure are male dominated. The results highlight the need for governments and NGOs to address gender disparities in policies designed to strengthen the capacity of households to cope with vulnerability to climate change impacts

INFLUENCE OF CABLE LENGTHS AND PROBE LENGTHS ON THE ACCURACY OF PERMITTIVITY MEASUREMENTS BY TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY Written for presentation at the CSAE/SCGR 2005 Meeting

Abstract Influences of varying extension cable lengths and probe lengths on the response of time domain reflectometry waveguide for water content measurements were investigated using laboratory experiments. Measurements were made using ten coaxial cables (RG58-50Ω) with extension lengths 2. 5, 5.0, 9.5, 12.9, 17.4, 19.9, 30.0, 40.0, 42.5, and 50.4 m. The cable lengths experiment was conducted using TDR probes with 1.6 mm diameter and 35 mm long stainless steel rods (3-wire configuration), connected to the cables using Bayonet Nelson connectors at a constant temperature of 17 o C. For the case of probe lengths, eight probes were used with lengths ranging from 34 to 120 mm. A 2.5 m coaxial cable was used for measuring the dielectric constant of water using these probes. The resulting waveforms were plotted and compared. Physical probe lengths for various probes were also compared against their corresponding electrical lengths at the same temperature. Results indicated that using extension cables, sensitivity of measurements decreased with the increase in cable length. The reflection depth of the waveforms also decreased with increase in cable length. Considering probe lengths, the difference between physical and electrical length decreased with increase in probe length. Shorter probes were less accurate compared to longer probes. Regression equations were derived that relate physical and electrical cable lengths. The derived equations could be used to determine the electrical lengths for a given physical length for moisture contents and electrical conductivity measurements with TDR. If extension cables are to be used, optimum length should be selected that will generate waveforms that can be interpreted easily. The probes should also be calibrated along with the selected extension cables

Adoption and scaling-up of conservation agriculture in Tanzania: Case of Arusha and Dodoma regions

Natural Resources,2014, Vol 5: 161-176A study was conducted to assess the adoption and scaling-up of Conservation Agriculture in Arumeru district, Arusha region, northern Tanzania and Chamwino and Dodoma Urban districts in Dodoma region, Central Tanzania. The study employed structured questionnaire survey and key informant interviews as the main data collection methods. Data analysis was done descriptively to determine factors that influence the adoption. Results showed that farmers in Arusha have highly adopted terraces, minimum tillage and cover cropping whereas their counterparts in Dodoma have highly adopted large planting pits, minimum tillage, and rippers. The intensity of adoption in Arusha is higher for the wealthy compared to the poor while in Dodoma the wealth status was not a factor that influenced adoption of the Conservation Agriculture (CA) technologies. The process of technology adoption should include the use of various participatory methods including farmer field schools, experimental plots, farmer exchange visits, and training of trainers among others. Use of farmer groups, incentives, and support instruments such as Savings and Credit Co-operative Society (SACCOS) or warehouse receipts systems are also important to ensure that farmers realize some acceptable profits from their efforts. Involvement of various stakeholders is also very important including local governments and agricultural change agents at national, regional, district, ward and village levels. Hence, the intention to promote CA technologies should not only look at the economic importance, but also its socio-economic importance to the local people in the area. Their desire to adopt and out-scale a technology should be among the most important investment factors that the government and development partners should consider

Application of self-organizing-maps technique in downscaling GCMs climate change projections for Same, Tanzania

High resolution surface climate variables are required for end-users in climate change impact studies; however, information provided by Global Climate Models (GCMs) has a coarser resolution. Downscaling techniques such as that developed at the University of Cape Town, which is based on Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs) technique, can be used to downscale the coarse-scale GCM climate change projections into finer spatial resolutions; but that must be combined with verification. The SOM downscaling technique was employed to project rainfall and temperature changes for 2046-2065 and 2080-2100 periods for Same, Tanzania. This model was initially verified using downscaled NCEP reanalysis and observed climate data set between 1979 and 2004, and between NCEP reanalysis and GCM controls (1979 - 2000). After verification, the model was then used to downscale climate change projections of four GCMs for 2046-2065 (future-A) and 2080-2100 (future-B) periods. These projections were then used to compute changes in the climate variables by comparing future-A and B to the control period (1961-2000). Verification results indicated that the NCEP downscaled climate data compared well with the observed data. Also, comparison between NCEP downscaled and GCM downscaled showed that all the four GCM models (CGCM, CNRM, IPSL, and ECHAM) compared well with the NCEP downscaled temperature and rainfall data. Future projections (2046-2065) indicated 56 mm and 42 mm increase in seasonal total rainfall amounts for March-April-May (MAM) and October-November-December (OND) (23% and 26% increase), respectively; and a temperature increase of about 2°C for both seasons. Furthermore, it was found that during MAM there will be a decrease in dry spells by 2 days, and an increase in seasonal length by 8 days, while for OND, there will be also 2 days decrease in dry spells, and 40 days increase in the seasonal length. The results for future-B shows a 4°C rise in temperature, and 46.5% and 35.8% increase in rainfall for MAM and OND, respectively. The results imply a better climatic future for the area because of the increase in the amount of rainfall and decrease in dry spells. However, it is suggested that further investigations are required to see if the projected changes will have real positive effects in agricultural production and also identify better agronomic practices that will take advantage of the opportunities

