Water and agriculture in Kilimanjaro watershed catchments in Tanzania

摘要

Agriculture plays major economic drives in Tanzania and accounts for 45% of GDP. About 80% of the country workforce is engaged in farming and supporting industries. This labour is engaged in 5.1 million hectares of land, 85% of which support food crops. Tanzania has three major lakes, nine river basins and adequate groundwater. Currently less than 300,000 hectares are irrigated. Significant contribution to stabilising agricultural production and improve livelihoods could be achieved through appropriate agricultural water management (AWM) technologies and practices. Conservation Agriculture involves a series of practices such as terracing, pit and trench farming systems, low tillage and micro-catchment water-harvesting systems; water harvesting and storage systems, including storing water overnight, artificial ponds, sand dams dug in the bottom of seasonal rivers, and tanks to store rainwater flowing off roofs and rocks; mechanical water-lifting devices including treadle pumps, hip pumps and rope-and-washer pumps, motorized water-lifting devices, principally diesel pumps. Assessments have been done around Kilimanjaro areas. Mount Kilimanjaro plays important roles in socio-economic and ecological functioning. The mountain contributes to agriculture and forestry. Ecologically Mount Kilimanjaro constitutes the major watershed of northern Tanzania. It is a source of water for domestic use, irrigation agriculture, industrial activities, and for the generation of Hydroelectric Power (HEP). Forests are also habitats for a diversity of fauna and flora and are sources and sinks for most of biochemical and energy flows that sustain the biosphere and geosphere, including trace gas emissions and hydrological cycle. Assessments involved Hydrological impact of current and potential AWM interventions; land use patterns, including irrigated and rainfed agriculture; resource-based livelihoods in watershed areas and related dependencies on different sources of water, and water management practices at community and watershed scale. There is successful adoption in up scaling of small-scale agricultural water management (AWM) interventions which provided tools and recommendations that could support to increased investment and improve existing policies. A series of watershed studies and livelihood mapping were revised and formulated into solutions and business models that supported various stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement through a series of consultations led to emerging outputs and proposed solutions, to support the development and implementation of business models.