Pathways for irrigation development : policies and irrigation performance in Tanzania

Abstract

This research was commissioned by FANRPAN as part of the project Increasing Irrigation Water Productivity in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe through On-Farm Monitoring, Adaptive Management and Agricultural Innovation Platforms. The Australian government funds the project through the Australian International Food Security Research Centre of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, with additional contributions from participating organisations. The Australian National University leads the project.This report presents the findings of a rapid review to determine the policies and politics that have shaped irrigation practice and performance in Tanzania over the past 40–50 years. The review seeks to understand drivers (and blockages) of change with respect to improving sector performance and to identify opportunities for innovation. We also consider who has benefited and lost from public investments, and how these investments could better contribute to poverty reduction, economic growth and climate resilience. The focus of the analysis is small-scale irrigation schemes managed by farmers and supported by the state. We are particularly interested in the role irrigation plays in contexts characterised by high rainfall variability and increasing (physical or economic) water scarcity, such as the upper Rufiji Basin. The desk-based review was supplemented with in-country interviews at national and district level (Iringa), and brief site visits to three schemes in the Ruaha sub-catchment of the Rufiji (also Iringa district)