Annual Report 2008/2009

TTEAEA RESEARCRESEARCHH INSTITUTE OF TANZANIA

TRIT Open Day 2009 – Scientific Conference

TRIT Open Day 2009 – Field Demonstration

CHAI Project – Launching Ceremony the Prime Minister Hon. Mizengo Pinda (MP) ANNUALANNUAL REPORTREPORT 2002008/20098/2009

i TEA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TANZANIA (TRIT)

ANNUAL REPORT 2008 / 2009

CORRESPONDING ADDRESS :

Professor Bruno J. Ndunguru Executive Director, P.O. Box 2177, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Phone: +255 (0) 22 2122033 Mobile: +255 784 587581 Telefax: +255 (0)22 2113838 Website: http://www.trit.or.tz Email: [email protected], [email protected] ,

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... III LIST OF FIGURES ...... VII LIST OF TABLES ...... IX LIST OF PLATES ...... XII BOARD MEMBERSHIP ...... XIII ADVISORY PANEL MEMBERSHIP ...... XIII LIST OF STAFF OF THE TEA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TANZANIA . XIV

HEAD OFFICE...... XIV MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION...... XIV NGWAZI TEA RESEARCH STATION...... XIV TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMME...... XV TRIT EXTENSION SERVICES UNIT AT WAKULIMA TEA COMPANY (WATCO)...... XV TRIT EXTENSION UNIT AT NEW MPONDE TEA COMPANY (MTECO)...... XVI TRIT EXTENSION UNIT AT KIFANYA WARD (KTL)...... XVI TRIT FARM MANAGEMENT UNIT AT KILOCHA SEMINARY TEA FARM...... XVII COLLABORATORS...... XVII EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... XVIII

CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME...... XVIII SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME...... XX CROP WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME...... XXI TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMME...... XXII CONCLUSIONS...... XXIV OVERVIEW ...... 1 METEOROLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS ...... 3 NGWAZI TEA RESEARCH STATION...... 3 MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION...... 4 KIBENA TEA LIMITED, NJOMBE...... 5 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE KIFYULILO, MUFINDI...... 7 CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (CIP) ...... 9 INTRODUCTION:...... 9 EXPERIMENTS N17, M 8, RU1 & LU 1: CLONAL ADAPTABILITY TRIAL IN KENYA AND TANZANIA...... 10 INTRODUCTION ...... 10 OBJECTIVES ...... 10 SITE DESCRIPTIONS ...... 10 TREATMENTS ...... 11 DESIGN ...... 11 RESULTS ...... 11 CONCLUSIONS ...... 16 COMPOSITE PLANTS...... 17 INTRODUCTION ...... 17 EXPERIMENT M6: EVALUATION OF PROVEN/SEMI-PROVEN ROOTSTOCKS...... 17 OBJECTIVES ...... 17 TREATMENTS ...... 17 DESIGN ...... 18 RESULTS: ...... 18 CONCLUSION: ...... 19

iii EXPERIMENT M9: FIELD EVALUATION OF TEA PLANTED FROM CONVENTIONAL SINGLE NODE CUTTINGS WITH PLANTS DIRECTLY PLANTED FROM PLASTIC SPEEDLYING TRAYS ...... 20 INTRODUCTION ...... 20 OBJECTIVES ...... 20 TREATMENTS ...... 20 DESIGN ...... 21 RESULTS ...... 21 CONCLUSION: ...... 22 EXPERIMENT M10 & N19: EVALUATION OF IMPROVED CLONAL AND ROOTSTOCKS FROM THE TRFCA UNDER RAIN-FED AND SUPPLEMENTARY IRRIGATION CONDITIONS IN TANZANIA...... 23 INTRODUCTION ...... 23 OBJECTIVES ...... 23 TREATMENTS ...... 23 DESIGN ...... 24 RESULTS ...... 24 CONCLUSION ...... 25 EXPERIMENT K4: PLANT IMPROVEMENT AND CLONAL SELECTION (KIF/CFT/2002/1)...... 26 OBJECTIVE ...... 26 TREATMENTS ...... 26 DESIGN ...... 26 RESULTS ...... 26 CONCLUSION ...... 27 EXPERIMENT 21A: EVALUATION OF THE RESPONSE OF CLONE TRFK 6/8 TO NITROGEN FERTILIZER RATES AND HARVESTING INTERVALS IN TANZANIA...... 28 INTRODUCTION ...... 28 TREATMENTS ...... 28 RESULTS: ...... 29 CONCLUSION ...... 30 SOIL FERTILTY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (SFMP) ...... 31 INTRODUCTION...... 31 EXPERIMENT N16: RESPONSES OF CLONAL TEA TO NITROGEN FERTILISERS...... 33 OBJECTIVES ...... 33 TREATMENTS ...... 33 DESIGN ...... 33 SOIL AND PLANT ANALYSIS RESULTS ...... 33 The effect of nitrogen fertilizer on leaf nutrient content of clones and on soil characteristics ...... 33 YIELD RESULTS ...... 38 CONCLUSIONS ...... 40 EXPERIMENT M4: RESPONSES OF SEEDLING TEA TO TYPES AND AMOUNTS OF NITROGEN FERTILIZERS...... 41 OBJECTIVES ...... 41 TREATMENTS ...... 41 DESIGN ...... 41 RESULTS ...... 41 CONLUSIONS ...... 43 EXPERIMENT N20 AND M11: RESPONSES OF CLONAL AND SEEDLING TEA TO A FOLIAR APPLICATION OF NITROGEN FIXING BIO FERTILIZER (TWIN N)...... 45 INTRODUCTION ...... 45 OBJECTIVES ...... 45 TREATMENTS ...... 45 DESIGN ...... 46 RESULTS ...... 46 Conclusions ...... 46 ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR BOMBAY BURMAH TRADING COMPANY ...... 47 Introduction ...... 47 The Current Status of the Estates ...... 47 FINDINGS OF THE SITE EVALUATION ...... 47

iv ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR NGWAZI ESTATE-UNILEVER TEA TANZANIA LTD...... 49 Introduction ...... 49 THE PROBLEM ...... 49 Objectives of the appraisal ...... 49 HYPOTHESIS ...... 49 Methodology ...... 49 RESULTS ...... 49 CONCLUSIONS ...... 50 Introduction ...... 51 Objectives ...... 51 Mission ...... 51 The Laboratory ...... 51 CROP WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (CWMP) ...... 54 INTRODUCTION...... 54 EXPERIMENT M5: SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION IN YOUNG TEA...... 55 OBJECTIVES ...... 55 TREATMENTS ...... 55 DESIGN ...... 55 RESULTS ...... 56 CONCLUSIONS ...... 57 EXPERIMENT NJ1: DRIP IRRIGATION OF TEA...... 58 OBJECTIVES ...... 58 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ...... 58 TREATMENTS ...... 58 DESIGN ...... 61 RESULTS ...... 61 CONCLUSIONS ...... 62 EXPERIMENT N18: RESPONSES OF CLONES TO DRIP AND OVERHEAD SPRINKLER IRRIGATION...... 64 BACKGROUND ...... 64 OBJECTIVES ...... 64 TREATMENTS ...... 64 DESIGN ...... 65 RESULTS ...... 65 CONCLUSIONS ...... 66 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMME (TTP) ...... 68 INTRODUCTION...... 68 OBJECTIVES...... 68 ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED DURING THE YEAR...... 68 SMALLHOLDER TEA EXTENSION ACTIVITIES IN RUNGWE DITRICT...... 70 Introduction ...... 70 Objectives ...... 70 Achievements ...... 71 Constraints ...... 76 Conclusion & Recommendation ...... 78 Future prospects ...... 78 EXTENSION SERVICES UNIT AT NEW MPONDE TEA ESTATES...... 79 INTRODUCTION ...... 79 OBJECTIVES ...... 79 ACHIEVEMENTS ...... 79 TRAINING AND MEETINGS ...... 82 FARMERS EXCHANGE VISITS ...... 82 DEMONSTRATION PLOTS ...... 82 STAKEHOLDERS FORUM ...... 82 CONSTRAINS ...... 83 CONCLUSION ...... 83 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 83

v SMALLHOLDER TEA EXTENSION ACTIVITIES AT MKONGE VILLAGE MUFINDI DIRTICT...85 INTRODUCTION ...... 85 OBJECTIVES ...... 85 ACHIEVEMENTS ...... 86 Challenges; ...... 88 FUTURE PLANs ...... 88 FARMER TRAINING PROGRAMMES...... 89 INTRODUCTION ...... 89 OBJECTIVES ...... 89 ACTIVITIES ...... 90 Training of extension staff & Collaborators ...... 90 On Station Training of farmers ...... 91 On site farmer training in villages ...... 93 Farmer Exchange visits ...... 94 Cinema shows in villages ...... 97 Field visits at NTRS ...... 99 Production and distribution of Printed Extension Materials ...... 99 FACILITIES ...... 99 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 100 SMALLHOLDER TEA NURSERY SCHEME...... 101 INTRODUCTION ...... 101 OBJECTIVES ...... 102 ACTIVITIES ...... 102 ACHIEVEMENTS ...... 103 CHALLENGES AND CONTRAINTS ...... 105 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ...... 106 FUTURE PLANS ...... 106 FIELD INVENTORY FOR MUHEZA AND KOROGWE DISTRICTS...... 107 Back ground ...... 107 Methodology ...... 107 Results ...... 107 Constraints; ...... 107 ON-FARM TRIALS AND DEMONSTRATIONS...... 109 CONCEPT ...... 109 CLONAL MOTHER TEA BUSHES ...... 109 CLONAL OBSERVATION AND MOTHER BUSHES IN NJOMBE ...... 109 WORKSHOPS, MEETING AND SERMINARS ...... 111 INTRODUCTION...... 111 REPORT ON THE TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROJECT RAF/5/058 FIRST COORDINATING MEETING HELD AT KARI, KABETE, NAIROBI, KENYA, 30TH MARCH – 3RD APRIL 2009 111 THE 9TH SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE AGRICULTURE ECONOMISTS SOCIETY OF TANZANIA (AGREST), VISITORS INN, ZANZIBAR; 5TH – 7TH OCTOBER 2008...... 111 PUBLICATIONS ...... 113

vi LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: EXPERIMENT M6: ANNUAL YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF TWO EACH UNGRAFTED CLONE 31/8 AND PC 80 AND COMPOSITES PC80 ON PC 87 AND PC80 ON MSF 87, FROM JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009 UNDER RAIN- FED REGIME AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION; S.E.D =121.1 KG MT HA-1 (N =4); C.V = 8.8%...... 18 FIGURE 2: EXPERIMENT M9: ANNUAL YIELDS OF DRIED TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF THE 5-EACH CLONE RAISED USING CONVERSIONAL VERSUS SPEEDLING TRAYS TECHNIQUES FROM JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009, MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION; S.E.D=163.6 KG MT HA-1; CV (%)=15.7...... 22 FIGURE 3: EXPERIMENT M10: ANNUAL YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF 5-ROOTSTOCKS, 8-IMPROVED CLONES (6– FROM THE TRFCA; 2-FROM TANZANIA) COMPARED WITH 6/10 (YIELD) AND CLONE 6/8 (QUALITY) FROM JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009 UNDER RAIN-FED REGIME AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION; S.E.D=235.5 KG MT HA-1; CV= 18.8%...... 24 FIGURE 4: CHANGES IN TEA YIELDS (KG MT HA-1PER EIGHT MONTHS) DUE TO SITE OF PRODUCTION AND PLUCKING INTERVALS (DAYS) ON CLONE TRFK 6/8;S.E.D=183.4 KG MT HA-1; CV=9.3%...... 30 FIGURE 5: EXPERIMENT N16: RESPONSES OF CLONES K35, K7, 282 AND 207 TO RATES OF NITROGEN UNDER UNIFORM IRRIGATION IN 2008/09...39 FIGURE 6: EXPERIMENT N16: EIGHT YEAR CUMULATIVE AND MEAN YIELDS OF DRIED TEA AT LOWER NITROGEN RATES 0, 80, 160 AND 240 KG N HA-1 FOR CLONES K35, K7, 282 AND 207. (2001-2009)...... 39 FIGURE 7: EXPERIMENT N16: EIGHT YEAR CUMULATIVE AND MEAN YIELDS OF DRIED TEA AT HIGHER NITROGEN RATES 320,400, 480 AND 560 KG N HA-1FOR CLONES K35, K7, 282 AND 207. (2001-2009)...... 40 FIGURE 8: EXPERIMENT M5: YIELD MEASUREMENTS FROM THE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION EXPERIMENT AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION FOR THE YEARS 2007/08 AND 2008/09...... 56 FIGURE 9: EXPERIMENT NJ1: LAYOUT OF THE DRIP IRRIGATION TREATMENTS (LABELLED AS SHOWN ABOVE). THE CLONES (C1, …, C4) ARE RANDOMIZED ACROSS EACH BLOCK AS INDICATED IN COLOURED STRIPS, FOR EXAMPLE. THE POSITIONS OF THE PVC SUPPLY PIPE LINE (110/6 MM DIAMETER) FROM THE PUMP STATION AT LIHOGOSA DAM TO THE FILTER CONTROL HOUSE AND MAIN UNDERGROUND PIPE LINE INTO THE CENTRE OF THE EXPERIMENT ARE ALSO SHOWN. THE TWO SUB- MAINS PVC PIPES EACH WITH SIX EQUALLY SPACED AIR PRESSURE CONTROL VALVES ARE CONNECTED PERPENDICULAR TO THE MAIN PIPE AT A DISTANCE OF 125 M FROM EITHER END OF THE EXPERIMENT.60 FIGURE 10: YIELD RESPONSES TO DRIP (T1, T5, T7 AND T8) AND OVERHEAD SPRINKLER (T2, T3, T4 AND T6) IRRIGATION TREATMENTS (AS DESCRIBED IN DETAIL IN THE TEXT), JUNE 2008 – MAY 2009. THE STANDARD ERRORS

vii OF DIFFERENCES OF MEANS BETWEEN CLONES (S.E.D. (N = 16) = 227.0 KG MADE TEA HA-1 AND COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION OF 24.5%...... 66 FIGURE 11: GREEN LEAF PRODUCTION TREND BY SMALLHOLDER TEA GROWERS 2001/02 TO 2008/09...... 72 FIGURE 12: COMPARISON OF COMBINED GREENLEAF PRODUCTION FOR MPONDE AND BALANGAI SCHEME 2007/08 – 2008/09...... 80 FIGURE 13: AVERAGE ANNUAL GREENLEAF YIELD PER HA FOR MKONGE VILLAGE 2000/01 – 2008/09...... 86

viii LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT NGWAZI TEA RESEARCH STATION (8°32'S, 35°10'E, ALTITUDE 1840 M) FOR JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009...... 4 TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION (5º 08’ S, 38º 35’ E, ALTITUDE 970 M) FOR THE YEAR JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009...... 5 TABLE 3: SUMMARY OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT ITAMBO ESTATE, KIBENA TEA LIMITED NJOMBE (LATITUDE: 09° 25' S, LONGITUDE: 34° 45' E, ALTITUDE: 1860 M ABOVE SEA LEVEL) FOR THE YEAR JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009...... 7 TABLE 4: SUMMARY OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT AGRICULTURE RESEARCH INSTITUTE KIFYULILO, MUFINDI (LATITUDE: 08° 42' S, LONGITUDE: 35° 20' E, ALTITUDE: 2,000 M ABOVE SEA LEVEL) FOR THE YEAR JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009...... 8 TABLE 5: EXPERIMENT N17: MEAN ANNUAL (JUNE2008-MAY 2009), CUMULATIVE AND MEAN CUM (2006-2009) YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF 29-TEST CLONES AND 2-LOCAL CHECKS; NGWAZI TEA RESEARCH STATION, MUFINDI DISTRICT...... 12 TABLE 6: EXPERIMENT M8: MEAN ANNUAL (JUNE2008-MAY 2009), CUMULATIVE AND MEAN CUM (2006-2009) YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF 31-TEST CLONES AND 2-LOCAL CHECKS; MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION, USAMBARA MOUNTAINS...... 13 TABLE 7: EXPERIMENT RU-1: MEAN ANNUAL (JUNE2008-MAY 2009), CUMULATIVE AND MEAN CUM (2006-2009) YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF 29-TEST CLONES AND 2-LOCAL CHECKS; ILENGE, RUNGWE DISTRICT...... 14 TABLE 8: EXPERIMENT LU-1: MEAN ANNUAL (JUNE 2008-MAY 2009), CUMULATIVE AND MEAN CUM (2006-2009) YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF 29-TEST CLONES AND 2-LOCAL CHECKS; DANSLAND DIVISION, NJOMBE DISTRICT...... 15 TABLE 9: EXPERIMENT M6: MEAN HEIGHT (CM) AND MEAN WEIGHT OF PRUNINGS (KG) FROM 2-EACH OF UNGRAFTED-AND GRAFTED CLONES UNDER RAIN-FED REGIME DURING FIRST PRUNING CYCLE JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009, AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION...... 19 TABLE 10: EXPERIMENT M9: PLANT HEIGHT, CROP COVER AND GROWTH IN STEM GIRTH OF 5-CLONES RAISED USING CONERTIONAL (SP) VERSUS SPEEDLYING TRAYS FROM JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009 AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION...... 22 TABLE 11: EXPERIMENT M10: PLANT HEIGHT (CM), CROP GROUND COVER (%) AND GROWTH IN STEM DIAMETER (MM) OF 5-ROOTSTOCKS, 8- PROMISING PROGENIES AND 2-LOCAL CHECKS UNDER RAIN-FED REGIME FROM JUNE 2008 TO MAY 2009 AT MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION ...... 25 ix TABLE 12: EXPERIMENT K 4: ANNUAL (2008/09) AND CUMULATIVE (2000/03 TO 2008/09) YIELDS OF MADE TEA (KG MT HA-1) OF 10-CLONAL SELECTIONS AND 3-CONTROL CLONES; AT KIFYULILO AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH STATION...... 27 TABLE 13: CHANGES IN YIELDS (KG MT HA-1) DUE TO LOCATION OF PRODUCTION AND RATES OF NITROGENOUS FERTILIZER (KG N HA-1) ON CLONE TRFK 6/8 (OCTOBER 2008 TO MAY 2009)...... 29 TABLE 14: CHANGES IN YIELDS (KG MT HA-1) DUE TO LOCATION OF PRODUCTION AND PLUCKING INTERVALS (DAYS) ON CLONE TRFK 6/8 (OCTOBER 2008 TO MAY 2009 ...... 29 TABLE 15: CHANGES IN YIELDS (KG MT HA-1) DUE TO RATES OF NITROGENOUS FERTILIZER (KG N HA-1) AND PLUCKING INTERVALS (DAYS) ON CLONE TRFK 6/8 (OCTOBER 2008 TO MAY 2009)...... 30 TABLE 16: THE ANNUAL NUTRIENTS APPLICATION RATES, THE LEAF NUTRIENT CONTENT OF A THIRD MATURE LEAF WITH AN ACTIVE GROWING SHOOT FROM CLONE 6/8 FOR SELECTED NITROGEN TREATMENTS IN MAY 2009...... 35 TABLE 17: EFFECTS NITROGEN FERTILIZER ON PH, ORGANIC MATTER, CEC, POTASSIUM, CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM IN THE TOP SOIL (0-20 CM) UNDER A TEA CROP OF CLONES K7, K35, 207 AND 282 (2001-2009)...... 37 TABLE 18: EXPERIMENT N16: THE EFFECTS OF INCREASING RATES OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER ON THE ANNUAL YIELDS OF DRIED TEA (KG HA-1) FROM MATURE CLONES K35, K7, 282 AND 207 IN 2008/09 (01 JUNE TO 31 MAY)...... 38 TABLE 19: EXPERIMENT M4: EFFECTS COMPOUND (CF) AND STRAIGHT (SF) FERTILIZERS ON PLANT NUTRIENT CONTENT IN THE 3RD MATURE LEAF OF SEEDLING TEA UNDER RAIN FED CONDITIONS OVER A PERIOD OF EIGHT YEARS (2001-2009)...... 42 TABLE 20: EFFECTS COMPOUND (CF) AND STRAIGHT (SF) FERTILIZERS ON SOIL CHEMICAL PARAMETERS- PH, TOTAL NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS, ORGANIC MATTER, CEC, CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM IN THE TOP SOIL (0- 20 CM) UNDER A SEEDLING TEA CROP. (2001-2009)...... 42 TABLE 21: EXPERIMENT M4: YIELD RESPONSES OF SEEDLING TEA TO TYPES AND RATES OF NITROGEN FERTILIZERS IN KG MADE TEA HA-1 DURING 2006/07 (01 JUNE TO 31 MAY)...... 43 TABLE 22: EXPERIMENT M4: CUMULATIVE AND MEAN YIELDS OF MADE TEA OBTAINED FROM APPLICATION OF COMPOUND (CF) AND STRAIGHT FERTILIZERS (SF) ...... 43 TABLE 23: THE EFFECT OF TWIN N FOLIAR BIOFERTILIZER ON THE PERFORMANCE OF CLONAL TEAS IN RAINFED AND IRRIGATED CONDITIONS...... 46 TABLE 24: SUMMARY OF NUMBER OF SAMPLES ANALYSED AT TRIT LABORATORY FROM OCTOBER 2007 – JUNE 2009...... 53

x TABLE 25: EXPERIMENT NJ1: LAYOUT OF THE CLONES IN THE TWO EXPERIMENTAL BLOCKS...... 61 TABLE 26: EXPERIMENT NJ1: YIELD OF DRIED TEA RESPONSES TO PREVIOUS DRIP IRRIGATION ANDUNIFORM FERTIGATION APPLIED ON FOUR CLONES BBT207, AHP S15/10, BBK 35 AND TRFCA PC81, JUNE 2008 – MAY 2009...... 61 ...... 66 TABLE 27: AMOUNT OF FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTED VS PRICES (TS PER 50 KGS BAG)...... 74 TABLE 28: SUMMARY OF TRAINING CONDUCTED FOR 2008/2009...... 98 TABLE 29: ACHIEVEMENTS ON THE SMALLHOLDER TEA NURSERY SCHEME AS AT 31ST JUNE 2009 ...... 103 TABLE 30: NURSERY PLANTS AND PLANTED IN THE FIELDS BY FARMERS IN ALL TEA GROWING AREAS...... 104 TABLE 31: SMALLHOLDERS TEA AREA INVENTORY IN KOROGWE AND MUHEZA DISTRICTS...... 108 TABLE 32: ANNUAL YIELD OF MADE TEA(KG MT HA -1) FOR ELCT AND IWAFI...... 110

xi LIST OF PLATES

PLATE 1: THE OFFICIAL INNAUGURATION OF THE TRIT’S SOILS /PLANT AND WATER ANALYTICAL LABORATORY AT NGWAZI BY THE HON. MIZENGO KAYANZA PINDA (MP), THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA. IN ATTENDANCE WAS HIS EXCELLENCE AMBASSADOR TIM CLARKE, HEAD OF DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN TANZANIA...... 32 PLATE 2: SOME OF THE LABORATORY’S STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT BEING USED BY THE TECHNICIANS AT NGWAZI...... 52 PLATE 3: EXTENSION OFFICER ADVISING A FARMER ON PRUNING . 73 PLATE 4: EXCHANGE VISIT FROM MWAKALELI TO SEGELA SUB-SCHEME 75 PLATE 5 : ONE OF THE IN-HOUSE TRAINING AT KAPUGI VILLAGE...75 PLATE 6: DROUGHT AFFECTED TEA BUSHES...... 76 PLATE 7: DRIVERS & FARMERS STRUGGLE TO RESCUE A STUCK TRUCK WITH DETERIORATING GREENLEAF IN IT...... 77 PLATE 8: GREENLEAF TRUCKS BLOCKED BY BANANA AND TIMBER TRUCKS AHEAD. EVENTUALLY ALL TEA GOES RED...... 77 PLATE 9: SOME SECTIONS OF BAD ROADS USED BY GREENLEAF TRUCKS. 77

xii BOARD MEMBERSHIP

1. Mr. A. Mitei - Unilever Tea Tanzania –Chairman2

2. Mr. N. Lindsay-Smith - Mufindi Tea Company – Chairman3

3. Mr. Mohan John - Mohammed Enterprises - Vice Chairman

4. Dr. M. Msabaha - Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

5. VACANT - Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security

6. Mr. M.B. Assenga- Tea Board of Tanzania

7. Mr. P. D. Rowland - Wakulima Tea Company

8. Mr. D. V. Singh - East Usambara Tea Company (EUTCo)

9. Mr. H. Umande - Tanzania Smallholder Tea Development Agency

10. Prof. B.J. Ndunguru - Tea Research Institute of Tanzania

11. Representative - European Union Delegation Tanzania (co-opted)

ADVISORY PANEL MEMBERSHIP

Mr. Chris Flowers - Mufindi Tea & CoffeeCompany

Dr. John Bore - Representative of Tea Research Foundation of Kenya Prof. N. Y. Mdoe - Representative of Sokoine University of Agriculture