Participatory land-use planning: integrating expert-oriented and community-based tools for sustainable land management in Kilimanjaro Region

Tanzania like other countries globally has witnessed a paradigm shift in natural resource planning and management from state-centric to community based approach. The shift was inevitable following the experienced inadequacies of the state capacity in-terms of human and financial resources to manage natural resources in a sustainable way, which in turn exacerbate natural resource degradation. It was consequently envisaged that giving people stake in the planning and management endeavors would help fill the gap. While the manifestation of this shift in the country started since the mid-1990s, little empirical evidence exists on the value of participatory land use planning in ensuring sustainable management of natural resources. This study provides an account on the way participatory land use planning through Sustainable Land Management (SLM) project in Kilimanjaro region has integrated expert-oriented (GIS) and community-based (PRA) tools as a move towards sustainable land management in the region

Agronomic management strategies for adaptation to the current climate variability : the case of North-Eastern Tanzania

Meeting: Second International Conference on Climate, Sustainability and Development in Semi-Arid Regions (ICID+18, 2010), 16-20 Aug. 2010, Fortaleza, BRResearch was conducted to quantify both the risk and the profitability of agronomic management strategies for maize using long-term climatic data and a crop simulation model. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that farmers employ innovative agronomic management practices only when the seasonal forecast indicates above normal rainfall. The early availability of seasonal rainfall forecast is thus vital for improved agricultural strategies. Alternatively, farmers are safer if they use conventional approaches, as these have lower associated risks. Increasingly high variability and unreliability of rainfall makes rainfed agriculture in semi-arid areas of sub-Saharan Africa a great challenge

Participatory land-use planning: integrating expert-oriented and community-based tools for sustainable land management in Kilimanjaro Region

Tanzania like other countries globally has witnessed a paradigm shift in natural resource planning and management from state-centric to community based approach. The shift was inevitable following the experienced inadequacies of the state capacity in-terms of human and financial resources to manage natural resources in a sustainable way, which in turn exacerbate natural resource degradation. It was consequently envisaged that giving people stake in the planning and management endeavors would help fill the gap. While the manifestation of this shift in the country started since the mid-1990s, little empirical evidence exists on the value of participatory land use planning in ensuring sustainable management of natural resources. This study provides an account on the way participatory land use planning through Sustainable Land Management (SLM) project in Kilimanjaro region has integrated expert-oriented (GIS) and community-based (PRA) tools as a move towards sustainable land management in the region

Impact of projected climate change on agricultural production in semi-arid areas of Tanzania: A case of Same district

African Crop Science Journal 2012, Vol. 20, Issue Supplement s2, pp. 453 - 463Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the World to climate change because of widespread poverty and limited adaptive capacity. The future climate change is likely to present an additional challenge to the agricultural sector. Therefore, the effects of climate change on the current agronomic management practices were investigated using Same District, Tanzania as a case study area. APSIM software was used to investigate the response of maize (Zea mays L.) yield to different agronomic management practices using current and future (2046 - 2065) climate data. The climate change projections data from global climate models were downscaled using self-organising maps technique. Under the conventional practices, results show that during long rainy season (from March to May) there is yield decline of 13% for cultivar Situka, no change for cultivar Kito and increase of 10% and 15% for cultivars Sc401 and TMV1, respectively. Under the recommended practices, cultivars TMV1 and Sc401 are projected to register a 10% yield increase whereas cultivars Situka and Kito are projected to register a decrease of 10% and 45%, respectively. Also, under both conventional and recommended management practices, results showed that during short rainy season (from October to December/January) all cultivars are projected to register between 75% and 146% increase in maize yields. This implies that future climate change is going to have positive effects on current management practices during short rainy seasons and it will have negligible impact during long rainy seasons

Impact of projected climate change on agricultural production in semi-arid areas of Tanzania: A case of Same district

African Crop Science Journal 2012, Vol. 20, Issue Supplement s2, pp. 453 - 463Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the World to climate change because of widespread poverty and limited adaptive capacity. The future climate change is likely to present an additional challenge to the agricultural sector. Therefore, the effects of climate change on the current agronomic management practices were investigated using Same District, Tanzania as a case study area. APSIM software was used to investigate the response of maize (Zea mays L.) yield to different agronomic management practices using current and future (2046 - 2065) climate data. The climate change projections data from global climate models were downscaled using self-organising maps technique. Under the conventional practices, results show that during long rainy season (from March to May) there is yield decline of 13% for cultivar Situka, no change for cultivar Kito and increase of 10% and 15% for cultivars Sc401 and TMV1, respectively. Under the recommended practices, cultivars TMV1 and Sc401 are projected to register a 10% yield increase whereas cultivars Situka and Kito are projected to register a decrease of 10% and 45%, respectively. Also, under both conventional and recommended management practices, results showed that during short rainy season (from October to December/January) all cultivars are projected to register between 75% and 146% increase in maize yields. This implies that future climate change is going to have positive effects on current management practices during short rainy seasons and it will have negligible impact during long rainy seasons