High-level conference on : water for agriculture and energy in Africa : the challenges of climate change. Sirte, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 15-17 Dec. 2008

Abstract

The country’s overall poverty levels remain at around 40% in the rural area areas where most households depend on agriculture, as compared with urban areas where poverty levels have fallen in recent years from 28% to 18%. At this rate of change Tanzania is highly unlikely to achieve the millennium targets of reducing food insecurity and halving poverty by 2015. Food security is highly dependent on climatic conditions from one year to another. In a good year the country tends to be food secure in overall terms, although there are regional shortfalls; but recent improvements to the transportation and marketing sectors nowadays mean that – again in a good year – local shortfalls can be made good by surpluses transported from elsewhere in the country. The agricultural sector remains dominated by rainfed production, with only a little over 0.2 of its 5.1 million ha being irrigated. Nonetheless, studies have shown that the total irrigation potential of the country exceeds the total area currently planted. The irrigation sector is largely characterised by small-holders, mainly in traditional irrigation schemes and in developed smallholder irrigation schemes using water supplied by publicly funded developed schemes ranging from a few ha to a few hundred ha. The most frequently irrigated crop is rice, but maize, vegetables, other annual crops, sugar cane and citrus are also produced. The sector is also beginning to feature emerging and commercial farmers largely growing high value horticulture, industrial and beverage crops for export. Climate change is expected to be variable. Although the country is expected to warm overall, some areas will become drier particularly the centre, while he Lake Victoria basin, the North East and South East are expected to become wetter. There are five major drainage basins in the country, and these can be subdivided into nine river basins. Much of the water remains unallocated, but two of the countries main rivers, namely the Rufiji and Pangani are recorded with more water use conflicts due to high competition, not least between the irrigation and hydropower sectors. This situation can be expected to intensify, and is exacerbated by the fact that much of the irrigation development has taken place, or is expected to take place upstream of the dams, thereby precluding the possibility of win-win solutions as a result of operating rule innovations. To curb this situation the Government has already established Basin Water Offices in all its nine basins with a mandate to control and manage water allocation to all sectors, with a sustainability consideration. The country’s development agenda is predicated very much on poverty alleviation and the wise use of natural resources. Enhanced and increased agricultural production, especially irrigated, is expected to be central to the development agenda and is targeted not only at direct food security, but also added value and export (Tanzania is already a net exporter of agricultural outputs) with increased private sector participation both as producer and service provider, with the possibilities of public private partnerships already provided for in the emerging policy framework and strategy. As far as this brief is concerned the main policy instruments would be the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, the Agricultural Sector Development Programme, the National Irrigation Policy and Strategy (including the National Irrigation Master Plan) and the National Water Policy. An indicative investment envelope consists of US$800 million for the short term, of which US$363 million is allocated for small scale water control/smallholder scheme rehabilitation and US$437 for large scale hydraulic projects. For the medium term, the total is US$1447million (US$947 million for small-scale and rehabilitation and US$500 million for large scale water control). And for the long term the total is US$2000 million.