VACANT - Representative of Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

Dr. H.E. Nyirenda - Representative of Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa

Prof. B.J. Ndunguru - Executive Director - TRIT

2 Since December 2008 3 The term ended during the year xiii LIST OF STAFF OF THE TEA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TANZANIA

HEAD OFFICE

1. Prof. B.J. Ndunguru - Executive Director BSc (Dar es Salaam) MSc, Ph.D. (Reading) Fellow of the Tanzania Academy of Sciences (FTAS)

2. Dr. E. F. Simbua - Research Director B.Sc. (SUA) MSc. (Reading), PhD. (Cranfield)

3. Mr. J. M. Sikira - Executive Secretary

4. Mr. E. Nyinda - Chief Accountant

5. Ms. M. J. Ngowi - Senior Administrative Assistant

6. Ms. J. F. Nyoka - Secretary

MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION

1 Ms. R. M. Masha - Technical Officer/Field Officer Dip. Agric. Prodn. (Uyole) Acting Site Manager NTRS

2 Mr. E. E. Mnzava - Field Assistant

3 Mr. M. R. Matafi - Field Assistant

4 Ms. A. A. Hiza - Field Assistant

5 Mr. M. R. Hamisi - Driver/General Assistant

6 Mr. M. J. Musa - Driver/General Assistant

NGWAZI TEA RESEARCH STATION

1. Dr. E. I. Kimambo - Principal Research Officer and Leader MSc. Ph.D. (Moscow) Soil Fertility Management Programme Site Manager Ngwazi Tea Research Stn.

2. Dr. J. M. Kigalu - Principal Research Officer, Leader B.Sc. (Dar es Salaam) Crop Water Management MSc. (SUA), Ph.D. (Cranfield)

3. Mr. S.W. Msomba - Senior Research Officer and Leader B.Sc. (SUA), MSc.(Birmham) Crop Improvement Programme

xiv 4. Mr. George Kwandu Research Officer B.Sc. Agric. Eng. (SUA)

5. Mr. Mgaya Mgoda - Technical Officer

6. Mr. B. Nyanzali - Technical Officer/ Mkonge Village Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole)

7. Mr. E. Z. Ng’umbi - Field Assistant

8. Mr. C. P. Chelesi - Field Assistant

9. Mr. H. I. Kipangula - Field Assistant

10. Mr. J. R. Myinga - Field Assistant

11. Mr. B. R. Mwagike - Driver/Field Assistant

12. Melton Ng’umbi - Driver/Mechanic

13. Costa Kinwiko - Driver /Mechanic

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMME

1. Mr. D. M. Ndamugoba4 - Principal Research Officer and Leader, B.Sc. (Dar es Salaam) Technology Transfer Programme MSc. (Reading)

2. Mr. Andrew Andalwisye - Smallholder Tea Nursery Scheme BSc. (SUA) Co-ordinator

3. Ms Magreth Katole - Economist B.Sc. (SUA)

4. Mr. Simon Chatanda5 - Assistant Nursery Coordinator BSc. (SUA)

TRIT EXTENSION SERVICES UNIT AT WAKULIMA TEA COMPANY (WATCO)

1. Mr. John Mhagama - Extension Services Manager BSc. (SUA), MSc. (SUA) 2. Mr. Frank Kapinga - Technical Officer Dip. Crop prodn. (Uyole) 3. Ms. A. Urio - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole) 4. Mr. A. Mtakwa - Technical Officer

4 Retired During the year 5 Joined during the year xv B.Sc. Agric. (SUA)

5. Mr. B. Malekela - Technical Officer Cert. Agric. (Uyole)

6. Mr. P. Msewa - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole)

7. Mr. Richard Mlelwa - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole)

8. Mr. Anthony Omari - Technical Officer BSc. Agric Extension (SUA)

9. Mr. Matokeo Wihanzi - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole)

10. Ms. Nyesiga Bubelwa6 - Technical Officer BSc. Agric (SUA)

11. Mr. Mapenzi Shagama†† - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Production (Uyole)

12. Mr. Magnus Chaula†† - Technical Officer BSc. Agric (SUA)

TRIT EXTENSION UNIT AT NEW MPONDE TEA COMPANY (MTECO)

1. Mr. Amos Makweta - Extension Services Coordinator BSc. Agric. (SUA)

2. Mr. Respius Andrew - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole)

3. Ms. Aneth Molela7 - Technical Officer Dip. Crop prodn. (Uyole)

4. Mr. Benjamin Mtaki‡‡ - Technical Officer Dip. Crop prodn. (Uyole)

5. Mr. Vilumba Kyando†† - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole)

6. Mr. James Mengo†† - Technical Officer Dip. Crop Prodn. (Uyole) TRIT EXTENSION UNIT AT KIFANYA WARD (KTL)

6 Joined during the year 7 Left during the year xvi 1. VACANT - Technical Officer

TRIT FARM MANAGEMENT UNIT AT KILOCHA SEMINARY TEA FARM

1. VACANT - Farm Manager

COLLABORATORS Kifyulilo Agriculture Research Institute – Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives 1. Mr. M. S. C. Mhosole - Principal Agricultural Research Officer I and B.Sc., MSc. (SUA) Officer In-Charge

2. Mr. Emmanuel Kadogolo - Agric. Research Officer II BSc. General, Msc. Soil Science (SUA)

xvii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT) was established in 1996 as an autonomous organisation representing the Government of Tanzania and the tea industry. Its duty is to support the continued development of the tea industry, both large and small-scale producers, with appropriate high quality, cost effective research and technology transfer. TRIT was funded by a statutory cess, levied on all producers of tea, and by grant aid from willing donors until 2006 when the government of Tanzanian started to provide financial contribution in lieu of the abolished cess. In order to formalise the government’s contribution to TRIT, a draft MoU between the government and the private research insitutes has been prepared and is in the process of being formalised. Once signed the MoU will provide a framework for the financing and ownership of research facilities and results hence guaranteering smooth flow of resources for the Tea Reseaerch activities in Tanzania. Furthermore stakeholders have already agreed to contribute voluntarly towards TRIT operations.

In the eleventh Annual Report the results of the research are again described by subject area or programme as last year (2007/2008). The research programmes are Crop Improvement (CIP), Soil Fertility Managemnt (SFMP) and Crop Water Management (CWMP). Technology Transfer activities, which are funded in large part by the European Union through Stabex funds, are reported under the Technology Transfer Programme (TTP).

CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME

During 2008/09, the Crop Improvement Programme (CIP) continued to assess the responses of six clones to drought and irrigation, monitored the clonal adaptability trial (CAT) at various sites in Tanzanian and compared field performance of single scion PC 80 grafted onto two different proven or semiproven rootstocks PC 87 and MSF 87 with complete clonal PC 80 and 31/8. The performance of conventionally raised single node cuttings and pluckable shoots directly planted from plastic speedlying trays techniques was evaluated. An evaluation of clonal field trial (CFT) at MTRS and Kifyulilo Research Stations continued. A field experiment to evaluate improved eight clones and five rootsotcks material from the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa (TRFCA) located at both NTRS and MTRS continues to be monitored.

Clonal adaptability trial in Kenya and Tanzania (pages: 10-16): Experiment N17, M8, RU1 and LU1: The clonal adapatability of thirty-one clones; nineteen from Kenya and ten from Tanzania and two standard clones were evaluated at all four sites in Tanzania. Four seasons after field establishment, The yields ranged from 2,320 kg mt ha-1 for a quality local check clone TRFK 6/8 to 3,480 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 371/3. The two best performing clones TRFK 303/178 and TRFK 301/5 out-yielded the control clone TRFCA SFS150 by 21.5 % and 25.3%, respectively. At Marikitanda, the annual yields ranged from 740 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 303/1199 to 1,640 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 301/5. At Rungwe, the treatment yields though not significantly different ranged from 1,110 kg mt ha-1 to 3,910 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 303/1199 and TRFK 301/5, respectively, whereas at Luponde site, the annual yields ranged from 470 kg mt ha-1 for clone 201/50 to 1,270 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 303/178.

Composite plants (pages 17-19): Experiment M6 is based at MTRS and was established in the field in March 2003 to compare the field performance of a single scion PC 80 grafted xviii onto two different rootstocks PC 87 and MSF 87 with plain clones PC 80 and 31/8. The season following the first pruning cycle, yields of made tea ranged from 1,650 for control clone TRFK 31/8 to 2,320 (kg mt ha-1) for grafted clone PC80 on MSF87. Compared to the period prior to first pruning cycle (2007/08), there was yield reduction of 40.5% each from the rootstocks, 41.7% from scion PC 80 and 44.6 from clone 31/8 during this season.

Field evaluation of tea planted from convetional single node cuttings with plants directly planted from plastic speeedling trays (pages: 20 – 22) Experiment M9: We evaluated the field performance of five clones rised in the nursery from convetional (Sleeved plants) and speedling trays at Marikitanda Tea Research Station (MTRS). The clones were; 201/16, 201/44, 31/8, PK 99 and 6/10 (control). As a general observation, yields from the previous season was relatively higher than in the season under review; with conventionally raised plants still demonstrating superiority over speedling tray technique.

Evaluation of improved clonal and rootstocks from the TRFCA under rain-fed and supplementary irrigation conditions in Tanzania (Pages 23-25) Experiment M10 & N19: In 2006, six and eight improved plain clonal tea and rootstocks respectively were imported from the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa (TRFCA). The materials were established to determine their potential under Tanzanian conditions, in particular under drought stress tea growing ecologies in Tanzania. The experiment is set up at Marikitanda and Ngwazi Tea Research Stations. It consists 5-roostocks; RC4 (14-22), RC6 (PC 141), RC7 (PC 153), RC13 (PC 233) and RC15 (PC 152) and 8- improved plain tea clones; PC 117, PC 168, PC 184, PC 185, PC 198, PC 23 (From TRFCA) and PK 7 and PK 99 (Tanzania). Clones 6/10 and S 15/10 were included for yield comparisons at MTRS and NTRS, respectively, and Clone 6/8 for quality comparison. During 2008/09 there were significant (P≥ 0.05) yield differences among treatments. The yield ranged from 1,070 kg mt ha-1 to 1,960 kg mt ha-1 for quality comparison clone TRFK 6/8 and rootstock (RC 6) 114, respectively. The rootstocks (RC 4) PC 14-22 (1,930 kg mt ha-1), (RC 15) PC 152 (1,880 kg mt ha-1) and clone PC 185 (1,730 kg mt ha-1) performed very close to best rootstock (RC 6) 114; but significantly higher than the control clone 6/10 (1,270 kg mt ha-1).

Plant Improvement and clonal selection (KIF/CFT/2002/1) (page: 26 – 27). Experiment K 4: This experiment is being evaluated in collaboration with Kifyulilo Agricultural Research Station to select high yielding from polyclonal and seedling tea material. The experiment is the fourth season since it was first pruned. During 2008/09, clones PK99, PK7, KFS48 and PK 74 maintained higher yielding record over the best control clone TFCA SFS150. The same ranking trend was noted during the seventh season of cumulated yields.

Response of clone TRFK 6/8 to Nitrogen fertilizer rates and harvesting intervals in Tanzania; (Pages 28 - 30): Experiment 21A. Most of the clones and agronomic practices applied by tea growers in Tanzania were developed in Kenya before the collapse of the East African Community (EAC) and adopted without re-testing prior to commercial adoption. The main objective of the second trial in this study is to evaluate the response of clone TRFK 6/8 to nitrogen fertilizer rates and harvesting intervals in Tanzania and optimize the agronomic practices for economic returns and conservation of environment. This is part of a collaboration activity undertaken in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. For the period of eight months the lowest and highest mean tea yields due to location and rates of nitrogenous fertilizer on clone TRFK 6/8 were obtained at Maruku and Katoke sites, respectively. The higher yields were recorded from nitrogenous rate of 300 kg N ha-1 year-1 followed by 225 kg N ha-1year-1.

xix SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

During 2008/09, the Soil fertility Management Programme continued with field experimentation N16 at Ngwazi, M4 in the Usambaras and two fertilizer trials on clone PC81 under estate conditions and clone 6/8 in smallholder production system in Rungwe. The main focus of the Programme included, the callibration and operationalising of the TRIT Laboratory for soil, plant and water analysis at Ngwazi. The Soils/Plant Analytical Laboratory was innaugurated by the Prime Minister, Hon Mizengo Kayanza Pinda in March 2009.

Responses of clones to nitrogen fertilizer (page: 33 - 40): The objectives of this experiment (N16) were to determine the yield response curves to nitrogen and also to determine the optimum nitrogen rates for four contrasting, commercially grown clones under well-managed conditions. In the fourth year after pruning, clones 282 and K35 had similar and the highest yields, while clone K7 had the lowest yields under well watered and fertilized conditions. Significant responses of the clones to nitrogen fertilizer were observed: Clone K35 and K7 ranged from 160-240, clone 282 from 240-320 and 207 from 160-320 kg N ha-1 indicating an optimum range of 180-280 kg N/ha for this season. However, individual clones differed in their responses. Clones 282 and K35 responses to N peaked at the rate of 400 and 560 kg ha-1, while clones K7 and 207 responses peaked at 240 kg and 480 kg N ha-1 respectively. Cumulative and mean yields over eight years showed clones 282 and 207 to be the most productive under the prevailing conditions. In the nil nitrogen treatments (N0) yield decline ranged from a mean of 5820 kg ha-1 to 2800 kg ha-1 across the clones in an 8 year period, which constituted a loss of a staggering 48% of dried tea. The highest loss was observed for clone K 7 >282>207=K35.

Responses of seedling tea to types and amounts of nitrogen fertilizers (page 41 - 44): The objectives of this experiment (M4) were to determine the yield responses of seedling tea to nitrogen from different sources and to compare response curves for two sources of nitrogen fertilizers. The overall mean yield this season for the compound fertilizer (2460 kg ha-1) was again similar to the mean for single nutrient fertilizer (2330 kg ha-1). There were some significant yield differences between treatment means in both types fertilizer across nitrogen rates. This trial has demonstrated irrevocably that yield levels obtained from a seedling tea field under rain fed conditions do not depend on the type of fertilizer nitrogen applied so long as all recommended cultural practices are followed (rates, timing, placement of fertilizers, weeding, pruning and timely plucking etc.). Low inputs resulted in low cumulative yields for both types of fertilizers. With increasing rates of N application so did cumulative yields and productivity per unit area.

Responses of clonal and seedling tea to a foliar application of Nitrogen fixing bio fertilizer (Twin N) Experiment N20 and M11: TwinN is a mix of free-living, nitrogen-fixing endophytes that are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen both within the plant and around the root zone. This is a new product in the market and TRIT was requested to test its effectiveness in tea production. Established in March and April 2008, the experiments were located in a mature clonal tea 6/8 and 31/8 at Ngwazi and Marikitanda respectively. The results from Ngwazi with fully irrigated tea and at Marikitanda under rain fed conditions do not show any significant responses so far from the use of TwinN foliar bio fertilizer application.

xx The programme was also involved in a specific advisory services on request from our esteemed stakeholders. On pages 47 – 50 we report the highlights of the findings from the field assessment for Bombay Burmah Trading Company and Unilever Tea (T) Ltd. The findings and the given recommendations may as well be applicable to other stakeholders facing similar problems.

The information about the newly constructed and equipped TRIT Soil, Plant and Water Analysis Laboratory are reported (Pages 51 – 53): Basic information regarding a range of capabilities that our laboratory possess, the Mission statement and a report of number and type of samples that have been analysed are reported. During a short period since becoming fully operational, the Laboratory has managed to handle over 600 samples that included soils, plants, water, fertiliser, compost and food (tea leaves etc.). The samples were bought in by diverse clients including stakeholders in the tea industry, other agricultural producers, forestry based companies and in-house samples from TRIT research programmes. We further encourage our stakeholders to make fully use of this valuable facility.

CROP WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

In 2008/09, the Crop Water Management Programme continued to implement research activities with the following specific objectives: (i) To demonstrate good soil and water conservation in young tea and to quantify the losses of soil, nutrients and water under different management practices in ways that allow the results to be applied with confidence elsewhere on sloping or relatively flat land for sustainable tea production and environmental conservation; and (ii)To undertake irrigation water management studies for large estate and smallholder tea growers in order to maximize crop water productivity for increased and well distributed tea production throughout the year.

The main findings in 2007/08 are presented below:

Soil and water conservation in young tea (page 55 - 57): Experiment M5: In 2007/08, As in the previous year, at the end of May 2009 in the fourth and eigth year from pruning and from planting, respectively yields obtained from the plots that were mulched with air dry Guatemala grass (T3;(1996 kg made tea ha-1; 2.6% higher than that of the control, T1) was relatively higher than those from other treatments followed by high density tea rows (T2) which produced 1903 kg made tea ha-1, corresponding to 2.2% lower than that of the control (T1). Overall, on avarege the yields obtained this year (1,882 kg made tea ha-1) were lower than the corresponding values last year (5351 kg made tea ha-1). The control (T1) and vetiver grass live barrier (T4) plots gave 1947 and 1681 kg made tea ha-1, respectively compared with corresponding values of 5400 and 4490 kg made tea ha-1 in the previous year. Drip irrigation of tea (page 49 - 63): Experiment NJ1: In 2007/08, In the second year after pruning, there were significant yield differences (P<0.001) between the clones with clone AHP S15/10 having the largest yield (5780 kg dried tea ha-1) followed by clones BBK35 (4720 kg dried tea ha-1), TRFCA PC81 (4310 kg dried tea ha-1) and BBT207 (3710 kg dried tea ha-1). Thus the broad-leafed clones (AHP S15/10 and BBK 35), once recovered from pruning and two years after pruning produced relatively higher yields compared with the narrow and small-leafed clones (TRFCA PC 81 and BBT 207). Following the best and consistent yield perfornance for the period 2003/04 to 2007/08 and in 2008/09, drip irrigation treatment I2 with 50% removal of SWD and one lateral for each row of tea is recommended

xxi for further testing in on-farm trials followed by wide adoption by tea estates and smallholder tea farmers. Without and with interrupted irrigation application for a long time, still relatively high yields were obtained in 2008/09. These findings pose important implications for adoption of less but frequent water applications through drip irrigation or overhead sprinkler irrigation as reported in the next experiment.

