Yields of the Major Food Crops: Implications to Food Security and Policy in Tanzania’s Semi-Arid Agro-Ecological Zone

Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph; He, Xinhua

doi:10.3390/su9081490

Cited by 33 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Notably, several options of improving water use efficiency have been investigated; these include (i) reducing nontranspirational uses of water; (ii) reducing transpiration without reducing production; (iii) increasing production without increasing transpiration; and (iv) enhancing tolerance of water-related stresses. For example, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is a very adaptable crop in arid areas because of its ability to withstand severe climatic conditions, suppressing weeds and demanding less agronomic inputs compared to most cereal crops [135,136]. As a C4 plant species, it has the higher photosynthetic ability and greater efficiency of nitrogen and water use.…”

Section: Change Of Crop Varietiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on Managing Agroecosystems for Improved Water Use Efficiency in the Face of Changing Climate in Tanzania

Kimaro

2019

Advances in Meteorology

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Agroecosystems are important for food production and conservation of biodiversity while continuing to provide several ecosystem services within the landscape. Despite their economic and ecological benefits, most agroecosystems in Tanzania are degraded at alarming rates. Rapid increase of human population and unprecedented impacts of climate change have influenced depletion of natural resource base within agroecosystem in recent decades compared to what communities have experienced before. Increased food demands owing to population increase have increased pressure on exploitation of land resources including water. Cultivation area and irrigation water demands have increased steadily in the last six decades. Nevertheless, approaches used for water supply have not been improved; thus, water use efficiency in most irrigation schemes is quite poor. Conversely, climate smart agricultural practices are practiced less in Tanzania. There is poor adoption of recommended adaptation among smallholder farmers due to several socioeconomic reasons. One of the key objectives of climate smart agriculture is to improve bio-geochemical interactions within landscape and decrease competition of natural resources between humans and other component of agroecosystems. This underscores the assumptions that most cropping systems in Tanzania are not managed sustainably. Moreover, comprehensive assessment of hydrological dynamics within smallholder farming in Tanzania is highly lacking. Therefore, actual causes and extent of water resources depletion are largely unknown among stakeholders. In most tropical landscapes, water resources degradation is influenced by interaction of both anthropogenic and biophysical factors operating at different times and space scales. As the capacity of water-supplying sources continues to decline, Tanzania needs profound changes in agricultural production systems in order to nourish the growing human population. This calls for strategic approaches that have wider adaptability. A literature survey study with the following objectives was conducted (i) to assess current state of agricultural water use and irrigation activities in Tanzania and (ii) to determine major constraints for sustainable water management and identify appropriate adaptation measures for their improvement across diverse cropping systems.

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Section: Change Of Crop Varietiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on Managing Agroecosystems for Improved Water Use Efficiency in the Face of Changing Climate in Tanzania

Kimaro

2019

Advances in Meteorology

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“…The lack of such studies in semi-arid EA limits the opportunities of preparedness for risks associated with pearl millet production. Consequently, farmers in these areas, who mainly depend on pearl millet as their main staple food crop, are experiencing the loss of harvests and increased food shortages due to annual declines in production [36]. Further, there is limited information on this region regarding the production sustainability of pearl millet under climate change scenarios evaluating temperature increases and precipitation changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Rainfed Pearl Millet Yield Sensitivity to Abiotic Stresses in Semi-Arid Central Tanzania, Eastern Africa

