{"id":16187,"date":"2026-06-20T12:49:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/supporting-farmers-in-tanzania-to-cope-with-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:53:30","slug":"supporting-farmers-in-tanzania-to-cope-with-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/supporting-farmers-in-tanzania-to-cope-with-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting farmers in Tanzania to cope with climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u201cSoil erosion is a big problem in this area and we are therefore demonstrating construction of contour ridges along the hillsides. We are also demonstrating the use of tie ridges as well as\u00a0chololo<\/em>\u00a0to help conserve water in the fields for the crops and the use of improved varieties of sorghum, pearl millet, cowpea, and Bambara nut. These are hardy crops that tolerate drought and are therefore suitable for semi-arid conditions,\u201d says Dr Fidelis Myaka, a Senior Field Manager at\u00a0IITA<\/a>.\n
\n\n\"Picture<\/a>\n

Farmers looking at the improved sorghum varieties intercropped with cowpea at their demonstration site.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nIITA has established three demonstration sites in Dodoma region to showcase to farmers appropriate Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices for arid and semi-arid areas. CSA practices aim at increasing agriculture production and resilience to climate change while reducing agriculture\u2019s contribution to climate change such as emission of greenhouses.\n\nSetting up these demonstration sites on CSA practices for various agroecologies across the country is one of the main activities of the Building Capacity for Resilient Food Security Project in Tanzania initiated in 2017 to strengthen the country\u2019s capacity to respond to the challenges posed by climate change to the agriculture sector.\n\nThe project is targeting Tanzania\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MLF) and Zanzibar\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Livestock and Fisheries (MANRLF), Tanzania\u2019s Meteorological Agency (TMA), and the President\u2019s Office of Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG) as well as regional training centers.\n\nIt is led by the Government of Tanzania in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and is being implemented by IITA, the\u00a0World Agroforestry Centre<\/a>\u00a0(ICRAF), and UN\u2019s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The project is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Tanzania Mission.\n

Demonstrating and communicating CSA practices<\/h3>\n\u201cClimate change has brought many challenges to our farmers. In one season, they are grappling with too much rain and in another with too little rain. This project, which creates awareness on appropriate CSA practices among farmers, including suitable varieties to grow, will help them to adapt and cope with these challenges,\u201d says Ms Shakwaanande Natai, Head of Environment Management Unit at the Ministry of Agriculture.\n\nIn the project, IITA has been tasked to build the capacity of the government to demonstrate appropriate CSA practices for the major agroecological zones as outlined in the country\u2019s National CSA Guideline and to create awareness among the different stakeholders from farmers to policymakers on CSA.\n\nThe Government of Tanzania officially launched the national CSA Guideline in 2017 and its aim is to guide the agriculture sector and stakeholders in identifying practices and technologies that are specific to each agro-climatic zone to support crop, livestock, and fisheries production to cope with climate change.\n

Feedback from farmers<\/h3>\nThe project has organized farmers\u2019 field days in the two sites, inviting farmers to the demonstration plots to expose them to the technologies and practices and to get their views on which technologies they would readily adopt. The farmers are happy with the project and technologies, acknowledging that climate change was indeed one of their major challenges.\n\n[su_quote]\u201cFarming is our main source of livelihood and our soils are fragile. We need to use these CSA technologies to increase our yield and in turn our incomes. If we follow these technologies, for sure our lives will get better,\u201d says Sina Mde, Head of Nghumbi village.[\/su_quote]\n\nHis village is one of the sites in Dodoma region in which IITA is demonstrating CSA practices suitable for semi-arid areas in partnership with Hombolo Agricultural Research Institute.\n\nForty-one-year old Martha Paulo, also from Nghumbi village, is among farmers who are already applying some of these CSA practices, having learned from the demonstration plots.\n\n[su_quote]\u201cWhen we were making these chololo pits and tie ridges in this (demonstration) farm, I found the technologies labor intensive. However, I still went ahead and tried them on my farm. Now I am very happy with the results. The crops are doing very well and weed management was very easy. First the weeds were few. All I did was pluck them out,\u201d she said.[\/su_quote]\n\nAs part of the project, IITA will also work with the trainers in the country\u2019s agriculture tertiary institutions to develop material on CSA for inclusion in the country\u2019s agriculture training programs. FAO and TMA will disseminate easy- to-use weather information using appropriate technologies including mobile phones while ICRAF will quantify the trade-offs and benefits of these CSA practices for decision making.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSoil erosion is a big problem in this area and we are therefore demonstrating construction of contour ridges along the hillsides.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16188,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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