Responses of clones to drip and overhead sprinkler irrigation (page 64 - 67): Experiment N18: In 2008/09 research continued on this experiment that was established at Ngwazi Estate, Unilever Tea Tanzania Limited (UTTL) in 2005/06 to test and compare the yield and responses of other parameters of two clones (BBK35 and TRIEA 6/8) to drip and overhead impact sprinkler (OHS) irrigation, and effects of fertigation using drip irrigation. In 2008/09 clone TRIEA 6/8 gave similar yield (2,470 kg made tea ha-1) to clone BBK35 (2,780 kg made tea ha-1). Clone TRIEA 6/8 gave relatively higher yields in response to irrigation treatments. As in the previous year the differences of the effects of irrigation treatments (drip versus overhead sprinkler irrigation) on yield were again not statistically significant.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMME

The Objective of TTP is to develop and promote technologies that lead to increases in the productivity and profitability of tea particularly from smallholders and hence to improve the livelihood of rural people especially women and also to increase Tanzania’s foreign exchange earnings. During the year the programme continued to implement a set of activities that are geared to achieve the stated objective as reported below;

Smallholder tea extension service (page 70 -88): The Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO) is a company formed as a joint venture between the Tanzania Tea Packers (TATEPA) owning 75% of the shares and the Rungwe Smallholder Tea Growers Association (RSTGA) with 25% shares. TRIT continued to provide extension services to WATCO on contract that was extended staring from January 2007 and will run until December 2009. during the year 2008/9 produced a total amount of 16,431,465 kg green leaf. This was 92% of the budgeted crop and was 7.7% less than the amount of green leaf produced by smallholders during the year 2007/8. Failure to achieve the production target during the year under review was attributed to severe and prolonged drought that affected three sub-schemes namely Segela, Masebe and Kapugi, which accounts for about 43% of the total area of tea under smallholders in Rungwe and low amount of fertilizer used by smallholder tea grower into their tea fields. Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT) continued to provide extension services to smallholder tea farmers in Lushoto district, Tanga through a contract with Mponde Tea Estates. During the reporting period the amount of green leaf produced by smallholder tea growers from Mponde and Balangai was 3,043,584 kilograms. This was 74.3 % of the target. This production was above 2008/09 production by 13.6 % showing an increasing production trend. However, the crop production target could not be achieved was mainly due to (i) Drought which hit the area severely during 2007/08 and 2008/09 season.. Similarly TRIT continued to provide specific extension services to Kifanya ward of Njombe and Mkonge Tea Block farm in Mufindi. Progress on these contracts are also reported under TTP.

xxii Farmer training programme(page 89 - 100): As in the previous years apart from on station training of farmers and field staff at NTRS and MTRS training centres, outreach sites, exchange visits and cinema shows were used to cover a wider audience in the tea growing areas of Tanzania which are separated by vast distances. During 2008/2009 the Farmer Training Programme succeeded in conducting several training sessions on different topics of tea production including exchange visits and cinema shows. FFS extension approach in Mufindi and Rungwe continues to show some improvements in technology dissemination with FFS members continuing to advise their fellow farmers on tea management practices in collaboration with DALDO office and TRIT staff. Production of two new documentary films on fertilizer application and weed control in tea fields has added to TRIT’s video library for farmers’ education, despite that many training requests through cinema show visits could not be fulfilled because of the bad weather, bad roads and occasionally van equipment breakdown. Although great efforts are made by TRIT to mobilise and train farmers on good tea management practices especially the use of fertilizer to increase yield, the escalating fertilizer price may still affect productivity of Tanzania tea smallholders because of the inability of smallholders to purchase the high priced fertilizers. However, farmer training on fertilizer application and yield of tea is constrained by the currently high prices of inorganic fertilizer. It is recommended that Government and /or other parties subsidize the fertilizer substantially so that farmers find it easy to use it on their tea field.

Smallholder tea nursery scheme (page 101 - 106): The overall goal of the village based tea nursery scheme is to ensure that tea productivity is increased through successful development of nurseries for producing plants to be used for infilling and for establishing new fields. During the reporting period 7,847,300 plants were propagated at 166 nursery sites out of 334 existing nurseries. This was 247,300 plants (3.2%) higher than the projected number of plants. About 5,080,944 plants were planted in the field in all tea growing area during the reporting period. This is equivalent to 366ha (13,888 pp/ha) of newly established smallholder tea farms. Prior to planting season, TRIT conducted training sessions on the basic techniques for the establishment and management of new tea fields for collaborating extension officers and farmers.

Tea field inventory in Muheza and Korogwe district (page 107 - 108): During the reporting period TRIT conducted a field inventory for all tea growing villages in the two districts. The results show that smallholders and medium scale tea growers have approximately 707.7 ha of tea farms. These are owned by 1,919 farmers of which 246 and 1,673 farmers are in Muheza and Korogwe respectively. Mpale village (Korogwe) has the largest area with approximately 93.0 ha followed by Zege and Vuje villages (Korogwe) with 77.7 and 70ha respectively. Whereas Maramba village (Muheza) has the smallest area of 0.2 ha. The survey results also indicated that the mean farm size for villages range from 0.20 ha at Maramba to 1.09 ha at Kwevihombo (Muheza). According to the current situation Antakae, Zilai villages (Muheza) and Mali, Tewe and Mpale Villages (Korogwe) have the highest planting rates. The high planting rates in these villages is attributed by the ongoing village based nurseries supported by TRIT.

On-farm trials and demonstration plots (page 109 - 110): TRIT continued to facilitate on farm trials and demonstration plots at village sites. These plots have been useful as learning sites and have enabled farmers to closely observe clonal performance. The trial of fertilizer use located in villages continued to give evidence on the importance of fertilizer use to tea.

xxiii Workshops, meetings, seminars and symposia (page111 - 112): During the reporting period, TRIT was represented in a number of meetings and forums organized by various stakeholders and collaborators within the country and outside. TRIT staff participated in a number workshops, symposiam and meetings including The first coordination meeting of country project coordinators (PCs) for the Technical Cooperation (TC) Project RAF/5/058: hosted by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Nairobi Kenya, 30th March to 3rd April 2009. TRIT staff also attended the 9th Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Agricultural Economics Society of Tanzania (AGREST) held at Visitors Inn in Zanzibar from 5th -7th October 2008.

CONCLUSIONS

As we move ahead past a one decade since we started, we look forward with confidence for the challenges facing us as they are many and varied. After a period of uncertenity from the time when cess was abolished we are slowly finding a footing although the drafted MoU between Government of Tanzania and Private Research Institutes which was meant to provide the necessary framework for financing and ownership of research facilities and results under the auspices of the Public/Private Parternership is yet to be signed. Our income generating projects which are at formative stages, the Igoda farm and the state of the art labaratory constructed and equiped with financial support from the EU are slowly taking shape, but it will take hard work, relentiless committment and significant investment for TRIT to start reapping the benefits of those projects as our sustainability initiative. It is our considered opinion that TRIT will face these challenges seriously with dedication, commitment and building on what has been achieved to date. Finally we thank all who have supported TRIT at various levels, the Government, The Board,TAP, farmers, and the neighbouring institutions (TRFK and TRFCA). TRIT staff are committed to serve the industry and I thank them all. The generous financial support provided by the EU through Stabex Funds is greatly appreciated.

Professor Bruno J. Ndunguru Executive Director

xxiv OVERVIEW

By Bruno J. Ndunguru

The Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT) was established in 1996 as an autonomous organisation representing the Government of Tanzania and the tea industry. TRIT aims to support the development of both small and large scale tea producers through appropriate, cost-effective, high quality research and technology transfer, to ensure the sustainability of the Tanzanian tea industry.

Within this overall aim the objectives of TRIT are to:

• provide answers to practical problems of immediate concern to the industry; • identify the financial benefits of research recommendations; • communicate the results of this work to the industry in appropriate, unambiguous ways; • explain, where possible, the mechanisms responsible for the observed responses, so that the results can be applied with confidence to other locations; and • subject this work to peer group review through scientific publications when justified.

TRIT publishes an Annual Report and a Newsletter describing these activities. These reports and other publications are also available online within TRIT’s own website at http://www.trit.or.tz. It also organises an annual conference and open day, and regional workshops. This report, therefore, covers the eleventh full year of TRIT operations.

The Institute operates in partnership with producers in all the major tea growing areas, and manages two research stations, Ngwazi and Marikitanda representing the two major agro- climatic zones where tea is produced. Research activities are centred on Crop Improvement, Soil Fertility Management and Crop Water Management Programmes.The Technology Transfer Programme, which is responsible for farming systems research and extension throughout the country, particularly for smallholders, operates from both sites. The first phase of the European Union contribution through Stabex funds became effective from July 2001 to June 2004. The second phase of EU Stabex support endend in December 2008 whereby excellent achievements were recorded on various implemented activities. Negotiations are underway to explore further support for TRIT by the EU. TRIT thanks the EU for its continued support.

During the year TRIT continued with the development of a tea farm as part of the institute sustainability plan. As part of the implementation of this strategy over 400 hectares of land was obtained at Igoda village, Luhunga division in Mufindi district of which tea has already been planted on 81 hectares and 61 ha under trees.

The extension services contract between TRIT and Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO) entered the third year of the third phase of the 3 years contracts. This follows a successful implementation of the second phase which was effective from 1 January 2004 until December 2006. Costs for these services are entirely met by WATCO. This has strengthened the linkages between research, farmers and the processors. Similarly, another contract between New Mponde Tea Company and TRIT to provide extension services for Mponde and Balangai catchment areas entered the second year of implementation. The immediate impact recorded in this catchment area was instant improvement on the quality of

1 greenleaf and subsequent made tea manufactured by the New Mponde Tea Factory. There are still more challenges to be addressed including low productivity, poor field conditions and lack of adequate working facilities for the extension staff. Furthermore, TRIT was contracted by Njombe Diocese’s Kilocha Seminary Tea project, to provide Farm Management services whereby one farm Manager will be recruited. TRIT would like to thank all our clients WATCO, New Mponde Tea Companies and Kilocha Tea Project for their confidence in our undertakings. TRIT also provides scientific support for a limited programme of work at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) Kifyulilo Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), also in the Southern Highlands.

Staff training both formal and informal, is a priority issue and international exchanges are encouraged. Some TRIT researchers were able to attend both local and international meetings and symposia where they presented research papers and exchanged experience with other participants.

TRIT continued to evaluate clonal materials from TRFCA and TRFK as a result of the MoU with the two institutions. TRFK and TRFCA continued to be represented in the TRIT Advisory Panel (TAP). Their contributions to TRIT are well appreciated. We value the cooperation and support of TRFCA and TRFK.

During the year, over 550 people visited TRIT Stations. These visitors included the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, Honourable Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda(MP) who visited Ngwazi Tea Research Station and inaugurated the TRIT’s modern Soils and Plant Analytical laboratory. The Prime Minister was accompained with other diginitaries including Hon. Peter Msolla (MP), the Minister for Science and Higher education, Hon. James Wanyancha (MP), Deputy Minister for Livestock and irrigation, Hajjat Amina Said Mrisho, Iringa Regional Commissioner, and Hon. Evarista Kalalu, District Commissioner for Mufindi. The event was also graced with the presence of His Exellence, Ambassador Tim Clarke, Head of Delegation of the European Union in Tanzania.

During the year TRIT also welcomed farmers, researchers, educators, students, politicians, donors and the members of business community. TRIT staff were pleased to have the opportunity of exchanging views with our esteemed stakeholders. In addition to our mandated activities, TRIT continued to play important roles in other National Development related activities. TRIT participated in the Tanzanian Agricultural Sector Development Programme Task Forces, Tanzania Coffee Research Advisory Panel, Nane Nane Agricultural shows and staff attended various workshops and seminars. The MoU on voluntary contribution by stakeholders was signed in November 2007. The government has continued to provide support for staff salaries and some research activities, although the amount is less than required by TRIT to accomplish all priority work and has been erratic while waiting for the draft MoU between Government and Private Research Institutions to be signed, and implemented.

This report summarizes the activities undertaken by TRIT during the reporting year, 1st July 2008 to 30th June 2009, for each Research Programme and for the Technology Transfer Programme. A summary of workshops, meetings, and seminars held or attended is presented at the end of the report together with a list of publications. The names of individual members of staff associated with each activity are cited. The typesetting and designing of the cover of this report were done by Dr Emmanuel Simbua.

2 METEOROLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS

NGWAZI TEA RESEARCH STATION

By Julius M Kigalu

Start of wet season: the wet season is judged to have started in the first week of a three week spell when mean weekly rainfall exceeds mean weekly potential evapotranspiration (ET). Start of dry season: the dry season is judged to have begun in the first week of a three week spell when mean weekly ET exceeds mean weekly rainfall. This means that the durations of the dry and wet season: are calculated by finding the differences between the calculated start and end weeks of the season. In 2008/09 the effective start of the rains at Ngwazi Tea Research Station (latitude: 8°32'S, longitude: 35°10'E, altitude 1840 m above sea level) was on 28 November 2008 when 21.7 mm of rainfall was recorded on that day, and by the end of December 2008 the total rainfall recorded was 379.8 mm, and December 2008 was the wettest month (336.8 mm) at Ngwazi. The annual rainfall in 2008/09 was 1151.2 mm received in 117 days compared with 1012.2 mm received in 116 days in 2007/08 and with 970 mm in 111 days in 2006/07. This was higher by 139.0 mm and 181.2 mm than the values in 2007/08 and 2006/07, respectively. The rains stopped early such that the total rainfall for April and May 2009 was only 118.3 mm whilst that in May was just 3.8 mm. The evapotranspiration (ET) was 1187.5 compared with 1265 mm in 2007/08 and 1476 in the previous year (2006/07). The maximum potential soil water deficit (SWD) was 733.4 mm and was larger than 701 mm in 2007/08 and 664 mm in 2006/07 and lower than 872 mm in 2005/06, respectively. Table 1 summarises the meteorological observations at Ngwazi in 2008/09.

In 2008/09 the average minimum air temperature was 11.3 which was slightly lower than the values of 11.6 and 11.7 °C in 2007/08 and 2006/07, respectively and lower than 16.6 °C in 2005/06 and the long-term average of 16.8 °C for Ngwazi. The average maximum air temperature was 22.0 °C and slightly higher than the value of 21.7 °C in 2007/08 and 21.5 °C in 2006/07. The mean air temperature was 16.7°C compared with 11.6 °C in 2007/08 and 11.7 °C in 2006/07. The mean mid-afternoon vapour pressure deficit (VPD) was 0.81 kPa similar to 0.8 kPa in 2007/09 but both lower than the value of 0.9 kPa in 2006/07, 1.0 kPa in 2005/06 and the long-term average of 0.93 kPa. The incoming daily solar radiation was 17.8 MJ m-2 d-1 which was slightly higher than the value in 2007/08 (17.2 MJ m-2 d-1) and 17.1 MJ m-2 d-1 recorded in 2006/07 and the long-term average (17.1 MJ m-2 d-1) at Ngwazi, but lower than 18.3 MJ m-2 d-1 in 2005/06.

3 Table 1: Summary of meteorological observations at Ngwazi Tea Research Station (8°32'S, 35°10'E, altitude 1840 m) for June 2008 to May 2009.

Monthly total Monthly Monthly means of daily values Max. Air temperature Solar Wind VPD

Month Rain Epan ET= SWD Max Min. Mean Radiation Run 15h00

0.85Eo -1 (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (°C) (°C) (°C) (MJ m-2) (km d ) (kPa) 2007 June 0.0 82.0 84.5 188.4 17.8 8.5 13.2 16.9 123.6 0.70 July 0.0 84.0 97.8 272.4 18.7 7.9 13.3 17.1 131.5 0.90 Aug 0.1 99.1 107.2 371.4 19.7 100 14.9 19.1 136.7 0.90 Sept 0.0 127.5 103.3 498.9 22.5 9.8 16.2 22.5 131.6 1.20 Oct 0.1 138.6 142.8 637.4 25.3 11.3 18.3 23.5 135.6 1.30 Nov 43.0 123.0 133.0 733.4 27.9 12.3 20.7 20.7 117.9 1.30 Dec 336.8 88.8 78.5 706.9 23.2 13.2 18.2 14.1 81.6 0.40 2008 Jan 263.6 95.6 86.4 15.5 23.1 12.3 17.7 15.8 83.3 0.50 Feb 195.7 83.7 84.4 16.0 21.8 13.6 17.7 14.7 102.2 0.50 Mar 193.6 84.1 86.9 18.0 23.2 12.6 17.9 16.0 83.1 0.50 Apr 114.5 84.5 85.1 52.0 20.8 13.4 17.1 15.7 109.6 0.60 May 3.8 89.8 97.5 138.0 20.5 11.2 15.9 17.2 112.1 0.90 Total 1151.2 1180.7 1187.5 Mean 22.0 11.3 16.7 17.8 112.4 0.81

N.B: Epan refers to evaporation measured directly from a square sunken pan, whilst the evapotranspiration, ET =

0.85E0 refers to 85% of Penman’s calculated estimate of open water evaporation modified by Penman– Monteith. ET was calculated using the daily evapotranspiration (DAILYET) model developed at Cranfield University at Silsoe College, UK. Max SWD is the cumulative maximum potential soil water deficit. VPD = vapour pressure deficit of the air at 1500 h

MARIKITANDA TEA RESEARCH STATION

By Julius M. Kigalu and Rafikiel A. Masha

In 2008/09 the annual rainfall at Marikitanda Tea Research Station, Amani (5º 08’ S, 38º 35’ E, altitude 970 m) was 1204.5mm recorded in 124 days compared with 1898.2 mm in 162 days in 2007/08 and 2669 mm in 190 days in 2006/07. This was 575.5 mm lower than the long-term average of 1780 mm (42 years, 1967-2008) but 692.2 mm lower than the annual rainfall of last year (2007/08), respectively. In 2008/09 there was less total rainfall (145.5 mm) 226 mm) in the short rain (“vuli”) season (September to December) whereby 46.8, 47.7, 105.2 and 25.8 mm were received in September, October, November and December, respectively, compared with corresponding values of total rainfall of 327.0 mm and monthly totals of 36.1, 163.5, 59.8 and 67.6 mm in 2007/08 and 140 mm, 545 mm, 458 mm and 267 mm in 2006/07. Therefore 2008/09 was the driest in the past three years (2006/07 – 2008/09) and in particular December 2008 (25.8 mm), January 2009 (4.5 mm) and March 2009 (51.0 mm) were the driest months in 2008/09. These months together with February 2009 (102.5 mm) gave the least yields of tea at MTRS. The wettest month in 2008/09 was April with 461.8 mm of rainfall which was also less than that in 2008 (481.4 mm). By further comparison the wettest month in 2006/07 was October 2006 with 545 mm of rainfall followed by May 2007 and November 2006 with 468 mm and 458 mm, respectively. The ET was 1062 mm compared with 1101.7 mm in 2007/08 and below the annual rainfall (1204.5 mm). In 2008/09 the mean incident solar radiation (14.0 MJ m-2 day-1) and the daily wind 4 speed values (105.7 km day-1) were larger than the corresponding values of 12.5 MJ m-2 day-1 and 99.4 km day-1 in 2007/08. The saturation vapour pressure deficit (VPD) of the air was relatively high in the period between December 2008 and March 2009, ranging from average values of 1.25 to 1.65 kPa compared with lower values in February 2008 especially in January 2008 in 2007/08 whereby 1.16 kPa was recorded.

In 2008/09 the mean air temperature (20.7 ºC) was similar to the values in the years 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 (20.6 ºC, 20.7 ºC, 20.6 ºC, 20.7 ºC, 20.5 ºC and 19.0 ºC, respectively). The mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures were 25.0 ºC and 16.3 ºC, respectively compared with corresponding values of 22.6 and 15.5 ºC and 24.3 ºC and 16.6 ºC in 2007/08 and 2006/07. These results indicate further that the weather at MTRS and the Usambara tea growing areas was harsh for optimum tea production. Table 2 summarises the meteorological observations at Marikitanda in 2008/09.

Table 2: Summary of meteorological observations at Marikitanda Tea Research Station (5º 08’ S, 38º 35’ E, altitude 970 m) for the year June 2008 to May 2009.

Monthly total Monthly means of daily values Air temperatures Solar Wind VPD

Rain ET=0.85Eo Max Min Mean radiation Run 15h00 Month (mm) (mm) (ºC) (ºC) (ºC) (MJ m d-1) (km d-1) (kPa) 2007 Jun. 162.3 58.6 21.1 14.9 18.0 8.8 106.3 0.47 Jul. 67.6 60.5 20.9 14.6 17.8 9.8 89.5 0.41 Aug. 44.3 65.9 21.9 15.0 18.5 10.7 72.8 0.59 Sep. 46.8 63.3 23.3 13.6 18.5 13.9 65.4 0.84 Oct. 47.7 85.1 25.2 15.5 20.4 14.2 68.9 0.85 Nov. 105.2 95.6 26.5 17.3 21.9 16.0 113.6 0.83 Dec. 25.8 120.0 27.0 17.4 22.2 18.4 145.0 1.25 2008 Jan. 4.5 136.4 28.8 16.9 22.9 20.3 152.2 1.65 Feb. 102.5 112.3 28.4 17.9 23.2 17.5 134.9 1.35 Mar. 51.0 115.9 28.3 17.5 22.9 16.0 121.4 1.32 Apr. 461.8 79.4 25.3 17.7 21.5 11.9 100.3 0.79 May 85.0 69.0 23.7 16.9 20.3 10.4 97.7 0.69 Total 1204.5 1062.0 Mean 25.0 16.3 20.7 14.0 105.7 0.92 ET=0.85Eo refers to 85% of Penman’s calculated estimate of open water evaporation as modified by Penman- Monteith. ET was calculated using the daily evapotranspiration (DAILYET) model developed at Cranfield University at Silsoe College, UK. VPD=vapour pressure deficit of the air at 1500 h.

KIBENA TEA LIMITED, NJOMBE

By Julius M Kigalu

The local climate of Kibena Tea Limited in Njombe in Southern Tanzania (latitude: 09° 25' S, longitude: 34° 45' E, altitude: 1860 m above sea level) comprises of three distinct seasons as described in annual reports of previous years. Briefly, a cool dry season prevails from May to August with long-term ten years mean monthly (1994-2003) air temperatures of 13 to 16 °C. A subsequent warm dry season lasts from September until the beginning of the rainy season in November. During this period temperatures increase steadily from 16 to 18.5 °C with open pan evaporation rates ranging from about 3 mm d-1 during June to August to 5 mm

5 d-1 in October/ November. The warm wet season follows from November to April, although the beginning of the end of that period might vary by up to one month. A large proportion (up to 95%) of the average annual rainfall (800-1,360 mm) is obtained during this season with mean air temperatures of 17 to 18.5 °C. A summary of the weather data at Kibena in 2008/09 is presented in Table 3. Entries marked with “*” indicated that data were not recorded due to breakdown of instruments. This problem was first reported in 2007/08 and recommendation made that in future efforts should be made to ensure timely replacement.

