Agriculture sector will face more challenges in coming decades with more than two-thirds of all arable land in the country affected by agents of soil degradation, resulting in less productivity.
Usable land has been affected by environmental destruction that has caused low rainfall and increased temperatures, attributed to climate change, recent researches have shown.
Abdallah Mpunga, a researcher in agricultural sector told The Guardian on Sunday this week that land degradation threatens farmers’ livelihoods, many of whom have migrated to more productive lands, or are struggling to make a living elsewhere.
Mpunga, from Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) based in Kilombero, Morogoro Region, said climate change is being caused by caused by human activities, including increasing of manufacturing industries, automobiles, deforestation and disposal of waste in the oceans.
He said soil erosion is a major factor in land degradation and has severe effects on soil functions - such as the ability of soil to act as a buffer and filter for pollutants, its role in the hydrological and nitrogen cycles and ability to provide habitat and support biodiversity.
He said: “Despite these developments, there is no clear indication that the rate of land degradation has decreased.
“As yet, there are no continuously monitored indicators of soil condition that would permit quantitatively based assessments of changes over time, comparable to the monitoring of deforestation.”
It has been suggested that soil monitoring should become a basic task of national soil survey organizations but this proposal has yet to be widely adopted.
“Climate change makes the presence of increasing carbon air that causes global warming and the existence of maximum or minimum rainfall, which brings challenge in agriculture, including an increase of salt and soda in the ground,” Mpunga said.
AGRA director general Dr Mary Mgonja said her organisation has provided smallholder farmers with innovative financing and high yielding crop varieties besides creating partnerships with private seed companies and small agro dealers.
She said AGRA has sponsored research institutions including Selian Agricultural Research Institute in Arusha (Selian ARI) and research centers based in Tanga and other regions to undertake various studies.
“AGRA's role is to stimulate Green Revolution in Africa which is unique as a turning point in agricultural productivity, competitiveness and sustainable system which can ensure the safety of food and uplift farmers to escape from poverty,” she said.
She added AGRA plans to reduce food insecurity by 50 percent in at least 20 sub-Saharan countries, increase revenues to 20 million small scale farmers and to reach 30 countries on a sustainable path toward changing their agricultural sectors.
According to AGRA, Tanzania is doing well in consolidating green revolution drive. It said Tanzania Mainland has surplus maize for export while Zanzibar last season produced surplus cassava.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
0 comments :
Post a Comment