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East African Business Week (Kampala)

Tanzania: Climatic Change Impedes Agriculture

Israel Mbonea

28 January 2008

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Dar es Salaam — The performance of the agriculture sector, which has historically been the backbone of Tanzania's economy, is projected to drop as a result of negative effects of the ongoing global climatic changes.

It is estimated that at least 80 per cent of Tanzania's economy is agriculture-related in one way or another. The country is a producer of an assortment of cash crops - mainly for export, with very little for domestic industrial production - and food crops, mostly for domestic consumption.

According Professor Elizabeth Kiondo, the Executive Secretary of the Tanzania National Committee-UNESCO in the ministry of higher education, science and technology the ongoing climate change "would drastically affect maize production due to the increase in temperatures and shortage of rains in the country."

Speaking during a day-long seminar for reporters on the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) which was held at the ministry, the official said maize production "would drop by an average of 33 per cent across the country"

Expounding on this, Kiondo said "there would be a decrease in maize production in Dodoma and Tabora regions for 84 per cent; a decrease of 22 per cent in the Northern East zone - and decrease of 17 per cent in the Great African Lakes Region."

In that context, the official warned that Tanzanians should not continue depending heavily on maize as a staple food commodity; instead diversify into other crops such as millet and eleusine.

The outcome of climate change in Tanzania - and its drastic effect on the production of maize for the entire nation - has been shown by ecological studies of water and dry land.

The surveys also showed that as a result of the ongoing climate change, traditional sources of water are in danger of drying up. Among them are rivers and lakes, including Rukwa, Tanganyika, Manyara, Eyasi, Natron, Momella and Sagara.

There is a definite reduction in fish breeding grounds in Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa due to increasing temperatures. The production of fish in Lake Tanganyika has dropped from 200,000-to-165,000 metric tons per year over the last ten years.

Lake Tanganyika, which is the second deepest lake in the world after Lake Baikal in Siberia, has about by 17 per cent of all the fresh water in the world. Estimates of the Millennium-for-Ecology over the years 2001-to-2005 show that 60 per cent of the world's ecological system has been thrown out of kilter, with nearly a quarter of the land in the world having been developed.

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