The daily meteorological data are recorded from a standard weather station at the Itambo Estate of Kibena Tea Limited. In 2008/09 both the values of the average minimum (12.5 °C) and the mean (16.5 °C) air temperatures were higher than the corresponding values of 10.8 mm and 14.2 mm in 2007/08. However, unlike in previous years the minimum and mean air temperature values in 2008/09 were correspondingly higher and lower than the values at Ngwazi, Mufindi. In previous years including 2006/07, the minimum air temperature at Kibena was generally low particularly in the cool dry season with monthly average minimum air temperatures values ranging from 8.6 - 8.7° in June/July 2007 to 15.7 - 15.9 °C in November/December 2007. By comparison, the monthly mean air temperature (maximum, minimum and mean), wind run, and VPD were closely similar to those recorded at Ngwazi Tea Research Station, Mufindi (Table 1). In 2008/09 the mean solar radiation at Kibena was 16.5 MJ m-2 d-1 characterized with increasingly clear skies compared with 15.5 MJ m-2 d-1 and 15.7 MJ m-2 d-1) in 2007/08 and 2006/07, respectively due to often thicker cloud cover and foggy conditions in the past two years, and hence leading, in part, to lower values than those at Ngwazi (17.2 MJ m-2 d-1). Unlike in previous years, in March 2009 there was relatively low wind run (5 km d-1) compared with January 2008 (15.5 km d-1)and the value recorded at Ngwazi in Mufindi (17.2 km d-1) in that month. The mean vapour pressure deficit (0.9 kPa) was similar to the value (0.9 kPa) but lower than the values (1.0 kPa) in 2006/07 and (1.09 kPa) in 2005/06.

In 2008/09 the annual total evapotranspiration (ET) was 591.6 mm and lower than 942 mm recorded in seven months (excluding June and July to November when maximum and minimum air temperatures could not be recorded due to defective thermometers as mentioned above). The total E-pan was 1339 mm compared with 1087 mm in the previous year and with 1160 mm in 2006/07, and was higher than the annual rainfall of 936.1 mm recorded in 100 days which was lower than (1472 mm) recorded in 116 days in 2007/08, and much lower than the value received in 2006/07 (1178 mm) in 139 days but exceeded that of 2005/06 (744 mm) recorded in 81 days. Unlike in the previous four years, the occurrence and distribution of rainfall from December 2008 to April 2009 was relatively good, again resulting in recharge of water reserve in the Lihogosa Dam for irrigation of tea as last year.

6 Table 3: Summary of meteorological observations at Itambo Estate, Kibena Tea Limited Njombe (latitude: 09° 25' S, longitude: 34° 45' E, altitude: 1860 m above sea level) for the year June 2008 to May 2009.

Monthly means of daily values Monthly total Monthly Air temperature Solar Wind VPD

Rain Epan ET= Max. Max. Min. Mean Radiation Run 15h00

Month 0.85Eo SWD -1 (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (°C) (°C) (°C) (MJ m-2) (km d ) (kPa) 2007 June 2.0 104.0 * 206.0 * * * 16.3 137.6 0.68 July 4.1 108.1 * 310.0 * * * 15.8 148.4 0.72 Aug 0.0 96.0 106.1 406.0 19.6 10.0 14.8 17.6 187.5 0.88 Sept 0.0 150.0 * 556.0 * * * 21.2 183.6 1.20 Oct 0.0 144.0 * 700.0 * * * 18.5 172.6 1.36 Nov 57.6 126.1 * 793.0 * * * 17.9 167.6 1.08 Dec 176.4 93.4 65.7 785.0 23.2 13.8 18.5 14.4 57.2 0.66 2008 Jan 207.6 110.6 83.9 50.0 23.6 12.7 18.1 15.5 29.3 0.62 Feb 192.1 101.6 75.6 15.5 22.3 13.8 18.0 15.1 35.9 0.58 Mar 176.8 79.8 85.6 16.5 22.8 13.7 18.3 16.7 5.0 0.55 Apr 116.2 113.7 79.9 60.5 21.2 12.6 16.9 14.9 41.2 0.69 May 3.3 111.8 94.8 69.0 21.1 10.9 16.0 16.1 100.7 1.22 Total 936.1 1339.1 591.6 Mean 21.6 12.5 17.0 16.5 187.1 0.85

Eo is an estimate of open water evaporation based on the Penman equation modified in the Penman-Monteith. ET was calculated using the daily evapotranspiration (DAILYET) model developed at Cranfield University at Silsoe College, UK. Max SWD is the cumulative maximum potential soil water deficit. VPD = vapour pressure deficit of the air at 1500 h. * = Data were not recorded due to defective thermometers.

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE KIFYULILO, MUFINDI

By Julius M Kigalu and Michael M S Mhosole

The local climate of Kifyulilo Agricultural Research Institute, Mufindi in Southern Tanzania (latitude: 08° 42' S, longitude: 35° 20' E, altitude: 2,000 m above sea level) comprises of three distinct seasons with weather similar to that at Ngwazi Tea Research Station some 24 km away northward. Table 4 summarises the weather data at Kifyulilo for the year June 2008 to May 2009.

In the year 2008/09, the annual rainfall was 1604.4 mm in 123 days compared with 1494 and 1550 mm received in 139 and 146 days in 2007/08 and 2006/07, respectively and values of 1038 mm in 108 days in 2005/06. The amount of rainfall in 2008/09 was larger than the total evapotranspiration (ET; 1297 mm). By comparison the ET in 2006/07 was 1366 mm and higher than the value (1322 mm) in 2005/06. Thus Kifyulilo had relatively higher rainfall amount compared with Ngwazi (Table 1), Marikitanda (table 2) and Kibena (Table 3).

7 Table 4: Summary of meteorological observations at Agriculture Research Institute Kifyulilo, Mufindi (latitude: 08° 42' S, longitude: 35° 20' E, altitude: 2,000 m above sea level) for the year June 2008 to May 2009.

Monthly total Monthly mean of daily values Rain Epan ET= Air temperature Solar Wind VPD Month (mm) (mm) 0.85E0 Max Min Mean Radiation run (kPa) (mm) (°C) (°C) (°C) (MJ m-2 d-1) (km d-1) 2007 Jun 4.9 98.44 104.1 17.6 10.5 14.1 16.5 182.6 0.6 Jul 0.0 82.0 105.4 17.5 9.6 13.6 10.1 210.8 0.65 Aug 9.5 111.5 118.5 18.4 10.1 14.3 16.7 225.9 0.9 Sep 0.0 142.0 115.2 20.8 10.8 15.8 13.1 240.1 0.93 Oct 0.0 148.0 141.2 22.4 12.1 17.3 12.9 239.9 1.21 Nov 69.6 166.6 158.1 23.7 12.2 18.0 21.8 217.4 1.20 Dec 252.2 107.2 11.7 23.0 13.0 18.0 15.6 137.5 0.73 2008 Jan 210.7 133.2 105.7 21.9 13.7 17.8 15.1 138.4 0.65 Feb 573.3 478.3 102.4 22.3 13.8 18.1 14.7 141.4 0.74 Mar 278.0 66.0 110.1 21.3 12.7 17.0 16.0 142.2 0.69 Apr 143.3 69.8 84.4 17.7 12.8 15.3 11.1 195.6 0.72 May 62.9 117.4 99.3 18.1 11.2 14.7 13.9 179.3 0.73 Total 1604.4 1720.4 1356.1 Mean 20.4 11.9 16.1 14.8 187.6 0.80

The average minimum air temperature values were generally similar to those at Ngwazi and Kibena, ranging from 9.6 °C in July 2007 to 18.0 °C in November and December 2007 while the range for the maximum air temperature was between 17.5 and 23.7 °C in June/July and November 2007, respectively. By comparison, the monthly mean air temperature (16.1 °C) and VPD (0.8 kPa) were similar to those recorded at Ngwazi Tea Research Station (Table 1). The mean solar radiation was 14.8 MJ m-2 d-1 compared with 14.2 and 17.2 MJ m-2 d-1 in 2006/07 and 2005/06, respectively; and was lower than that at Ngwazi (17.2 MJ m-2 d-1) this year. The wind run was relatively high at Kifyulilo with a mean value of 188 km d-1 compared with 196 and 185 km d-1 in 2005/06 and 2006/07, respectively, and, Kifyulilo being close to the edge of the Udzungwa escarpment and facing the valley that forms part of the Kilombero River Basin, these values were relatively high compared with 125 and 76 km d-1 at Ngwazi and Kibena, respectively.

8 CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (CIP)

By Solomon. W. Msomba

INTRODUCTION:

During 2008/09 the Crop Improvement Programme (CIP) continued to carry out planned activities based on three key objectives to achieve the overall institutional set goals namely;

• to select and evaluate clones acquired both from within and outside the country • to establish a hybridization program to develop and identify superior clones for specific attributes mainly; high yield and quality, tolerance to drought stress and good response to air temperatures • to identify material which may be potential rootstocks and scions for composite plants; and include best nursery and crop establishment practices for which its success rates can effectively be translated into the field

To achieve the above objectives various activities were carried out. The current report covers progress on various activities that were executed during the 2008/09. These were;

• Four experiments; M6, M8, M9 and M10 at MTRS sites

• Clonal adaptability experiments which is located at five sites in Kenya and four in Tanzania ((N17: NTRS, M8: MTRS, RU1: Rungwe and LU 1: Luponde) and • Experiment K 4, which is being implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives (MoAFs) at the Kifyulilo Agriculture Research Station. • Experiment 21a: Evaluation of the response of clone TRFK 6/8 to nitrogen fertilizer rates and harvesting intervals in Tanzania- The project is run in three countries including Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. The current report covers results for the Tanzanian part.

9 EXPERIMENTS N17, M 8, RU1 & LU 1: CLONAL ADAPTABILITY TRIAL IN KENYA AND TANZANIA

By Solomon W. Msomba, Richard C. Muoki∗, Samson Kamunya* and Francis Wachira∗

INTRODUCTION

The performance of crop genotypes, tea inclusive, may differ according to existing environment. That is, a genotype that demonstrates superiority at one environment may not necessarily perform in the same way at another environment. This phenomenon has been described as genotype x environment interaction. Elsewhere, the application of G x E interaction on tea has demonstrated that there is considerable genotypic variation in response to environmental change and genetic variations in adaptation among tea clones.

The phenomenon has frequently been adopted as a useful technique or criterion for tea breeding and selection. The approach has also been extensively applied to determine areas suitable for specific tea clones. Based on these established facts this experiment was set at four and five selected tea growing areas in Tanzania and Kenya, respectively. The purpose of this study is to determine the yield performance and adaptability of improved tea clones at four different growing areas in the country. The current report details the recorded progress for the period from June 2008 to end of May 2009.

OBJECTIVES The experiment geared to achieve three key objectives, namely;

• to compare parameters of genotypic stability useful in tea breeding;

• to compare the adaptability and stability levels of these genotypes to different Kenyan and Tanzanian tea growing areas, and

• to apply the concept of Genotype x Environment interactions in mapping out Kenyan/Tanzanian tea zones on the basis of clones suitable for those zones.

SITE DESCRIPTIONS

The clonal adaptability trial (CAT) continued at four locations in Tanzania namely; Marikitanda Tea Research station (MTRS; Latitude: 5º08′ S, 38º35′ E: Altitude: 970m a.s.l), Ngwazi Tea Research Station (NTRS: Latitude: 8º 32′ S, Longitude: 35º10′ E; Altitude: 1,840m a.s.l). Ilenge in Rungwe District (Ilenge: Latitude: 09º12′S; Longitude: 033º34.6′E; Altitude: 1,315m a.s.l) and Luponde (Dansland Tea Estate; 2,200m above sea level), in Njombe District. In Kenya the trial has been located at five sites namely Kericho, Kangaita, Ogembo, Sotik and Nandi. The climatic conditions for the four locations in Tanzania were presented earlier in the TRIT annual report, 2004/05.

 Plant Breeder, Tea Research Foundation of Kenya (TRFK) ∗ Head department of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology, Egarton University (Kenya) 10 TREATMENTS

The current experiment at four sites in Tanzania was planted as follows; East Usambaras (9th April 2005), Mufindi (5th March 2005), Ilenge, Rungwe (23rd March 2005) and Luponde, in Njombe district (1st February 2006). At Ngwazi Tea Research Station (NTRS) twenty nine test clones and two control clones were established; whereas at Marikitanda Tea Research Station (MTRS), Rungwe-1 (RU-1) and Luponde-1 (LU-1) a total of thirty clones and two local checks are established. The test clones are; 11/4, 271/8, 400/4, 371/6, 301/4, 301/5, 400/7, 303/1199, 301/6, 303/577, 303/178, 303/259, 303/216, 12/19, 430/63, 371/2, 430/7, 381/5, 201/82, 201/16, 201/44, 201/73, 201/75, 201/55, 201/50, 201/70, 201/47, 201/43, 400/10, and SFS 150 (yield), 6/8 (quality) as local checks.

At planting time, fertilizer Triple Super phosphate (46%) was applied at 15g per plant (300 kg N/ha-1). To maintain soil moisture and minimize both soil erosion and initial weed infestation, mulch was established towards end of wet season, using Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum). Micro-catchments (30cm × 60cm.) were immediately dug after field establishment to check movement of surface runoff between sub-plots. The experimental plots have been kept weed-free by regular hand- and chemical (Round-up at rate of 2.5 liters per ha) weeding.

During the season under review, only a single split of fertilizer NPK at the ratio of 5:1:1 was applied at the rate of 300 kg N ha-1 in first week of November 2008 at NTRS site. At MTRS, fertilizers were applied in two splits at same ratio as above at the rate of 250 kg N ha-1 in first week of December 2008 and the first week of March 2009; whereas, at Rungwe the application was made during the last week of November 2008 and the first week of March 2009. At Luponde site, which was established a year later, fertilizer rate of 250 kg N ha-1 was applied in second week of November 2008 and first week of March 2009.

DESIGN

The trials were set on the same randomized complete block design with three replicates. 18- plants per plot are planted at the East Usambara, Rungwe and Luponde sites. Plants are spaced at 0.6m × 1.2m (Equivalent to 13,889 plant ha-1). At Ngwazi site, the clones were spaced at 0.6 x 1.2 m. in four replicate blocks. Two of these blocks run on either side of a central path where an irrigation sprinkler line is placed during irrigation. Each of the main clonal plots comprises of 108 plants and is divided into six sub-plots each with 18 plants. During the dry season the experiment was irrigated when the potential soil water deficit (SWD mm) reached 45 – 50mm. Until end of 2008/09 dry season (7th November 2008) a total of 593 mm of water were irrigated to salvage the bushes from severe drought.

RESULTS

Annual Yields (kg mt ha-1): During 2008/09 there was higher significant (P≤ 0.05) difference among clones at Ngwazi on annual yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) (Table 1). The yields ranged from 2,320 kg mt ha-1 for a quality local check clone TRFK 6/8 to 3,480 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 371/3. The two best performing clones TRFK 303/178 and TRFK 301/5 out-yielded the control clone TRFCA SFS150 by 21.5 % and 25.3%, respectively (Table 5). Compared to the previous

11 season (2007/08) the annual yields in 2008/09 were relatively low. This is probably because the trial had reached the first pruning cycle. The cumulative yields; from 2006/07 to 2008/09, ranged from 5,340 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 6/8 to 9,570 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 301/5. Clone TRFK 301/5 (9,570 kg mt ha-1) out yielded all the clones in this trial Followed closely by Clones TRFK 303/178 (9,110 kg mt ha-1), TRFK 301/4 (8,970 kg mt ha-1) and TRFK 430/63 (8,770 kg mt ha-1). Clone TRFK 6/8 cumulatively yielded lowest.

Table 5: Experiment N17: Mean annual (June2008-May 2009), Cumulative and Mean cum (2006-2009) Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of 29-test clones and 2-local checks; Ngwazi tea Research Station, Mufindi district. Entry/Clone Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) Mean annuala Cumulativea Mean Cuma (June 08-May 09) (2006-2009) (2006-2009) TRFK371/3 3,4801 8,450 2,8205 TRFK301/4 3,4502 8,970 2,9903 TRFK301/5 3,4203 9,570 3,1901 TRFK400/4 3,3304 7,860 2,6209 201/43 3,2605 8,210 2,7407 TRFK303/259 3,2306 7,610 2,54010 TRFK430/63 3,2107 8,770 2,9304 TRFK303/178 3,2108 9,110 3,0302 TRFK371/2 3,1709 7,460 7,46011 TRFK303/577 3,15010 7,310 2,45012 TRFK371/8 3,14011 8,140 2,7108 TRFCASFS 150* 3,11012 7,150 2,38013 TRFK6/8** 2,32031 5,340 1,78031 Mean 2,880 7,090 2,360 CV (%) 18.1 LSD = (p≤ 0.05) for mean annual yields 341.9 kg mt ha-1 a=Yield ranking.

At Marikitanda the annual yields for 2008/09, cumulative yields for the period from 2006/07 to 2008/09 are presented in Table 6. The annual yields ranged from 740 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 303/1199 to 1,640 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 301/5. Four seasons after field establishment, clones TRFK 301/5, TRFK 303/259 and 201/44 outperformed the control clone TRFCA SFS150 (1,310 kg mt ha-1) by 20.1%, 13.8% and 13.2%, respectively. Clones 371/8, 301/4, 371/2, 371/3, 303/216, 12/19 demonstrated superior yield performance well above the control clone TRFCA SFS150 during this period.

* Local check for Yield ** Local check for quality 12 Table 6: Experiment M8: Mean annual (June2008-May 2009), Cumulative and Mean cum (2006-2009) Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of 31-test clones and 2-local checks; Marikitanda tea Research Station, Usambara Mountains. Entry/Clone Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) Drought score Mean annuala Cumulativea Mean Cuma (1-5) b (June 08-May 09) (2006-2009) (2006-2009) TRFK301/5 1,6401 6,310 2,1101 4 TRFK303/259 1,5202 5,710 1,9009 2 201/44 1,5103 5,610 1,87013 3 TRFK371/8 1,4304 6,270 2,0902 2 TRFK301/4 1,4005 5,910 1,9706 2 TRFK371/2 1,3506 5,710 1,9008 2 TRFK371/3 1,3407 5,620 1,88012 2 TRFK303/216 1,3408 5,210 1,74021 3 TRFK12/19 1,3209 5,380 1,79019 3 TRFCASFS 150* 1,31010 5,700 1,90011 2 TRFK6/8** 96630 5,160 1,72023 4 Mean 1,230 5,460 1,820 2.7 CV (%) 19.7 25 LSD = (p≥ 0.05) 396.3 kg mt ha- 1.2 a=Yield ranking b= Drought stress score on 1 – 5 scale (1=Very susceptible; 5= Very resistant).

Cumulative yields of 6,310, 6,270, 6,240 and 6,140 kg mt ha-1 were recorded for clones TRFK 301/5, TRFK 371/8, TRFK 301/6 and 201/16, respectively. The lowest cumulative yields was recorded on clone TRFK 303/1199 (3,580 kg mt ha-1) Despite the severe drought at Marikitanda, during 2008/09 clone TRFK 301/5 had superior annual and cumulative yields and the clone maintained higher rank than the entire treatment clones.

At Rungwe, the treatment yields though not significantly different ranged from 1,110 kg mt ha-1 to 3,910 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 303/1199 and TRFK 301/5, respectively (Table 7). The cumulative yields ranged from 2,750 kg mt ha-1 to 10,240 kg mt ha-1 for same clones TRFK 301/1199 and TRFK 301/5, respectively (Table 3). Clones, TRFK 301/6, TRFK 303/178, TRFK 303/259, TRFK 430/63, TRFK 371/2 and TRFK 381/5 also, demonstrated promising annual and cumulative yield.

* Local check for Yield **Local check for quality 13 Table 7: Experiment RU-1: Mean annual (June2008-May 2009), Cumulative and Mean cum (2006-2009) Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of 29-test clones and 2-local checks; Ilenge, Rungwe district.

Entry/Clone Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) Mean annuala Cumulativea Mean Cuma (June 08-May 09) (2006-2009) (2006-2009) TRFK301/5 3,9101 10,240 3,4101 TRFK301/6 3,5402 9,840 3,2802 TRFK303/178 3,3703 8,840 2,9503 TRFK303/259 3,3704 8,380 2,7906 TRFK430/63 3,3205 8,370 2,7906 TRFK371/2 3,2906 8,550 2,8504 TRFK381/5 3,0807 7,590 2,5309 201/75 2,9408 7,590 2,44011 201/43 2,8409 7,300 2,44011 TRFCASFS150* 2,82010 6,810 2,27015 TRFK6/8** 2,59016 6,350 2,12019 TRFK 303/1199 1,11031 1,110 91531 Mean 2,600 6,727 2,240 CV (%) 32.0 LSD=(p≥ 0.05) for mean annual yields1,359.2 kg mt ha-1 a=Yield ranking

At Luponde, there were higher significant (P≤ 0.05) differences among clones and control clone TRFCA SFS150, (Table 8). The annual yields ranged from 470 kg mt ha-1 for clone 201/50 to 1,270 kg mt ha-1 for clone TRFK 303/178 (Table 8). Clones 201/47 and TRFK 301/5 gave comparable annual yields of 1,070 kg mt ha-1. The yields were significantly (P≤ 0.05) lower than that from the best clone TRFK 303/178 and control clone TRFCA SFS150. Twenty four months after first plucking (March, 2008), the cumulative yields ranged from 670 kg mt ha-1 to 2,020 kg mt ha-1 for clones TRFK 11/4 and TRFK 303/178, respectively.

Crop Cover (%): During 2008/09, significant (P≤ 0.05) differences on the rate of ground cover were recorded among treatment at Marikitanda and Luponde sites. At Marikitanda site, the rate at which clones covered the ground ranged from 82.3% to 100% for clones TRFK 303/1199 and 201/82, respectively. At Luponde, a trial which was established a season later, the rate of crop ground cover ranged from 32.1% for clone TRFK 11/4 to 72.3% for clone TRFK 430/63. This implies that, clones 201/82 and TRFK 430/63 were promising in exploiting Marikitanda and Luponde sites, respectively. These exceeded the control clone TRFCA SFS150 by 17.7% and 55.6%.