et al. 2019

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Drought and heat-tolerant crops, such as Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), are priority crops for fighting hunger in semi-arid regions. Assessing its performance under future climate scenarios is critical for determining its resilience and sustainability. Field experiments were conducted over two consecutive seasons (2015/2016 and 2016/2017) to determine the yield responses of the crop (pearl millet variety "Okoa") to microdose fertilizer application in a semi-arid region of Tanzania. Data from the experiment were used to calibrate and validate the DSSAT model (CERES Millet). Subsequently, the model evaluated synthetic climate change scenarios for temperature increments and precipitation changes based on historic observations (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018). Temperature increases of +0.5 to +3.0 • C (from baseline), under non-fertilized (NF) and fertilizer microdose (MD) conditions were used to evaluate nine planting dates of pearl millet from early (5 December) to late planting (25 February), based on increments of 10 days. The planting date with the highest yields was subjected to 49 synthetic scenarios of climate change for temperature increments and precipitation changes (of −30% up to +30% from baseline) to simulate yield responses. Results show that the model reproduced the phenology and yield, indicating a very good performance. Model simulations indicate that temperature increases negatively affected yields for all planting dates under NF and MD. Early and late planting windows were more negatively affected than the normal planting window, implying that temperature increases reduced the length of effective planting window for achieving high yields in both NF and MD. Farmers must adjust their planting timing, while the timely availability of seeds and fertilizer is critical. Precipitation increases had a positive effect on yields under all tested temperature increments, but Okoa cultivar only has steady yield increases up to a maximum of 1.5 • C, beyond which yields decline. This informs the need for further breeding or testing of other cultivars that are more heat tolerant. However, under MD, the temperature increments and precipitation change scenarios are higher than under NF, indicating a high potential of yield improvement under MD, especially with precipitation increases. Further investigation should focus on other cropping strategies such as the use of in-field rainwater harvesting and heat-tolerant cultivars to mitigate the effects of temperature increase and change in precipitation on pearl millet yield.

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“…Despite the arguments of some pessimists and lobbyists on climate change, it is obvious that climate impacts and vulnerability have ruined the livelihoods of many people [6]. This has been more pronounced to the already affected agroecosystems [4,24,31,34,37]. In most cases, climate impacts have been measured in different contexts.…”

Section: Impacts Of Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Assessment of the Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation of Climate Change in Eastern Africa

Mkonda¹

2019

Rainfall - Extremes, Distribution and Properties

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The evidences that climate change (CC) is a real situation have been established by different scholars and international organizations. However, much of the vast and burgeoning literature on CC has indicated spatial differences on the impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation among different communities. On that basis, various studies have grouped Eastern Africa as the most affected region by CC and has the weakest capacity to adapt or/and mitigate the dreadful conditions posed by CC. This chapter attempts to indicate the socioeconomic vulnerability in eastern Africa that has been coupled by climate impacts. In doing so, a wide range of studies reflecting the region has been reviewed. The results exhibit that there has been a cause-effect relationship between anthropogenic activities and climate impacts. Although both natural and anthropogenic factors cause climate change, the latter is more pronounced in local conditions. The level of deforestation and degradation in most eastern Africa is exceedingly high and this has subsequently increased the emission of the top green greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O) into the atmosphere. Thus, the resolutions of various conference of parties on CC need to adhere by both developed and developing countries for the betterment of the planet.A Novel Assessment of the Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation of Climate Change in Eastern… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86850 chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) through proper mitigation strategies for the sustainability of the planet [3]. Similarly, at the local level, the improved understanding among the farmers on the influence of climate on agricultural production is desirable for coping with actual and expected variations in both temperature and precipitation [12]. This will again curb an increasing number of undernourished people in the region.Therefore, climate resilience at the local level is potentially optimized by proper adaptation measures coupled by appropriate and affordable mitigation measures. This underpins the effects posed by the temporal changing weather and climate in the region. Thus, proper adaptation measures that mainly focus on the agro-ecosystems are particularly useful to meet the demands of the increasing population in the region rather than using the "slash and burn" practices [13]. Eventually, the majority of the population lack livelihood option due to entitlement failure [14].

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Yields of the Major Food Crops: Implications to Food Security and Policy in Tanzania’s Semi-Arid Agro-Ecological Zone

Cited by 33 publications

References 24 publications

A Review on Managing Agroecosystems for Improved Water Use Efficiency in the Face of Changing Climate in Tanzania

A Review on Managing Agroecosystems for Improved Water Use Efficiency in the Face of Changing Climate in Tanzania

Modelling Rainfed Pearl Millet Yield Sensitivity to Abiotic Stresses in Semi-Arid Central Tanzania, Eastern Africa

A Novel Assessment of the Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation of Climate Change in Eastern Africa

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