* Local check for Yield **Local check for quality 14 Table 8: Experiment LU-1: Mean annual (June 2008-May 2009), Cumulative and Mean cum (2006-2009) Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of 29-test clones and 2-local checks; Dansland division, Njombe district. Yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) Entry/Clone Mean annuala Cumulativea Mean Cuma (June 08-May 09) (2006-2009) (2006-2009) TRFK 303/178 1,2701 2,020 10101 TRFCA SFS 150* 1,0802 1,990 9902 201/47 9903 1,860 9305 TRFK 301/5 1,0704 1,800 9504 TRFK 6/8** 61020 1,150 58016 201/50 47031 720 36030 Mean 760 1,280 640 C. V (%) 22.8 a=Yield ranking. LSD= (p≥ 0.05) for mean annual yields 227.7 kg mt ha-1

Growth in plant height (cm): In 2008/09, significant (P≤ 0.05) differences were recorded on growth in plant height among clonal treatments at all four sites. At Ngwazi site, the increase in plant height ranged from 52.8cm to 71.3cm for clones 201/44 and TRFK 400/4, respectively.. During same period, at Marikitanda, the highest increase in height was 61.2cm from clones 201/55 and 201/82; while, the least height increase was 52.8cm from clone TRFK 6/8. At Rungwe, the growth in plant height ranged from 57.9cm to 69.0cm for clones TRFK 371/3 and 201/82, respectively. While, at Luponde, the plant height was 45.1cm for clone 201/73 to 50.1cm for clone TRFK 301/4. Across locations, until the first pruning cycle, clone 201/82 increased in plant height significantly (P≤ 0.05) faster over control clone TRFCA SFS150 at Marikitanda and Rungwe sites, while, clones TRFK 400/4 and TRFK 301/4 at Ngwazi and Luponde sites, respectively. Commercially, clones which grew faster than control clone TRFCA SFS150 implies that at some estates the pruning cycles can be shorter than expected (>5seasons) especially clone 201/82. At same time, clones that demonstrated slow growth may be recommended for commercial production especially if also they are associated with high yielding and quality attributes.

Growth in stem girth (mm): During 2008/09, at Marikitanda there were significant (P≤ 0.05) differences on growth in stem girth among treatments and control clone TRFCA SFS150. The stem girth grew in the range from 36.7mm to 56.7mm for clones TRFK 303/1199 and 201/75, respectively. This implies that the best clone 201/75 was exploiting the environment at Marikitanda faster than the control clone TRFCA SFS150 (48.7mm). The growth in stem girth of clones 201/82 was comparable to that of clone TRFK 301/4 were (53.8mm). The growth were significantly (P≤ 0.05) lower than the best clone 201/75 but significantly (P≤ 0.05) higher than the control clone. The growth for clones 201/55 (54.2mm), TRFK 301/6 (53.5mm), 201/50 (53.0mm), TRFK 371/8 (51.0mm) 201/16 (50.5mm) and TRFK 6/8 (50.2mm) were significantly lower compared to the best clone 201/75 but significantly faster than the control clone TRFCA SFS150.

* Local check for Yield **Local check for quality 15 At first pruning cycle, clone 201/75 were adapting relatively faster at the Marikitanda in terms of growth in stem girth. Similarly, clones TRFK 371/3 (55.5mm) and TRFK 430/63 (53.2mm) demonstrated superior increase in stem girth at Ngwazi and Rungwe sites, respectively.

Assessment of drought stress (Score: 1 – 5): During 2008/09, severe prolonged drought stress was experienced (January 2009) at Marikitanda site. This stress necessitated the score of the trial on drought tolerance level among clonal treatments. The assessment was based on a 1 – 5 score (TRFK, 2006). There was highly significant variations (P≤ 0.05) in drought response among the test clones and control clone TRFCA SFS150 (Table 6). Two clones TRFK 11/4 and TRFK 400/4 were the most drought tolerance over the entire clones. The least drought tolerant clones were 201/75, 201/16, TRFK 301/5 and TRFK 303/1199. The trial was pruned in June 2009 after had completed the first pruning cycle of 4 seasons (2005/06 to 2008/09).

CONCLUSIONS • Until first pruning cycle, clone TRFK 301/5 maintained a consistent higher ranking in annual yields at NTRS and Rungwe sites. This trend was not observed at MTRS. • Clone TRFK 303/1199 was ranked consistently lowest at MTRS and Rungwe sites; while at NTRS it was clone TRFK 6/8. • Across sites i.e. MTRS, Rungwe and NTRS, clone TRFK 301/5 was ranked higher in terms of cumulative yields at all three sites. Clones TRFK 303/1199 and TRFK 6/8 ranked least at MTRS, Rungwe, and NTRS. • Until first pruning cycle, 100% of the treatments had covered ground by ≥ 90% at MTRS; whereas rates were lower at other sites. • Highest growth rate was recorded on clone 201/82 at MTRS. • Highest growth rate was recorded on clone 201/82 at MTRS, while at Ngwazi it was clone TRFK 400/4 and Luponde TRFK 301/4. On the contrary, poor growth in height were recorded from clones 201/44, 201/55, 201/73 and TRFK 371/3 at Ngwazi, Marikitanda, Luponde and Rungwe sites, respectively. • Clones TRFK 11/4 and TRFK 400/4 were drought tolerant; while, clones 201/75, 201/16, TRFK 301/5 and TRFK 303/1199 were only moderately tolerant to susceptible to drought stress.

16 COMPOSITE PLANTS

By Solomon. W. Msomba, the late Badan. K. Sanga and Dunstan Ndamugoba

INTRODUCTION Composite plants in woody crops, tea inclusive, are commonly used to increase both quantities and qualities of production and mitigate adverse conditions such as drought and low temperature. In tea the approach has been applied to improve yields of low yielding but good scion materials without altering the quality characteristics for made tea. However, lack of appropriate selection criteria to match the scion/rootstock, which can yield desired attributes, is one of the key limiting factors for wider adoption of the composite plants by most stakeholders in the tea industry. During the end of 2007/08 the trial was pruned after attaining first pruning cycle. Prior to pruning the trial was assessed on rise in plucking table and mean pruning weights for all treatments. Annual yields (kg mt ha-1) were recorded during 2008/09 following the first pruning period. This is reported in the following sections.

EXPERIMENT M6: EVALUATION OF PROVEN/SEMI-PROVEN ROOTSTOCKS

OBJECTIVES

• to evaluate proven/semi-proven tea rootstocks for performance as composite plants under rain-fed condition. • to identify criteria for matching scion/rootstock combinations

TREATMENTS

The scion clone PC 80 was grafted onto each of the two rootstock clones PC 87 and MSF 87 using cleft graft technique. The grafting work took place in the nursery in October 2000 at MTRS. Complete clone PC 80 (un-grafted), which is included as control, was prepared at the same time as the test materials. Clone 31/8 which is well adapted under the East Usambara condition was included for comparison. The experiment was field established in April 2003, spaced at 0.6 × 1.2 m, giving 13,889 bushes per hectare, then mulched with dry Guatemala grasses (Tripsacum laxum). Triple super phosphate (TSP) was applied during planting time at the rate of 30 g per plant. Fertilizer NPK at a ratio of 5:1:1 was applied at the rate of 120 kg Nha-1 into two splits during May and October 2003 and 180 kg N ha-1 as first split in March 2004. The plants were brought into bearing by decentering in September and tipping in October 2003 followed by normal plucking at intervals of two phyllochrons. Infilling was done in April 2004. The trial was first pruned on 25th August 2008 and first tipping was carried on 20th November 2008. During 2008/09 following the first pruning cycle, the experiment received fertilizer NPK at the ratio of 25: 5:5:5 in two splits at the rate of 300 kg Nha-1 year-1. The first split was applied during early -December 2008, while the second split in second week of March, 2009.

17 DESIGN

The experiment was set on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) consisting of four treatments in four replications. Each plot has 48 bushes surrounded by a single guard row.

RESULTS:

Annual Yields (kg mt ha-1): The yield (kg mt ha-1) results for this trial are presented in Figure 1.The season following the first pruning cycle, yields of made tea ranged from 1,650 for control clone TRFK 31/8 to 2,320 (kg mt ha-1) for grafted clone PC80 on MSF87 (Figure 1). There were significant (P≤0.05) differences among treatments Up to 18% yield benefit was gained by grafting scion clone PC 80 on rootstock MSF87. After first pruning operation there was yield gain by 17.2% on scion PC 80 when grafted on rootstock MSF87 than on PC87. Compared to control clone 31/8, treatment PC80 on MSF87 significantly out-yielded the control by 28.9%. Compared to the period prior to first pruning cycle (2007/08), there was yield reduction of 40.5% each from the rootstocks, 41.7% from scion PC 80 and 44.6 from clone 31/8 during this season.

Figure 1: Experiment M6: annual yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of two each ungrafted clone 31/8 and PC 80 and composites PC80 on PC 87 and PC80 on MSF 87, from June 2008 to May 2009 under rain-fed regime at Marikitanda Tea Research station; S.e.d =121.1 kg mt ha-1 (n =4); C.V = 8.8%.

Mean plant height (cm) and pruning weight (kg/plot) prior to first pruning cycle: There were no significant differences between treatments and control on plant height (cm) and weight of pruning material (kg/plot) prior to first pruning cycle Table 9.

18 Table 9: Experiment M6: Mean height (cm) and mean weight of prunings (kg) from 2-each of ungrafted-and grafted clones under rain-fed regime during first pruning cycle June 2008 to May 2009, at Marikitanda Tea Research Station.

Clone Mean Plant Height Mean Pruning Weight (cm) (kg/plot) TRIEA 31/8 70.6 2.26 TRFCA PC 80 69.1 2.14 PC on MSF 87 71.3 2.08 PC 80 on PC 87 69.4 2.00 Mean 70.1 2.12 L.S.D= (p≤0.05): 3.8 0.5 (n=4) CV (%): 3.6 15.5

CONCLUSION: • A season after first pruning cycle there was yield gain when scion PC80 is grafted on rootstock MSF 87. The same yield gain trend was recorded prior to first pruning cycle from the same treatment. • There was a yield reduction in the range of 40.5% to 44.6% among treatments between the periods prior to first pruning cycle to 12 months after first pruning cycle. • Prior to first pruning period, there was no significant difference on rise in bush height and recorded pruning weights among treatments.

19 EXPERIMENT M9: FIELD EVALUATION OF TEA PLANTED FROM CONVENTIONAL SINGLE NODE CUTTINGS WITH PLANTS DIRECTLY PLANTED FROM PLASTIC SPEEDLYING TRAYS

By Solomon. W. Msomba, the late Badan. K. Sanga and Dunstan Ndamugoba

INTRODUCTION

It takes up to 18 months to attain required tea planting material for field establishment using the conventional nursery practice. The implications are higher nursery production costs in terms of labour, management, space, rooting and growing medium. Raising plucking shoots using plastic speedling trays as opposed to conventional stem cuttings as propagation material has effectively reduced time and cost for tea planting material to stay in the nursery. Some documented advantages from adopting the speedling trays include; high potential of resultant plants for good, early field establishment and vigorous growth, leading to early realization of yields and returns. Also, plucking shoot plants exhibit large bush areas due to early branching; mother bushes need no prior- special care, and plucking continue throughout the season without resting the bush. There is indication that, plants raised from plucking shoots may be transplanted in the field at 4 – 7 months with over 85 % and 90% nursery success and field survival rate, respectively; therefore reducing the nursery period by 11- 14 months. Since April, 2006, an attempt was undertaken to assess the speedling tray in comparison with the conventionally raised plant techniques. The aim is to possibly reduce nursery time costs and evaluate the field performance of transplanted plants from both techniques.

OBJECTIVES • To assess the usefulness of propagating tea planting material in the nursery using pluckable shoots and speedlying tray techniques and,

• To evaluate the field performance of the resultant vegetatively propagated clonal tea material

TREATMENTS

The sleeved plants were raised in the nursery 14 to 15 months ahead of speedling tray plants (10th December, 2005). This was done such that at field transplanting time (10 April, 2006) plants attained the age of 4 months (speedling tray) and 18 months (Sleeved plants). Three promising clones namely; 201/16, 201/44 and PK 99 and two clones: 31/8 and 6/10 as control were used to form a total of 5 each of experimental treatments for cuttings and pluckable shoot plants, respectively. Pluckable shoots were set in the speedling trays during early- December, 2005. By end of February to mid-March 2006, shoots were hardened and transplanted in the field on 10th April, 2006 in a hole of 30 cm deep by 15 cm wide on 0.6 x 1.2 m spacing. Triple super phosphate (TSP) was used at the rate of 30g per plant. A sizable planting hole equivalent to a tray plug was prepared using template wooden wedge and therein established the tray raised plant. The plants were well firmed in the soil using both hands. A temporary shade was provided using dry ferns (Pteridium spp.) to minimize direct light effect on young tender plants. During 2008/09, fertilizer NPK in the ratio of 25: 5:5:5 in

20 two splits at the rate of 300 kg Nha-1 year-1 were applied in two splits. The first split in early December 2008 and the second split in second week of March 2009. Below is the second progress report for 2008/09.

DESIGN

Complete randomized block design were used with 10-experimental treatments replicated four times. There were twenty tea bushes per plot, and two rows were planted around each plot as guard rows.

RESULTS

Yields of made tea (kg MT ha-1)

The trial is now 38 months old since it was field established (10th April, 2006). During 2008/09 there were higher significant (P≥ 0.05) differences between treatments on annual yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) (Figure 2). The yields in this trial were in the range from 930 kg mt ha-1 to 1,820 kg mt ha-1 for clones PK 99-ST and 31/8-SP raised using speedling tray and sleeved tube techniques, respectively. The same yield trend recurred in the third season from the same treatments as in the previous season. Among plants raised using conventional technique (SP), the yields ranged from 1,010 kg mt ha-1 for clone PK 99-SP to 1,820 kg mt ha-1 for clone 31/8-SP. Similarly, for plants raised using speedling tray technique, the yields ranged from 930 kg mt ha-1 to 1,690 kg mt ha-1 for clones PK 99-ST and control clone 6/10- ST, respectively. As in the previous season, conventionally raised plants (SP) gave significantly (P≥ 0.05) higher yields compared to those raised using speedling tray technique. Three seasons after field establishment the conventional technique provided superior field establishment over speedling tray technique (Figure 2).

21 Figure 2: Experiment M9: Annual yields of dried tea (kg mt ha-1) of the 5-each clone raised using conversional versus speedling trays techniques from June 2008 to May 2009, Marikitanda Tea Research Station; S.e.d=163.6 kg mt ha-1; CV (%)=15.7 As a general observation, yields from the previous season was relatively higher than in the season under review; with conventionally raised plants still demonstrating superiority over speedling tray technique. This probably is due to severe drought which hit Marikitanda site during 2008/09.

Plant height (cm), Crop Cover (%) and growth in stem girth (mm):

There were highly significant (P≥ 0.05) differences among treatments on growth in bush height, crop cover and growth in stem girth (Table 10). The bush height 56.0cm and 60.3cm for conventionally raised clones 201/44-SP and 201/16-SP, respectively. With regards to crop ground cover, the least and highest ground cover was 72.6% and 91.4% for conventionally raised clones 6/10-SP and 31/8-SP, respectively. Similarly, growth in stem girth ranged from 34.3mm to 49.5mm for conventionally raised clones 201/44-SP and 201/16-SP, respectively.

Table 10: Experiment M9: Plant height, Crop cover and growth in stem girth of 5-clones raised using conertional (SP) versus speedlying trays from June 2008 to May 2009 at Marikitanda Tea Research Station. Plant height Crop Cover Stem diameter Clone (cm) (%) (mm) 201/16 SP 60.31 86.13 49.51 201/44 SP 5610 83.36 34.310 31/8 SP 59.62 91.41 38.93 6/10 SP 59.54 76.210 38.74 PK 99 SP 56.28 83.95 34.59 201/16 ST 59.63 77.39 36.45 201/44 ST 56.19 844 35.37 31/8 ST 59.25 86.32 35.86 6/10 ST 59.26 79.28 422 PK 99 ST 57.87 82.97 34.78 Mean 58.4 83.1 38.0 L.S.D= p<0.05: (n=4) 1.6 8.3 8.5 CV (%): 1.8 6.9 15.5

CONCLUSION: • Three seasons after field establishment, conventional (SP) technique demonstrated superior field/yield performance over speedling tray technique; clone 31/8-SP out-yielded other treatments. • With regards to growth in bush height, crop ground cover and growth in stem girth planting material raised using conventional technique were performing better than the same planting material raised using speedling tray technique.

22 EXPERIMENT M10 & N19: EVALUATION OF IMPROVED CLONAL AND ROOTSTOCKS FROM THE TRFCA UNDER RAIN-FED AND SUPPLEMENTARY IRRIGATION CONDITIONS IN TANZANIA

By Solomon W. Msomba, the late Badan N. Sanga and Dunstan Ndamugoba

INTRODUCTION

The performance of tea crop in terms of growth, yields and quality is influenced by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors,. This implies that, some tea cultivars may express high or low productive potential at one locality but not necessarily elsewhere. There is a dramatic change in environment posing difficulties for some tea cultivars to cope with this change. What used to be favorable growing tea weather is now changing beyond growers expectations. This has reduced chances for growers to maximize productivity of already established tea cultivars.

The crop improvement programme envisages to developing and providing improved tea clones which will keep the tea industry more competitive and sustainable. This is through well sourced/developed, evaluated and identified stress (such as drought) tolerant/resistant tea clones. Any proven material shall be recommended to tea growers and guarantee them to cope with unpredicted tea stresses and consumer preferences. In 2006, six and eight improved plain clonal tea and rootstocks respectively were imported from the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa (TRFCA). The materials were established to determine their potential under Tanzanian conditions, in particular under drought stress tea growing ecologies in Tanzania.

OBJECTIVES • To evaluate the performances of improved plain clonal and rootstock teas under Tanzanian conditions.

TREATMENTS

The experiment is set up at Marikitanda and Ngwazi Tea Research Stations. It consists 5- roostocks; RC4 (14-22), RC6 (PC 141), RC7 (PC 153), RC13 (PC 233) and RC15 (PC 152) and 8- improved plain tea clones; PC 117, PC 168, PC 184, PC 185, PC 198, PC 23 (From TRFCA) and PK 7 and PK 99 (Tanzania). Clones 6/10 and S 15/10 were included for yield comparisons at MTRS and NTRS, respectively, and Clone 6/8 for quality comparison. The trial was laid out at two locations namely; MTRS and NTRS in April, 2007 and February, 2008 respectively. Plants were spaced on a 0.6m x 1.2m (Equivalent to 13,889 population ha- 1). 30g of Triple Super phosphate (TSP) was applied in a hole at planting time. Fertilizer NPK in the ratio: 25: 5: 5: 5 was applied at the rate of 150 kg N ha-1 as first split in first week of December 2008) and second split in March, 2009. Mulch (Guatemala grasses) and micro-catchments were established towards end of wet season.

23 DESIGN

The experiment used a complete randomized block design with three replicates, each replication separated by two rows of tea bushes. Each plot consists of 18 tea bushes (6-rows each with 3-bushes) surrounded by two guard rows.

RESULTS

Annual Yields (kg MT ha-1): The annual yields are presented in figure 4 and the trial is being reported for the first time since field establishment. During 2008/09 there were significant (P≥ 0.05) yield differences among treatments (Figure3). The yield ranged from 1,070 kg mt ha-1 to 1,960 kg mt ha-1 for quality comparison clone TRFK 6/8 and rootstock (RC 6) 114, respectively. The rootstocks (RC 4) PC 14-22 (1,930 kg mt ha-1), (RC 15) PC 152 (1,880 kg mt ha-1) and clone PC 185 (1,730 kg mt ha-1) performed very close to best rootstock (RC 6) 114; but significantly higher than the control clone 6/10 (1,270 kg mt ha-1).

Among rootstocks, (RC 6) 114, (RC 4) PC 14-22 and (RC 15) PC 152 recorded significantly (P≥ 0.05) higher yields than the other rootstocks. While, rootstocks RC 7 (PC 153) (1,480 kg mt ha-1) and RC 13 (PC 233) (1,400 kg mt ha-1) gave significantly (P≥ 0.05) lower yields. Compared to plain improved clones; rootstocks (RC 6) 114, (RC 4) PC 14-22 and (RC 15) PC 152 out-yielded all the treatments during season 2008/09 (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Experiment M10: Annual yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of 5-rootstocks, 8- improved clones (6– from the TRFCA; 2-from Tanzania) compared with 6/10 (Yield) and clone 6/8 (Quality) from June 2008 to May 2009 under rain-fed regime at Marikitanda Tea Research Station; S.e.d=235.5 kg mt ha-1; CV= 18.8%.

24 Table 11: Experiment M10: Plant height (cm), crop ground cover (%) and growth in stem diameter (mm) of 5-rootstocks, 8-promising progenies and 2-local checks under rain-fed regime from June 2008 to May 2009 at Marikitanda Tea Research Station

Clone Plant Height Crop cover Stem diameter Tippings (%) (mm) kg mt ha-1 (cm) RC 13 (PC 233) 47.07 72.81 33.32 270.9 RC 15 (PC 152) 47.25 68.94 31.46 4202 RC 4 (14-22) 46.78 69.63 32.63 4601 RC 6 (PC 141) 48.03 65.57 29.211 4103 RC 7 (PC 153) 49.91 60.29 34.31 3907 PC 117 45.312 66.65 32.04 2708 PC 168 45.014 70.02 29.69 21013 PC 184 47.06 60.98 29.310 3805 PC 185 47.64 66.46 31.75 3107 PC 198 46.79 56.610 27.912 26010 PC 213 45.311 49.914 25.215 23011 PK 7 48.02 55.511 30.47 3306 PK 99 46.510 54.312 25.914 20015 TRFK6/8∗ 44.815 54.312 30.28 23012 TRIEA6/10∗ 45.311 53.313 27.413 20014 Mean 46.8 61.7 30.0 305 L.S.D= p<0.05: (n=3) 3.2 20.9 6.2 171 CV (%): 4.2 20.3 12.4 33.7 a=Yield ranking

Plant height (cm), Crop cover (%) and Growth in stem diameter (mm)

During the season 2008/09, all agronomic parameters except growth in plant height and tipping weight were significant (P≥ 0.05) different among treatments (Table 11). Growth in plant height ranged from 44.8 cm to 49.9cm for clone TRFK 6/8 and rootstock RC 7 (PC 153), respectively. The highest mean tipping weight of 460 kg mt ha-1 was recorded from rootstock RC 4 (14 – 22); while, clone TRFK 6/8 gave significantly (P≥ 0.05) lower mean tipping weight (Table 11). The mean tipping yields of made tea from rootstock RC 4 (14 – 22) was significantly (P≥ 0.05) higher over the all treatments. Compared to improved clones, the rootstocks were out-yielding plain improved clones.

CONCLUSION • Rootstock RC 6 (PC 141) was the best yielding compared to all treatments during 2008/09. Other rootstocks RC 4 (PC 14 – 22) and RC 15 (PC 152) gave significantly higher annual yields closer to best rootstock RC 6 (PC 141). Clone TRFK 6/8, a clone for quality tea comparison performed poorly. During the same season, rootstocks RC 6 (PC 141), RC 4 (PC 14 – 22) and RC 15 (PC 152) showed higher growth and mean tipping yields.

∗  Local check for quality  Local check for yield 25 • As a general observation, during the season 2008/09 rootstocks yielded better than the plain clonal teas EXPERIMENT K4: PLANT IMPROVEMENT AND CLONAL SELECTION (KIF/CFT/2002/1)

By Michael S.C. Mhosole and Solomon W. Msomba

OBJECTIVE

• To select high yielding lines from Polyclonal and seedling tea materials.

TREATMENTS

The experiment K4 consists of ten promising materials; with the prefix PK, “Polyclonal from Kifyulilo” (PK: 7, 31, 40, 43, 74 and 99); four prefixed KFS: “Kifyulilo field selections” (KFS: 41, 48, 50 and 90) and four standard clones 14/3, 207, SFS 150 and 32/29 which are widely grown in various estates in Tanzania.

The experiment was field established on 11th January 2002 and the first plucking was initiated during 2002/03. The experiment has been running for the past six seasons and was first pruned in 2004/05. The experiment received NPK fertilizer in the ratio of 25:5:5 at the rate of 250 kg N ha-1 in two splits. The first and second splits were applied in the first week of December 2008 and second week of March 2009, respectively.

DESIGN

The experiment was laid out using Randomized Complete Block Design (CRDB) with each treatment clone replicated four times. All clonal treatments consists of 30 plants per plot, except clone TN 14-3 which was set using 24-plants per plot. The treatments are spaced at 1.2 m × 0.8 m (Equivalent to 13,889 bushes per hectare).

RESULTS Annual yields of made tea (kg MT ha-1): There were highly significant (P≤0.05) differences on annual yields of made tea between the treatment clones and control clones in this trial during 2008/09 (Table 12). The annual yields ranged from 1,820 kg mt ha-1 for control clone BBT207 to 4,180 kg mt ha-1 for clone PK 99. The best performing clone PK 99 significantly (P≤0.05) out-yielded the best yielding control clone TRFCA SFS150 by 16.0%. Other clones including; PK 7, KFS48 and PK 74 were yielding significantly (P≤0.05) lower than the best clone PK 99 but significantly (P≤0.05) higher than the best control clone TRCA SFS150. The control clone BBT207 gave significantly least than the entire clones in this trial. The least and highest recorded cumulative yields for the period from 2002/03 to 2008/09 were 6,520 kg mt ha-1 and 14,870 kg mt ha-1 for clones KFS 41 and PK 99 (Table 12). During this period, the best clone PK 99 cumulated higher yields over the best control clone TRFCA SFS150 by 18.5%. Other clones namely, PK 7, PK 74 and KFS48 also relatively cumulated

26 higher yields over the best control clone TRFCA SFS150. This is reflected from the consistent higher ranking maintained by these clones. Compared to the previous season, both the annual and cumulative yields were relatively higher in the season under review. Table 12: Experiment K 4: annual (2008/09) and cumulative (2000/03 to 2008/09) yields of made tea (kg mt ha-1) of 10-clonal selections and 3-control clones; at Kifyulilo Agricultural Research Station. Annual yields of made tea Cumulative yields of made Entry (kg mt ha-1) tea (kg mt ha-1) PK99 4,1801 14,8701 KFS48 3,9603 12,4404 PK74 3,7804 13,8003 PK7 4,0802 14,1902 PK31 3,4207 11,9106 SFS150 3,5105 12,1205 32/29 3,4606 11,2207 PK43 2,9309 10,8808 KFS90 2,65011 10,5409 PK40 3,0708 10,04010 KFS50 2,43012 8,74012 BBT207 1,82014 8,57013 TN14-3 2,67010 9,89011 KFS41 1,86013 6,52014 Mean 3,130 11,120 LSD (p≤0.05) 631.7 (n=4) a=Yield ranking CV (%) 14.1

CONCLUSION

• During 2008/09, clones PK99, PK7, KFS48 and PK 74 maintained higher yielding record over the best control clone TFCA SFS150. The same ranking trend was noted during the seventh season of cumulated yields.

27 EXPERIMENT 21A: EVALUATION OF THE RESPONSE OF CLONE TRFK 6/8 TO NITROGEN FERTILIZER RATES AND HARVESTING INTERVALS IN TANZANIA.

By Solomon W. Msomba

INTRODUCTION

Most of the clones and agronomic practices applied by tea growers in Tanzania were developed in Kenya before the collapse of the East African Community (EAC) and adopted without re-testing prior to commercial adoption. This is despite the knowledge that responses to agronomic inputs are largely influenced by the environment, suggesting that different environments may require different agronomic inputs for the realization of high tea yields and production of high quality tea. Clone TRFK6/8 is widely grown in East Africa. In Tanzania it accounts for approximately 48 % of total clonal tea area. The main objective of the second trial in this study is to evaluate the response of clone TRFK 6/8 to nitrogen fertilizer rates and harvesting intervals in Tanzania and optimize the agronomic practices for economic returns and conservation of environment. This is part of a collaboration activity undertaken in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. We report only the results from Tanzania as results from other places are reported in their respective reports. The specific objectives of this trial are:-

• Establish the effect of nitrogen rates and plucking frequency on the yields and yield components of clone TRFK 6/8 tea plants grown at different site in Tanzania • Determine if black tea quality parameters and/or green leaf chemical quality precursors of clone TRFK 6/8 vary with locality, fertilizer rate and plucking frequency in the tea growing region in Tanzania

TREATMENTS

The experiment was established on a mature tea clone TRFK 6/8 of varied age of 35, 36 and 14 years for Maruku (Latitude: 1°23′S, Longitude: 31°45′E.), Katoke (Latitude: 13°6′S Longitude: 31°41′E.) and Ngwazi (Latitude: 8°32′S, Longitude: 35°10′E), respectively in October 2008. The experiment was set up in three sites. There were three factors consisting of 5- fertilizer rates and 3- plucking intervals in complete block design with three replications. The main treatments are 3 sites with nitrogen rates (0, 75, 150, 225 and 300 kg N ha-1 year-1 as NPKs 25: 5: 5:5) as sub-treatments and plucking (7, 14 and 21 days intervals) as sub -sub treatment. The sub-sub plot treatment consists of 30 bushes of clone TRFK 6/8. The trial is set on varied spacing from 0.6m x 1.2m for Ngwazi to 0.9 m x 1.2m triangular for Maruku and Katoke sites. Tea at each site was initially pruned between April and August 2008 to put all bushes at all site in the same pruning cycle life. Experimental plots were demarcated and uniformity test was carried out between July and September 2008 depending on the availability of enough soil moisture content at respective sites. Fertilizer treatment was applied in October /November 2008. Subsequent harvesting was carried out beginning in October 2008 at all three sites. Plucking was done on different sub-sub plots depending on the planned plucking treatments.

28 RESULTS:

Changes of yields of clone TRFK 6/8 to site of planting, rates of nitrogenous fertilizer and plucking intervals for the period of eight months (October 2008 to May 2009) are presented in Tables 13, 14 and 15. There were significant (P< 0.05) yield differences due to location of production (Table 13 and Table 14). The lowest and highest mean location yields were obtained from Maruku (2,130 kg mt ha-1) and Katoke (4,560 kg mt ha-1) sites, respectively both in Kagera region.

The yields of made tea from clone 6/8 were significantly (P≤0.05) affected by the application of different rates of nitrogenous fertilizer (Table 13 and Table 15). This difference was only between the control and the highest rate (300 kg N/ha/year). At the Ngwazi lowest yield was recorded in the control.

Table 13: Changes in yields (kg mt ha-1) due to location of production and rates of nitrogenous fertilizer (kg N ha-1) on clone TRFK 6/8 (October 2008 to May 2009). Nitrogen rates Mean Location 0 75 150 225 300 location Ngwazi 2,580 2,760 2,400 2,730 2,870 2,670 Maruku 1,740 2,120 2,050 2,450 2,300 2,130 Katoke 4,610 4,330 4,670 4,470 4,710 4,560 Mean-N rates 2,980 3,070 3,040 3,220 3,290 C.V (%) 9.6 LSD, (P≤0.05) 289 kg mt ha-1 215 Interaction NS

Tea yields due to plucking intervals are presented in Table 14 and 15, and Figure 4. The 7 day plucking interval produced yields which were significantly (P≤0.05) higher than the 14 and 21 days plucking intervals. Overall the highest annual yields (4,860 kg mt ha-1) were recorded at Katoke followed by Ngwazi (2,670 kg mt ha-1) and the lowest at Maruku.

Table 14: Changes in yields (kg mt ha-1) due to location of production and plucking intervals (days) on clone TRFK 6/8 (October 2008 to May 2009

Plucking Location of Production Mean plucking Intervals Ngwazi Maruku Katoke intervals 7 days 2,770 2,360 4,860 3,330 14 days 2,590 2,030 4,480 3,030 21days 2,650 2,000 4,330 2,990 Mean-location 2,670 2,130 4,560 CV (%) 9.3 LSD, (P≤ 0.05) 215 kg mt ha-1 Interaction NS

29 Table 15: Changes in yields (kg mt ha-1) due to rates of nitrogenous fertilizer (kg N ha-1) and plucking intervals (days) on clone TRFK 6/8 (October 2008 to May 2009).

Plucking Nitrogen rates Mean Intervals 0 75 150 225 300 plucking 7 days 3,230 3,270 3,040 3,400 3,710 3,330 14 days 2,990 3,010 2,950 3,090 3,140 3,040 21 days 2,720 2,930 3,130 3,160 3,040 3,000 Mean –N rates 2,920 3,350 3,200 3,420 3,450 CV (%) 8.7 LSD, (P≤ 0.05) 127.3 kg mt ha-1 127

5000

) 4500 a 1 -

h 7 days

m 14 days 4000 g k

( 21 days

e 3500 t

e d

a 3000 m

f o

d 2500 l e i Y 2000

1500 Ngwazi Maruku Katoke Sites

Figure 4: Changes in tea yields (Kg mt ha-1per eight months) due to site of production and plucking intervals (days) on clone TRFK 6/8;S.e.d=183.4 kg mt ha-1; CV=9.3%.

CONCLUSION • For the period of eight months the lowest and highest mean tea yields due to location and rates of nitrogenous fertilizer on clone TRFK 6/8 were obtained at Maruku and Katoke sites, respectively. The higher yields were recorded from nitrogenous rate of 300 kg N ha-1 year-1 followed by 225 kg N ha-1year-1.

• The response in yields of clone TRFK 6/8 due to location and plucking intervals decreased with the increase of plucking intervals. This was the observed trend at Katoke and Maruku sites. The trend at Ngwazi was of 7 days > 14 days < 21 days.

• The response of yields of clone TRFK 6/8 due to nitrogenous and plucking intervals followed a trend of 7 days> 14 days> 21 days. The higher yields were obtained from applying rates of 225 and 300 kg N ha-1 year.

30 SOIL FERTILTY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (SFMP)

By Ernest I Kimambo

INTRODUCTION

Restoring , maintaining and increasing soil fertility in tea growing areas are major priorities for the SFMP, particularly in smallholder tea fields and some neglected estates where soils are inherently poor in plant nutrients. With the escalating prices for fertilizers worldwide and shortage of fuel, the demand for food and raw materials is increasing rapidly. In these areas there is a need to intensify crop production to meet demand for food without resorting to extensive farming practices. A fertile soil provides a sound basis for flexible food production systems that, within the constraints of soil and climate, can grow a variety of crops to meet the changing needs of societies.

Soil fertility management in tea areas is of utmost importance due to its low inherent status owing to several reasons:

• Soil fertility of many tea soils is low due to type of soil and nature of the clay minerals and low organic matter content. • Soils are poor in nutrients due to their nature (origin) or as a result of leaching. • Productivity of the tea plant is directly linked with fertilizer inputs, particularly nitrogen. • Fertilisers are required because of the mono-cultural nature of the crop. • Nutrient removal by the tea crop is very substantial. • The low nutrient status of these soils and loss of organic matter are key issues. • Change from multiple crops to mono-cropping especially in smallholder sector demand for increased external inputs in order to increase and maintain soil fertility. • Replenishing depleted nutrients due to removal, leaching and erosion will maintain productivity levels and ensure increased tea production. • Soil nutrient levels are inadequate for sustainable high yields. • Use of external inputs is necessary • Scope for organic manures and composts for high tea yields production is limited. • Application of balanced inorganic fertilizers are considered necessary to achieve high yields

31 PLATE 1: The official innauguration of the TRIT’s Soils /Plant and Water Analytical Laboratory at Ngwazi by the Hon. Mizengo Kayanza Pinda (MP), the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania. In attendance was His Excellence Ambassador Tim Clarke, Head of Delegation of the European Union in Tanzania

32 EXPERIMENT N16: RESPONSES OF CLONAL TEA TO NITROGEN FERTILISERS

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this experiment were: • (a) to determine the yield response curves to nitrogen, for four contrasting commercially grown clones under well managed conditions and • (b) to determine the optimum nitrogen rate for each clone under such conditions.

TREATMENTS

The response of clones K35, K7, 282 and 207 to nitrogen levels ranging from 80-up to 560 kg N ha-1 was investigated in a field experiment at Ngwazi Estate Unilever Tea Tanzania Limited. The experiment consisted of seven nitrogen treatments and the unfertilized control: (0, N0; 80, N1; 160, N2; 240, N3; 320, N4; 400, N5; 480, N6; 560, N7) which were applied in the form of urea in two equal splits in January and August. The equivalent of 90 kg P2O5 ha-1 and 225 kg K2O ha-1 were applied during the rains once every year in January to all plots in the form of triple super phosphate and muriate of potash, respectively. Zinc (4.5 kg ha-1) was applied in three equal splits during the year, as zinc oxide. During the dry season from April to mid-December the experiment was irrigated uniformly to field capacity whenever the potential soil water deficit reached 80 mm. The experimental area which was under estate management prior to the establishment of the trial had a high input fertilizer/irrigation regime.

This experiment is in field No.2/7 of mature clones planted in 1971 at rectangular spacing of 0.9 x 1.2 (9,259 plants ha-1). The field was last pruned in June 2005 at the height of 50 cm. Each net plot occupied 5 x 4 bushes (20 bushes) and was surrounded by three rows of guard plants. During the season the experiment was harvested at two phyllocrons interval. Yields of fresh shoots from each plot were recorded and samples for dry matter were taken and oven dried for 48 hours. The dry matter so obtained was used to convert the fresh weights to dried tea.

DESIGN

Four clones K35, K7, 282 and 207 are in individual blocks, and within each clonal block, there are three replicates each consisting of eight randomized nitrogen treatments.

SOIL AND PLANT ANALYSIS RESULTS

The effect of nitrogen fertilizer on leaf nutrient content of clones and on soil characteristics

(a) Effect of nitrogen on leaf nutrient content of clones K7, K35, 207 and 282

The effects of the various nitrogen treatments can be seen in Table 16 .After eight years of annual nitrogen fertilizer application the concentration of leaf nitrogen was found to be just

33 adequate in the treatments receiving nitrogen and low in the nil and low N plots. This level of concentration is still low when compared to leaf N levels of 3.5-4.0%, which are reported to be adequate for high crop yields. The mean concentration of P (0.26%) was right for a good crop of tea. P leaf content was highest for clone K7 and lowest for the other clones particularly in high N application rates. Mean leaf content for Mg (0.24%) across treatment is considered adequate for tea crop production. Mg remained practically unchanged at all rates of N and across the clones.

The K leaf content across the treatment and clones ranged from 1.51-4.10% (mean for K was 3.21%) which was in the adequate to very high range. Adequate ranges for K and Mg are 1.2- 1.8 and 0.15-0.25% respectively. For micronutrients, Cu ranged from 5.50-23 mg/kg (ppm). The leaf Cu content was found to be low for clone 207 but adequate for all the other clones. Zn was not determined; iron was in small traceable amounts, this could probably lead to deficiencies. Manganese leaf concentration (230-768 mg/kg) increased with increased rates of N application, but this content is considered low for tea production for all the clones.

34 Table 16: The annual nutrients application rates, the leaf nutrient content of a third mature leaf with an active growing shoot from clone 6/8 for selected nitrogen treatments in May 2009

Treatments N0 N1 N2 N3 N4 N kg ha-1 0 80 160 240 320 -1 P2O5 kg ha 90 90 90 90 90 -1 K2O kg ha 225 225 225 225 225 Clones Clones Clones Clones Clones K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 Nitrogen (%) 2.7 2.5 3.0 2.1 2.9 2.5 2.7 2.8 3.2 2.4 2.5 3.5 3.4 2.6 4.3 2.0 3.9 2.2 3.0 2.8 Phosphate (%) 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.25 0.30 0.13 0.28 0.24 0.31 0.26 0.19 0.11 0.29 0.28 0.26 0.16 Potassium (%) 3.86 3.74 3.86 3.02 4.1 3.74 3.62 3.26 3.86 3.38 3.38 1.51 3.74 3.08 1.87 2.72 3.50 2.96 2.72 2.53 Magnesium 0.17 0.25 0.23 0.30 0.16 0.22 0.23 0.27 0.16 0.22 0.29 0.26 0.15 0.25 0.33 0.24 0.20 0.22 0.34 0.27 (%) Copper (%) 19 22 20 7 23 14 6 12 13 16 8 14 20 17 6 12 16 20 10 22 Iron trac trac trac trac trac trac trac trac trac Trac trac Trac trac trac trac trac trac trac trac trac e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Manganese 433 364 509 648 486 319 530 520 416 230 690 574 491 381 572 560 656 509 648 768 (b) Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on soil parameters

The chemical soil parameters at the end of the trial are shown in Table 17. The mean pH (water) across the clones was 5.53 and was highest from plot under clone K7 (pH 6.10) in the nil N treatment which was also the case in the other clones. The values at nil N application declined as rates of N were increased during the 8 years of experimentation. The total nitrogen (TN %) values were low averaging 0.16% across all treatments and clones, but organic matter (OM%) was found to be in medium and high range (2.1-6.0%) a factor exerting much influence on potential fertility of the soils under the tea crop. Phosphorus is said to be low when the values are less than 10 mg/100g dry soil (P-Bray 1) and high when available P >25 mg/100g soil. The available P in the soil was not influenced by the type of clone or rate of N application. For exchangeable magnesium, low to very low values are in the range (< 0.30-1.00 meq/100 g dry soil; medium to high values 1.10-6.00 meq and very high > 6.00 meq/100g dry soil. Under clone K7 across all N treatments Mg content is in the low range while for K35, 207 and 282 it was found to be in medium range and not affected by rate of N application.

Due to the low amounts of organic matter (OM), the cation exchange capacity (CEC) was found to be less than 12 me/100 g dry soil. This level is considered to be in the low range (5-15 me/100 g soils, thus affecting the capacity of the soils to hold cations such as potassium and magnesium, which might occasion some losses by leaching. CEC is essentially a property of the colloidal fraction of soil, derived from the clay and organic matter fractions. CEC values of 8-10 me/100 soil have been quoted as indicative minimum values in the top soil for satisfactory production under irrigation. Table 17: Effects nitrogen fertilizer on pH, organic matter, CEC, potassium, calcium and magnesium in the top soil (0-20 cm) under a tea crop of clones K7, K35, 207 and 282 (2001-2009)

Treatments N0 N1 N2 N3 N4 N kg ha-1 0 80 160 240 320 -1 P2O5 kg ha 90 90 90 90 90 -1 K2O kg ha 225 225 225 225 225 Nutrient Levels Clones Clones Clones Clones Clones K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 K7 K35 207 282 Ph 6.10 5.83 5.44 5.63 5.92 5.94 5.17 5.77 5.41 5.61 5.48 5.86 5.22 5.34 5.35 5.57 5.11 5.35 5.33 5.21 TN (%) 0.14 0.18 0.16 0.15 0.17 0.18 0.17 0.14 0.21 0.13 0.19 0.13 0.14 0.13 0.18 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.16 0.18 P mg/kg 13 13 22 13 14 5 11 9 13 12 6 8 10 9 11 6 13 10 26 20 K (me/100g) 0.59 0.87 1.54 1.13 0.57 0.77 1.23 0.87 0.53 0.90 1.64 0.77 0.42 0.72 1.59 0.61 0.38 0.58 1.23 0.67 Mg (me/100g) 0.80 1.43 1.31 1.51 0.80 1.20 1.05 1.69 0.71 1.28 1.39 1.65 0.58 0.91 1.32 1.41 0.94 1.37 1.72 1.35 CEC (me/100g) 8.3 9.6 8.5 7.7 9.0 9.1 8.5 7.7 13.0 8.1 8.6 7.5 8.8 7.7 8.1 8.0 10 10 8.1 7.8 OM (%) 4.7 5.2 3.8 3.4 4.6 3.6 3.8 3.3 6.2 3.1 4.3 3.0 4.6 3.1 4.1 3.4 3.8 3.3 3.8 3.5 YIELD RESULTS

Table 18 shows the results of the treatments for the fourth year of recording after pruning in June 2005, for each of the four clones indicating annual yields of dried tea between June 2008 and May 2009. The mean yields of dried tea for the four clones averaged 3910 kg ranging from 3300 kg (Clone K7) to 4290 kg ha-1 (Clone 282), and during this season, there were significant yield differences between clones with clones K35 and 282 considerably out yielding clone K7, which was the lowest yielding cultivar. No significant interactions between the clones and nitrogen fertilizer were statistically found.

Nitrogen responses

Our observations this season show a positive curvilinear increase in yields for all the clones to about the N rate of 240 kg ha-1 and the N responses were highly significant. The lowest yields were obtained from the nil fertilizer plots for all the clones. The mean yield across nitrogen treatments was 3910 kg ha-1 (range 2800-4340 kg ha-1) dried tea. Clones 282 and K35 had their highest response peaks at the N rate of 480 and 560 kg ha-1respectively, while clones 207 were at peak production at 480 kg N and clone K7 at 240 kg N ha-1. However, the highest peak for the cultivars does not show the optimum level for fertilizer application. It appears that the best rates for K7 and K35 are 160-240 kg N/ha, and that for 207 was 160- 320. Clone 282 responded well between 240-320 kg N/ha. Further increases in N application beyond these rates did not result in substantial economic yield increases of dried tea.

Table 18: Experiment N16: the effects of increasing rates of nitrogen fertilizer on the annual yields of dried tea (kg ha-1) from mature clones K35, K7, 282 and 207 in 2008/09 (01 June to 31 May).

Nitrogen rates (kg ha-1 yr-1) N0 N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 Clones 0 80 160 240 320 400 480 560 MEAN K35 3,020 3,830 4,085 4,125 4,365 4,430 4,520 4,890 4,160 K7 2,570 3,140 3,630 3,700 3,325 3,350 3,520 3,170 3,300 282 3,170 3,620 3,820 4,370 5,040 4,660 4,890 4,740 4,290 207 2,450 3,420 4,110 3,990 4,270 4,370 4,430 4,080 3,890 Mean 2,800 3,500 3,910 4,050 4,250 4,200 4,340 4,220 3,910

LSD (P=0.05) between nitrogen treatment = 467 kg ha-1 (n=12) Between clones = 330 kg ha-1 (n=24) CV (%) = 14.7 6000

) 2

1 R = 0.9241 - a

h 5000

g 2

k R = 0.9111 (

4000 K35

a 2

e R = 0.9364 t

d 3000 2 e

i R = 0.724 282 r d

f 2000 207 o

d l 1000 e i Y 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Nitrogen rate (kg N ha-1)

Figure 5: Experiment N16: responses of clones K35, K7, 282 and 207 to rates of nitrogen under uniform irrigation in 2008/09.

Cumulative Yields

The highest total cumulative yields (Figure 6&7) over the eight years were observed in clones 282 and 207 with 43,590 and 43,020 kgha-1, which was higher than the mean for all clones (40,870 kg ha-1).

Figure 6: Experiment N16: Eight year cumulative and mean yields of dried tea at lower nitrogen rates 0, 80, 160 and 240 kg N ha-1 for clones K35, K7, 282 and 207. (2001- 2009). Figure 7: Experiment N16: Eight year cumulative and mean yields of dried tea at higher nitrogen rates 320,400, 480 and 560 kg N ha-1for clones K35, K7, 282 and 207. (2001-2009).

Clones K7 and K35 produced yields, which were lower than the mean for all the clonals across all nitrogen treatments. The cumulative yields tended to be higher for clone 282>207>K35>K7, indicating a higher productivity level for Clones 282 and 207 (5450 and 5380 kg ha-1) across all nitrogen treatments.

CONCLUSIONS

• In the fourth year after pruning, clones 282 and K35 had similar and the highest yields, while clone K7 had the lowest yields under well watered and fertilized conditions. • Significant responses of the clones to nitrogen fertilizer were observed: Clone K35 and K7 ranged from 160-240, clone 282 from 240-320 and 207 from 160-320 kg N ha-1 indicating an optimum range of 180-280 kg N/ha for this season. However, individual clones differed in their responses. Clones 282 and K35 responses to N peaked at the rate of 400 and 560 kg ha-1, while clones K7 and 207 responses peaked at 240 kg and 480 kg N ha-1 respectively. • Cumulative and mean yields over eight years showed clones 282 and 207 to be the most productive under the prevailing conditions. -1 • In the nil nitrogen treatments (N0) yield decline ranged from a mean of 5820 kg ha to 2800 kg ha-1 across the clones in an 8 year period, which constituted a loss of a staggering 48% of dried tea. The highest loss was observed for clone K 7 >282>207=K35. EXPERIMENT M4: RESPONSES OF SEEDLING TEA TO TYPES AND AMOUNTS OF NITROGEN FERTILIZERS

By E.I.Kimambo

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this experiment were (a) to determine the yield response of seedling tea to nitrogen, (b) to compare response curves for two sources of nitrogen fertilizer, (c) to develop nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for seedling tea for a range of input costs and prices of green leaf and made tea.

TREATMENTS Two sources of nitrogen fertilizer were used; a compound N: P: K: 25:5:5+3S, and a corresponding mixture of straight fertilizers: urea (46%N), triple super phosphate TSP (46%P2O5) and muriate of potash or MoP (60%K2O), which is in line with EUTCO practice.

Each of these fertilizer types was tested at five different rates of nitrogen: 0, 90, 135, 180 -1 and 270 kg N ha , labelled N0, N1, N2, N3, and N4 respectively. This is the fourth full year of yield recording after pruning in January 2005. During this season, fertilizer application was done in April 2008 and again on November 2008. Annual yield recording was based on two phyllocrons measurements, which for the Usambara is equivalent to a plucking interval of 9- 12 days. Weed control was done whenever it was felt necessary either manually or using herbicides. As during the previous season, all crop husbandry practices and supervision of the trial was undertaken by Marikitanda TRS.

DESIGN Experiment M4 is located in field No.14 Ndola Division, Kwamkoro Estate of EUTCo. The site is representative of many tea fields in the East Usambaras. A completely randomised block design was used in this trial. The net plot size is 8 bushes wide x 10 bushes long, giving a total of 80 bushes per plot at a spacing of 0.76 x 1.22 m (or 10,785 plants ha-1). The net experimental area is 0.19 ha. Each plot is surrounded by at least three guard rows on each side to reduce the effect of fertilizer movement from one plot to another. Total guard area is 0.23 ha, giving a total experimental area of 0.42 ha.

RESULTS

Table 19 shows yield responses of seedling tea to types and rates of nitrogen fertilizer during the fourth year following pruning in January 2005. Rainfall during the growing season was adequate and well distributed except for the months of December (25.8 mm rainfall) and January (4.5 mm) when there was an acute soil water deficit due to the prolonged drought. The data is based on a full year of yield records (01 June 2008 to 31 May 2009) demonstrated the potential of the seedling tea under good management. No significant yield differences were observed due to the source of N, implying that compound N source and single nutrient source of N can be used with confident in tea, depending on the availability and cost per kg of N. There were statistically significant difference between treatment means in both types of fertilizer across all nitrogen rates (P=0.05). The overall mean yield this season for the compound fertilizer (4,410 kg ha-1) was similar to the mean for single nutrient fertilizer (4,170 kg ha-1). In both types of fertilizers the control yields were significantly lower than all other treatment means, but in the main all the treatment means were significantly higher than during previous seasons. Yield increases under the compound fertilizer ranged from 62% at the lowest rate of N (90 kg N ha-1) to 161% when N rate was 270 kg ha-1. As for the straight fertilizers the yield increases ranged from 68% to144% when nil nitrogen plots were compared to the fertilized plots.

Table 19: Experiment M4: Effects compound (CF) and straight (SF) fertilizers on plant nutrient content in the 3rd mature leaf of seedling tea under rain fed conditions over a period of eight years (2001-2009)

N-Compound fertilizer N-Straight fertilizer N-type CN0 CN1 CN2 CN3 CN4 SN0 SN1 SN2 SN3 SN4 N (%) 3.14 3.27 2.91 3.24 2.49 3.14 3.03 2.67 3.38 2.99 P (%) 0.17 0.20 0.44 0.18 0.11 0.17 0.20 0.31 0.25 0.18 K (%) 3.40 2.91 3.76 3.15 3.52 3.40 2.79 3.64 2.91 3.03 Ca (%) 1.46 1.66 0.94 0.39 0.27 1.46 1.23 1.45 1.04 0.70 Mg (%) 0.24 0.32 0.27 0.34 0.21 0.24 0.31 0.33 0.20 0.21 Cu (mg/kg) 650 10.25 3.75 8.50 3.25 6.50 7.25 7.50 6.25 2.75 Mn (mg/kg) 116 214 285 232 168 116 295 294 192 190 Fe (mg/kg) Trace Trace Trace Trace Trace Trace Trace Trace Trace Trace

Table 20: Effects compound (CF) and straight (SF) fertilizers on soil chemical parameters- pH, total nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, CEC, calcium and magnesium in the top soil (0-20 cm) under a seedling tea crop. (2001-2009)

N-Compound fertilizer N-Straight fertilizer N-type CN0 CN1 CN2 CN3 CN4 SN0 SN1 SN2 SN3 SN4 N kg ha-1 0 90 135 180 270 0 90 135 180 270 pH 5.08 4.70 4.99 5.19 5.01 5.08 5.41 5.50 4.80 5.48 TN (%) 0.56 0.67 0.56 0.73 0.43 0.56 0.39 0.64 0.44 0.57 P mg/kg 7.93 10.72 25.15 13.73 7.85 7.93 15.53 20.08 29.53 39.24 K (me/100g) 0.35 0.34 0.21 0.18 0.22 0.35 0.41 0.37 0.28 0.26 Ca 5.33 0.56 0.50 3.07 0.11 5.33 0.89 3.47 1.15 3.14 Mg (me/100g) 0.88 0.77 0.73 0.75 0.51 0.88 0.77 0.80 0.45 0.51 CEC (me/100g) 8.24 7.89 7.74 7.23 7.02 8.24 7.36 6.14 7.14 8.32 OM (%) 3.70 3.83 3.63 3.58 2.97 3.70 3.53 3.23 3.07 3.75

Yield responses to nitrogen

During the reporting period we observed no significant yield differences between the compound and straight fertilizers types. The mean annual yield from the compound fertilizer was 2460 kg ha-1 (ranging from 2035 kg ha-1 at N rate of 90 kg N ha-1 to 3710 kg ha-1 at 270 kg N ha-1), and still climbing. From the straight fertilizer type the range was 1990 to 3370 kg ha-1 with a mean of 2330 kg ha-1, at the same rates of nitrogen application. For both types of fertilizers increasing the rates of nitrogen have resulted in increasing the yields of made tea across all nitrogen treatment (Table 21). Table 21: Experiment M4: Yield responses of seedling tea to types and rates of nitrogen fertilizers in kg made tea ha-1 during 2006/07 (01 June to 31 May)

Nitrogen Level Nitrogen Rate Compound Straight Fertilizer Fertilizer N0 0 1,410 1,410 N1 90 2,035 1,990 N2 135 2,270 2,215 N3 180 2,860 2,665 N4 270 3,710 3,370 Mean 2,460 2,330 LSD (P=0.05) between nitrogen treatments = 354 kg mt ha-1 (n=4) CV (%) = 7.8

Table 22: Experiment M4: Cumulative and mean yields of made tea obtained from application of compound (CF) and straight fertilizers (SF)

Nitrogen rate Cum CF Cum SF Mean Cum CF Mean Cum (kgNha-1Annum) SF 0 12,090 12,090 1,727 1,727 90 18,255 17,480 2,608 2,497 135 21,935 21,805 3,134 3,115 180 25,130 22,785 3,590 3,225 270 29,600 27,065 4,229 3,866 107,010 101,225 3,058 2,892

Yield increases were dependent on the amount of nitrogen applied. The higher the rate of N the higher the yields of made tea ha-1 and during 2008/09 season, the yield increases across nitrogen treatments were all significant and independent of type of fertilizer applied.

Cumulative yields

The highest cumulative yield across all nitrogen treatments attained was 107,010 kg ha-1 for compound fertilizer (CF) compared to 101,225 kg ha-1 for straight fertilizer (SF) in a period of 8 years (Table 22). With no inputs the cumulative yields over the same period was 12090 kg ha-1 and at 270 kg N ha-1 the cumulative yields rose to 29600 (CF) and 27065 kg ha-1 (SF) indicating a productivity level of 4230 and 3870 kg ha-1 for CF and SF respectively. With no inputs applied the productivity level was a mere 1730 kg ha-1.

CONLUSIONS

• The overall mean yield this season for the compound fertilizer (2460 kg ha-1) was again similar to the mean for single nutrient fertilizer (2330 kg ha-1). There were some significant yield differences between treatment means in both types fertilizer across nitrogen rates. • The yield responses to nitrogen application this season was low due to the tea being in the 4th year round after pruning and shortage of soil moisture during the short rains October-December. Short rains were really short and amounts were small (131.5 mm) affecting the crop offering during the months of October-December. • This trial has demonstrated irrevocably that yield levels obtained from a seedling tea field under rain fed conditions do not depend on the type of fertilizer nitrogen applied so long as all recommended cultural practices are followed (rates, timing, placement of fertilizers, weeding, pruning and timely plucking etc.) • Low inputs resulted in low cumulative yields for both types of fertilizers. With increasing rates of N application so did cumulative yields and productivity per unit area. EXPERIMENT N20 AND M11: RESPONSES OF CLONAL AND SEEDLING TEA TO A FOLIAR APPLICATION OF NITROGEN FIXING BIO FERTILIZER (TWIN N)

By Ernest I. Kimambo, John Mhagama and Rafikiel Masha.

INTRODUCTION TwinN is a mix of free-living, nitrogen-fixing endophytes that are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen both within the plant and around the root zone. Sprayed onto the leaf surface or root zone, TwinN microbes are effectively inoculated into the plant via stomata, leaf abrasions and lateral root cracks, diluting and multiplying through the plant via the vascular system

OBJECTIVES

(a) To increase tea production by combining existing fertilizer rates with doses of foliar application of TwinN; and (b) To maintain yield production of tea with reduced applications of conventional fertilizers in combination with foliar application of TwinN (c) To investigate the economic effects of TwinN foliar fertilizer on tea crop productivity for teas grown in varying environmental conditions.

TREATMENTS

-1 -1 Nitrogen treatment levels were: (1) N0, (2) N75, (3) N150, (4) N225 kg ha yr as in compound fertilizer N: P: K:S 25:5:5:+3S, and combination of (5) 50% of N150 supplied from NPKS and 50% N from TwinN;(6) nitrogen at N225, 50% of the N supplied by NPKS and 50% from TwinN and (7) N at N150 supplied fully from TwinN, with PKS fertilizers added and finally N at (8) (N225) fully supplied from TwinN with addition of PKS. In a coded form this is as follows: 1) T1=N0+PK 2); T2=N75 (NPKS); 3) T3=N150 (NPKS); 4) T4=N225 (NPKS); 5) T5=N150 (50% NPKS+50%TN); 6) T6=N225 (50%NPKS+50%TN); 7) T7=N150 + PKS (100%TN); and 8) T8=N225 + PKS (100%TN). TwinN was applied as a foliar sprayed top dressing to the leaves of the tea crop, in early morning or late evening, when leaf stomata are open and dew is on the leaves to help inoculation. Rain or clean spring water was used to rehydrate the vial and dissolve the food source for the microbes. NPKS fertilizer was applied by broadcasting uniformly across the N treated plots in two splits as appropriate to a given location, while the TwinN foliar application was applied twice during the rainy months (Marikitanda) and once during the rains and once when there was irrigation (Ngwazi). Care was taken to ensure that the twin N was applied in early morning or late evening in windless days to reduce loss due to the deaths of microorganisms in the bio fertilizer. DESIGN The trial was established in the field during March at NTRS and in April 2008 MTRS. The experiments were located in a mature clonal tea 6/8 and 31/8 at Ngwazi and Marikitanda respectively. The Ngwazi location has gross area of 12 bushes by 8 rows (72 bushes) and net area of 10 by 6 (60 bushes). The Marikitanda site has a gross plot of 8 bushes x 9 rows (72 bushes) and net plot size 5 bushes x 4 rows (20 bushes). Treatments are completely randomized (CRBD) and replicated in four in blocks.

RESULTS

Table 23: The effect of Twin N foliar biofertilizer on the performance of clonal teas in rainfed and irrigated conditions

Treat TREATMENTS LOCATION labels NTRS MTRS (Irrigated Clone 6/8) (Rainfed Clone 31/8) T1 Nil fertilizer 2,335 2,280 T2 N75 (75 kg N ha-1 + P K) 1,990 2,270 T3 N150 (150 kg N ha-1 + P K) 2,280 2,450 T4 N225 (225 kg N ha-1 + P K) 2,280 2,340 T5 N150 (50% CF + 50% Twin N) 2,180 2,280 T6 N225 (50% CF + 50% Twin N) 2,415 2,340 T7 N150 (100% Twin N + P K) 2,190 2,300 T8 N225 (100% Twin N + P K) 2,300 2,190 Grand mean 2,250 2,310 Lsd NS NS CV 11.4% 13.9

It is suggested that once established in and on the plant, TwinN microbes start performing the nitrogen fixing functions and the quantity of nitrogen fixed for the plant is controlled by the plant itself, as dictated by the plants’ N-requirement based on the field and environmental conditions e.g. drought or low temperatures. The results from Ngwazi with fully irrigated tea and at Marikitanda under rain fed conditions (Table 23) do not show any significant responses from the use of TwinN foliar bio fertilizer application. The treatments will be applied again during the 2009/10 season to verify these results.

CONCLUSIONS No conclusions can be drawn at this stage in the experimentation. ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR BOMBAY BURMAH TRADING COMPANY

INTRODUCTION

This report presents some highlights on the observations made during the appraisal of two tea estates, the property of the Bombay Burmah Trading Company Ltd (BBTC). Marvera Tea Estate in Muheza District (A conventionally managed tea estate is located in the East Usambara Mountains) and Herkulu Tea Estate (an organic farm located in Lushoto District in the West Usambaras). Administratively, the Usambara Mountains fall into three districts, Muheza, Korogwe and Lushoto districts, all part of Tanga Region. The site appraisal was carried out by TRIT, following a request from the BBTC Management at Soni, in Lushoto.

The objective of the appraisal was to assess the reasons for increased deaths of tea bushes on both estates and generally the current status of the tea estates, potential production of the farm and crop husbandry practices so as to come up with recommendations on how to improve the productivity of the estates. Field visit and work was undertaken during March 2009.

THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE ESTATES

Mature tea Tea in the first and second year field show signs of under nourishment, some vacancies about 25-35% due to deaths of tea bushes and neglect in infilling over the years and also as a result of deaths from very severe and frequent droughts during the past 10-15 years. During the visit in March, tea was not in flush as it was hot and dry during that time of the year. Soil moisture was at its lowest during January to March and air temperatures are at their highest. Where the fields had a crop to offer, the flush was scanty and was plucked using hand held shears. At the Marvera Estate, management has sub contracted some tea fields to a tenant scheme. The past and current yields levels are/were very strongly influenced by availability of farm inputs, labour, climatic conditions (rainfall amounts and distribution) marketing outlets and the management practices.

FINDINGS OF THE SITE EVALUATION

Production constraints.

• The underlying course for the many existing vacancies is hard to establish but can be attributed to diseases, termites, failure to infill in time, decreasing soil moisture and worsening of climatic conditions resulting in more frequent droughts. • Low yield potential of the tea bushes: The seedling tea type on both tea Estates and low input production system have left the bushes weak with dead and defunct wood and the soils highly impoverished. • Vacancies: Vacancy percentage on the Estates varies from 25 to 40%, reducing the number of productive bushes per ha, which has negatively impacted on the yield potential of the both estates. There is some noticeable efforts to remedy this situation by infilling. • Impoverishing of the tea soil: The soils of the estate like much of Amani and Lushoto farming areas have deteriorated significantly both in physical and chemical characteristics, due to soil erosion, mismanagement and cropping without fertilizers (organic and/or inorganic). • Adverse and extreme weather conditions like the recurrent and periodic drought is now a common phenomenon due to deforestation and changing weather pattern.

Areas for Improvement

• Fine tuning all tea crop husbandry practices (acquiring needed inputs and using them timely and correctly). Applying optimum doses of fertilizers, streamlining existing cultural practices, improving present plucking standards, investing on mechanical harvesting devices and machines, striving for weed free fields, improving the organic matter content of the soil and micro nutrient foliar application. • Training of the farm staff in tea management practices • Rejuvenation pruning and infilling of gaps in the fields • For the organic tea production there is a need to increase the various nutrients through the use of nitrogen fixing plants, wattle extract residues plenty at Lushoto factory could improve OM and soil nutrient levels as well as application of Minjingu Rock Phosphate • Compost making should be improved. ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR NGWAZI ESTATE-UNILEVER TEA TANZANIA LTD

Dr Ernest Kimambo and Eng. George Kwandu

INTRODUCTION This report presents the observations made on the appraisal of field No. 7/6 of Ngwazi Estate, the property of the Unilever Tea Tanzania Ltd. Ngwazi Tea Estate in Mufindi District-Iringa Region. Ngwazi estate is a conventionally managed tea estate in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The estate is fully irrigated during the dry season (May-December) and tea is harvested (about 90%) by self propelled harvesting machines. This work was undertaken by the Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT).

THE PROBLEM It was reported that field 7/6 has been yielding less tea over the previous 2-3 years than it used to produce and that some tea bushes in this field showed signs of paling (turning yellowish) and that this field had an unprecedented rate of runoff resulting in a huge loss of top soil and mulch, which was carried to the adjacent road near the airport and further down into the Ngwazi lake.

OBJECTIVES OF THE APPRAISAL The objective of the appraisal was to assess the reasons for the observed decline in yields on some of the estate fields, reasons for increased runoff during the rains on the fields parallel to an airstrip and cause(s) for sporadic yellowing of some tea bushes on the assessed field.

HYPOTHESIS Frequent passage of relatively heavyfarm machinery can bring about soil compaction, which can change soil profile characteristics leading to reduced water infiltration leading to surface movement of water carrying away valuable topsoil, mulch and nutrients thereby reducing amounts of nutrients available for root uptake by plants.

METHODOLOGY Information on harvesting practices, fertilising and irrigating practices were collected from discussion with the Manager and Field Supervisor. Soil and leaf sampling was undertaken during the field visits for laboratory chemical and physical analyses for the purpose of ( a) determining nutrient status of the tea field (b) to determine some physical parameters which could shed some light as to why yields were decreasing. The chemical and physical analyses were carried out at the TRIT soil/plant and water laboratory at Ngwazi.

RESULTS

The total porosity which is the volume occupied by air and water was significantly higher at the centre than on the tyre positions. With compaction the air-filled porosity of the soil decreases, thus restricting the air supply to plant roots and facilitating build up of toxic products such as CO2 and ethylene. As well as decreasing total porosity, compaction of soil decreases the volume of coarse pores relative to the volume of fine ones, and hence also increases the proportion of total porosity occupied by water at any given suction leading to runoff, mostly observed on the tyre position. The use of lighter machines with pneumatic tyres for mechanical harvesting of teas could alleviate the problem of compaction. Fertilizers applied with the rains, particularly on the tyre positions, will be washed away with the runoff leaving very little amount for yield production. Are we removing more nutrients with mechanical harvesting of tea than by hand harvesting? Certainly, the removal of biomass is much greater by machines than by hand harvesting, implying that with the increased biomass removal it’s more likely that we are removing more nutrients from the soil than we are currently returning to it; which makes nutritional management an important priority for the tea industry. We recommend the use of balanced macro and micronutrients based on laboratory analysis and also the collection of information on soil physical and chemical characteristics, fertilizing practices including rates, timing and frequency; leaf and soil nutrient levels and yields from different fields under machine harvesting over several years to keep abreast with the changes taking place in the production system.

CONCLUSIONS

• Mechanization (with heavy machinery) in tea harvesting could lead to compaction of soils, resulting in restricted root penetration, reduced infiltration rates leading to loss of applied fertilizers due to runoff and restricting air supply to plant roots with a possible consequent build up of toxic products in the root zone. In combination all these may lead to reduced productivity of tea fields. • Compacted soils must be loosened to increase infiltration rates and improve air circulation in the soil. • Application of recommended fertilizers. With harvest mechanization there may be a need for yet unidentified additional nutrients. THE TRIT SOIL, PLANT AND WATER ANALYSIS LABORATORY

By Dr. Ernest Kimambo and Margareth Lupembe

INTRODUCTION

The TRIT soil, plant and water analysis Laboratory was established at Ngwazi to meet the soil, plant and water analysis needs of the Tea Industry and also to support other sectors across the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of the United Republic of Tanzania. The aim is to offer a variety of services to meet the needs of tea growers and agricultural community in Tanzania and beyond. Our stakeholders regard these services to be of top priority.

OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of the TRIT Laboratory are; • Expand the use of soil, plant, water and fertilizer analyses and diagnostic techniques that improve the nutrient management in crop production and the environment. • Promote research essential to continued development of effective analytical methods, calibration and interpretation of soil, plant, water and other analyses and facilitate the interchange and expanded use of this information. • Provide Leadership in the development and dissemination of interpretation and application of soil, plant, water and fertilizer analyses for the purpose of efficient resource management and environmental protection.

MISSION

To offer tea growers, agriculturists, environmentalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), companies and individuals, reliable, high-quality, and cost-effective laboratory services for various purposes. Our services will include soil testing, plant/tissue analysis, water as well as fertilizer analyses.

Soil and fertilizer testing are the foundations of an economically and environmentally sound crop management program. Soil tests can be used both to prescribe fertilizer application and pH corrective measures and to monitor the soil’s fertility status. Plant tissue analysis can be a very useful method to assess crop nutrient status. Water testing is suggested to help monitor the quality of irrigation, industrial and domestic water supply, while manure and fertilizer testing is the best way to determine the quality of fertilizer and value of manure and fertilizers applied on to fields and gardens. We believe that we can provide both solutions to tea field problems and create value through increased crop productivity to our varied clients.

THE LABORATORY

The laboratory at Ngwazi, in Mufindi district in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, was officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Mizengo P. Pinda (MP) on 29th March 2009. The initial operations started in October 2007 (Table 24). Now that the laboratory is up and running, the next step is to ensure the supply of necessary reagents, glassware and equipment, acceptable level of staffing who will be well trained and dedicated to their work. A few other things need to be done to ensure that the laboratory is running smoothly and efficiently: Improvement on the power and water supply system are deemed necessary at this early stage. The supply of running water has been ensured by increasing the pipeline conveying water to the lab and a 50,000 litre water reservoir constructed exclusively for the laboratory. Power supply is expected to be the next step. There is a huge voltage drop from the transformer to the mains in the laboratory, which affects proper running of some instruments like the GC and muffle furnace, needing a steady and uniform current, but cannot be connected through voltage stabilizers or UPS gadgets as they consume huge amounts of electricity. Training of the laboratory staff is a continuous process in order to develop and improve the capabilities of the staff. The programme’s goals include executions of short-and long- term training plans to be undertaken locally, regionally and internationally to meet TRIT’s need for human resource development in accordance with the Institute’s strategic action plan (TRIT-SAP). Also on the programme’s agenda are quality control, reliability and repeatability of results, operational efficiency and minimal contamination to demonstrate to our clients that the analytical measurements made by our laboratory are accurate, reliable and fit for their intended purpose, while operating in a cost effective manner. The ultimate goal is to attain accreditation by an officially approved international organization. Such accreditation (e.g. to ISO 17025/ISO 9000) will give our customers an assessment of the technical competence of the laboratory.

PLATE 2: Some of the Laboratory’s state of the Art Equipment being used by the technicians at Ngwazi. Table 24: Summary of number of samples analysed at TRIT laboratory from October 2007 – June 2009

Type of Number of samples Major Clients sample Soil 337 Unilever Tea (T) Ltd; Mufindi Tea and Coffee Plants 185 Company Ltd, Wakulima Tea Company, East Water 13 Usambara Tea Company, Smallholder Tea Growers (Mufindi, Njombe, Rungwe, East & West Fertilizer 7 Usambara); Green Resources Limited (Forestry), Compost 4 and TRIT (inhouse research programmes) Tea leaves 55 CROP WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (CWMP)

By Julius M. Kigalu

INTRODUCTION

In 2008/09, the Crop Water Management Programme continued to implement research activities with the following specific objectives:

1. To demonstrate good soil and water conservation in young tea and to quantify the losses of soil, nutrients and water under different management practices in ways that allow the results to be applied with confidence elsewhere on sloping or relatively flat land for sustainable tea production and environmental conservation; and 2. To undertake irrigation water management studies for large estate and smallholder tea growers in order to maximize crop water productivity for increased and well distributed tea production throughout the year.

These objectives were investigated through three field experiments M5, NJ1 and N18 on soil and water conservation in young tea at Marikitanda Tea Research Station in Amani, Tanga, drip irrigation of tea at Kibena Tea Limited in Njombe and comparison of drip and overhead sprinkler irrigation of tea at Ngwazi Estate of Unilever Tea Tanzania Limited in Mufindi, Iringa, respectively. These activities are directly under the Crop Water Management Programme (CWMP) and are described in the following sections. The programme also worked very closely with all the other TRIT research programmes, participated in training of extension staff, giving advice and backstopping for large and smallholder tea growers.

The Programme Leader continued to participate in international activities including developments in the technical co-operation research project RAF/5/058 on small-scale irrigation technologies aiming at promoting smallholder crop productivity and income generation thereby enhancing economic livehood of which the project write up was initiated last year (2007/08) at the International Atomic Energy agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, and also participated in its first project coordination meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya (30 March to 3 April 2009) and in the Third Improved Management of Agricultural Water in Eastern and Southern Africa (IMAWESA) Regional Conference on Agricultural Water Management in Eastern and Southern Africa at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 15-19th September 2008, deliberating on “Agricultural Water Management Pays” as briefly reported under the Technology Transfer Programme.

These international activities and interactions helped in developing skills and experiences through learning from others, setting opportunities for networking and developing linkages within Eastern and Southern Africa and beyond. EXPERIMENT M5: SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION IN YOUNG TEA

By Julius M. Kigalu and Rafikiel A. Masha

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this experiment is to test the effectiveness of dense planting of tea as a means of controlling soil erosion in young tea fields.

TREATMENTS

Briefly, the treatments under investigation in this experiment are as follows:

T1 = Control; no soil and water conservation practices applied. T2 = Dense tea (Cammellia sinensis) rows as a live crop barrier. T3 = Dry Guatemala (Tripsacum laxum) grass mulch. T4 = Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) as live barrier.

In treatment T2, the first, fifth and ninth rows under normal planting were replaced by high dense tea rows planted at spacing of 0.2 m × 1.2 m. In treatment T3, air-dry Guatemala grass -1 was evenly spread at the rate of 35 t ha . In treatment T4, vetiver grass was planted at a spacing of 0.1 m apart, 0.6 m above the first, fifth and ninth rows. Each plot contained 63 plants (net) except for treatment T2, which had 105 plants of clone BBK35, having an erect (upright) growth characteristic. Triple super phosphate (TSP) fertiliser was applied in the -1 holes at planting at the rate of 30 g per plant/hole (equivalent to 190 kg P2O5) ha ). In subsequent years, compound fertiliser NPK or NPK formulations of straight fertilisers Urea or Sulphate of Ammonia (SA) for supply of nitrogen (N), TSP and soda of potash (K2O) was applied at the rate of 30, 60, 150 and 300 kg N [ha year]-1 in two equal splits in September and March in 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04, and 2004/05, respectively. The last fertiliser application rate (300 kg N [ha year]-1) was also applied in 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08 and in 2008/09. The experimental area is surrounded by clone 6/97 and kept free from weeds by hand weeding.

DESIGN

The tea was planted in May 2001 in a randomized complete block design experiment comprising four blocks each with four plots representing each treatment. Each plot contained nine rows each with seven tea plants, measuring 10.8 m long by 4.2 m wide, giving a net plot area of 45 m2. Each plot was surrounded by a single guard row on all sides, giving a gross plot area of 71 m2. Straight logs of wood were laid on the soil surface on all sides except the bottom side of each plot as boundary barrier to prevent water from running into other plots. Plots down the slope were separated by three guard rows mulched with air dry Guatemala grass and waterways constructed across the experiment to prevent run-off from entering the bottom plots. The experimental area has an average slope of 15%. The experiment was pruned at a height of 45 cm in September 2005 and brought back to plucking in April 2006 after an extended drought spell lasting from mid November 2005 to mid March 2006. In the years 2006/07 and 2007/08 high amounts of rainfall were recorded with good distribution leading in part to high tea yields in the second and third years after pruning. However, in this year (2008/09) there was a prolonged severe drought starting from December 2008 to the end of March 2009, leading to markedly low yields.

RESULTS

Yield

As in the previous year, at the end of May 2009 in the fourth and eigth year from pruning and from planting, respectively yields obtained from the plots that were mulched with air dry Guatemala grass (T3;(1996 kg made tea ha-1; 2.6% higher than that of the control, T1) was relatively higher than those from other treatments followed by high density tea rows (T2) which produced 1903 kg made tea ha-1, corresponding to 2.2% lower than that of the control (T1) (Figure ). Overall, on avarege the yields obtained this year (1882 kg made tea ha-1) were lower than the corresponding values last year (5351 kg made tea ha-1). The control (T1) and vetiver grass live barrier (T4) plots gave 1947 and 1681 kg made tea ha-1, respectively compared with corresponding values of 5400 and 4490 kg made tea ha-1 in the previous year. This was the general trend of yields from all the experiments at MTRS in 2008/09. Treatment T4 produced 13.7% below the yield from the control (T1). The low yields obtained this year were mainly caused by a prolonged drought as mentioned in the annual meteorological report for MTRS, and this led to as low as no harvests for two months from the last week in January to the last week in March 2009.

Figure 8: Experiment M5: yield measurements from the soil and water conservation experiment at Marikitanda Tea Research Station for the years 2007/08 and 2008/09.

As in all previous years since the tea was planted in May 2001, these results indicated that dry Guatemala grass mulch (T3) was the best of the four SWC treatments investigated in this experiment followed by high density tea rows (T2) in the first four years (2001/02 – 2004/05) before the first pruning was done and with continued positive residual effects on yield for five to seven years after application of mulch including the past four years (2005/06 – 2008/09) in the second pruning cycle.

CONCLUSIONS

• As in previous years, in 2008/09 yields from the plots that were formerly mulched using dry Guatemala grass continued to be higher than those from control (T1) by 2.6% and slightly but not significant statistically above those from the other SWC treatments (T2 and T4). • The yields from all the treatments were much lower than those in the previous year (2007/08) due to a severe prolonged drought with no yield recorded for two consecutive months between the last week in January and March 2009. • In the eigth year (2008/09) after planting, there were no significant differences in yield between the SWC treatments; yet treatment T3 gave a relatively higher yield increment (2.6%) above the control (T1: no SWC applied). • Since planting the tea in May 2001, Treatment T3 involving application of dry Guatemala grass (Tripsacum laxum) mulch gave the highest yields followed by treatment T2 (High density tea rows as live barrier) for seven consecutive years (2001/02 to 2007/08). • These results highlight the importance of Guatemala grass mulching (T3) with a long time (five to seven years) residual effects on yield of tea, followed by high density tea rows (T2) for soil and water conservation and high yields in young tea. By contrast live vetiver belts (T4) and the control (T1) continually gave lower yields. • After eight years of testing, the use of Guatemala grass mulches (T3) and live barriers of high density tea rows (T2) ranked first and second positions, respectively, producing the highest yields of made tea and are recommended for further testing on on-farm trials under smallholder tea farmers conditions. EXPERIMENT NJ1: DRIP IRRIGATION OF TEA

By Julius M. Kigalu and Ernest I. Kimambo

OBJECTIVES

There are two aims for the experiment: 1. To quantify the value of drip irrigation in commercial tea production. 2. To determine the minimum quantity of water (and fertiliser) needed for profitable tea production.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• To specify the design criteria for a cost-effective drip irrigation system for tea production. • To determine the yield responses to water of four clones grown under well-fertilised conditions. • To determine the financial 'worthwhile ness' of drip irrigation; and, in the future: • To determine the optimum fertiliser regime when using drip irrigation (fertigation).

TREATMENTS

The tea was planted in December 1994 and brought into bearing by decentering at 0.3 m followed by tipping twice at 0.4 m; and first pruned in 1999 and in August 2002 before starting the first phase of the experiment (2002/03 - 2006/07). The experiment was again pruned in July 2007 in preparation for commencement of the second phase intended to investigate the effects of fertigation using drip irrigation. However, preparations for modification of the drip laterals for the intended fertigation were not completed in time due to late procurement of required drip materials for the new phase. Installation of the materials was not completed until July 2009 but fertigation treatments started on 14 September 2009. In 2008/09 as in the previous year (2007/08) data recording continued with the objective of studying the residual effects of drip irrigation based on the experimental design and layout of the first phase of which the treatments are as briefly described below.

Irrigation Prior to start of the experiment in 2002/03, the field was irrigated (total water applied about 700 mm annually) since planting by overhead impact sprinklers. The installation of drip irrigation equipment and experimental irrigation treatments were described in detail in previous TRIT Annual Reports (2002/03 and 2003/04). Briefly, the irrigation system (Netafim RAM ∅ 17) consists of underground PVC main supply pipe (110/6 mm diameter, ∅), subsurface main lines class 6 and 10 (∅=75-110 mm) and sub-main pipes class 5 and 6 (∅=50 mm) that are connected perpendicular to the main lines and across the entire width of the experiment and from which emanate the drip laterals (RAM ∅ 17L) with in-line drippers delivering 2.3 or 3.5 l h-1, spaced at 0.75 and 0.60 m along the laterals at inter-row spacing of 1.2 (for irrigating a single row) and 2.4 m (for double row irrigation of tea), respectively. The filter control house, filtration (using gravel filters 3 × 20’’ and disc filters 120 mesh 3 × 2’’) and pressure regulation equipment (regulator for pressure adjustment at 18 m) were also fitted. Hydraulic valves 2’’ were also fitted to the sub-main pipes at the blocks in the field. The system requirements are 38 m h-1 at a pressure (P) of 70 m. The irrigation treatments are chosen to represent a realistic range of (four) water depletion levels to enable to develop yield response functions to water applied, and including limited (two) comparisons between lateral drip lines serving one or two rows of tea bushes. The layout of the treatments is shown in Figure 9 and described as follows: i). Treatment I1 (1): Water applied at 0.25 ET: lateral serves one row of tea; ii). Treatment I2 (1): Water applied at 0.50 ET: lateral serves one row of tea; iii). Treatment I3 (1): Water applied at 0.75 ET: lateral serves one row of tea; iv). Treatment I4 (1): Water applied at 1.00 ET: lateral serves one row of tea; v). Treatment I5 (2): Water applied at 0.25 ET: lateral serves two rows of tea; and vi). Treatment I6 (2): Water applied at 1.00 ET: lateral serves two rows of tea.

Open water evaporation was recorded from a sunken pan at a nearby agro-meteorological station on Itambo Estate. These data were used to estimate the potential soil water deficit (SWD) for irrigation scheduling, replacing the corresponding specified proportion (25 to 100%) of the cumulative potential SWD for each irrigation treatment.

In 2008/09 the experiment was partially irrigated uniformly giving between 11 and 23 mm per month using overhead impact sprinklers from July to November 2008 with total application depth of only 80 mm to remedy the tea from drought stress.

Clones These include four established clones in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania with attributes as described below. i) AHP S15/10 (from Kenya): broad-leafed with spreading growth habit; high yielding under well-watered and relatively dry conditions at Ngwazi Tea Research Station (experiment N10 and N12); ii) BBT207 (from Tanzania): small narrow-leafed with upright growth characteristic; susceptible to drought but responsive to irrigation (N10); iii) BBK35 (from Kenya): broad-leafed with erect growth habit; intermediate yield between BBT207 and AHP S15/10 under dry conditions, similar yields to BBT207 when fully irrigated (N10); and iv) TRFCA PC81 (from Malawi): intermediate leaf size with upright growth habit; yield has done well under both dry and wet conditions during the first three years after planting at NTRS (N14).

To Lihogosa dam

I2(1) I 4 (2) C1 C2 C3 C4

I3(1) I 1(2) Block 2

Main pipe I1(1) I 4(1)

I4(2) I 2(1)

Filter Control I1(2) I 4(1) House Block 1 C2 C4 C1 C3

I3(1) I 1(1)

Figure 9: Experiment NJ1: layout of the drip irrigation treatments (labelled as shown above). The clones (C1, …, C4) are randomized across each block as indicated in coloured strips, for example. The positions of the PVC supply pipe line (110/6 mm diameter) from the pump station at Lihogosa dam to the filter control house and main underground pipe line into the centre of the experiment are also shown. The two sub-mains PVC pipes each with six equally spaced air pressure control valves are connected perpendicular to the main pipe at a distance of 125 m from either end of the experiment.

Each clone is represented at random in 12 contiguous blocks of the experiment (Table 25: ). Each clonal plot comprises an area of 90 m (75 rows) × 21 m (35 bushes), equivalent to 2,625 bushes (gross).

Nutrition During the first phase of the experiment the whole area independent of treatment was supplied with ‘luxury’ levels of fertiliser. From August to October 2005, fertiliser was applied in the irrigation water (fertigation) whenever the experiment was irrigated, making effective use of the limited water available. In 2005/06, the equivalent of 300 kg N ha-1 as NPK 25:5:10 (plus sulphur) in solutions of sulphate of ammonia (SA; 21%N), Urea (46%N), Potassium chloride (KCl: 61% K2O) and Mono Potassium Phosphate (MKP: 52% P2O5; 34% K2O) was applied. In 2006/07 fertiliser compound NPK (25:5:5:5s) was applied by broadcasting manually at the rate of 150 kg N ha-1 in only one split in March 2009. Zinc was applied as a foliar spray in three equal applications of 1.5 kg ZnO ha-1 (total 4.5 kg ha-1) at intervals of four months as at NTRS.

In the second phase of the experiment, variable rates of fertiliser will be applied through fertigation drip irrigation treatment I2 to remove 50% of the.cumulative SWD with one drip lateral for each row of tea as recommended from the first phase.

DESIGN Using the existing area of tea, with the four clones completely randomised, the cost of irrigation system was minimised by keeping the design as simple as possible for ease of operation, management and cost saving, but ensuring that the main irrigation treatment effects remained identified statistically. Some flexibility in the design of the experiment was considered to ensure that irrigation treatments can be varied in the future (within limits). A layout of the clones in the experimental field is shown in Table 25. In this way, each clone is represented three times in each of the six irrigation treatments, and there are two replicates only of each irrigation treatment. Therefore, there are a total of 36 sub-plots of each clone, six in each of the six irrigation treatments.

Table 25: Experiment NJ1: layout of the clones in the two experimental blocks. Block 1 Clones 15/10,35,81,207 35,81,207,15/10 81,207,35,15/10 207,81,15/10,35 81,207,35,15/10 81,35,15/10,207

Block 2 Clones 81,207,35,15/10 207,35,15/10,81 207,81,15/10,35 15/10,35,207,81 15/10,81,207,35 207,15/10,35,81

The experimental area comprises a total area of nine hectares; 500 m (883 bushes) × 180 m (150 rows) gross planted at a spacing of 1.2 m (between rows) × 0.6 m (within rows) equivalent to a planting density of 13888 plants ha-1. Each sub-plot contains 875 bushes (25 rows × 35 bushes) gross. There are guard-rows of two rows around each irrigation treatment, giving 21 rows × 35 bushes or 735 bushes (net) per sub-plot. These are very large plots, and yield and related measurements (e.g., dry matter content of harvested shoots) a sub-sample of 100 bushes only at centre of each sub-plot. The tea was pruned in June 2007.

RESULTS

Yields

Table 26: Experiment NJ1: yield of dried tea responses to previous drip irrigation anduniform fertigation applied on four clones BBT207, AHP S15/10, BBK 35 and TRFCA PC81, June 2008 – May 2009.

Irrigation treatments

I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 Potential SWD (mm) 236 236 236 236 236 236 Drip applied (mm) 80 80 80 80 80 80 Clones Mean BBT 207 3,970 3,840 3,990 3,350 3,820 3,300 3,710 AHP S15/10 6,340 5,720 5,960 6,180 5,190 5,380 5,800 BBK 35 5,550 5,350 4,620 4,340 4,730 3,730 4,720 TRFCA PC 81 4,510 4,400 4,740 4,220 4,040 3,940 4,310 Mean 5,090 4,830 4,830 4,530 4,450 4,090 4,630 LSD (P=0.05): between clone treatments = 304.5 kg dried tea ha-1 (n = 36); between irrigation treatments = 373.0 kg dried tea ha-1 (n = 24); between clone × irrigation treatments = Not significant. Coefficient of variation = 14.1%. Unlike in previous years, fertigation was not done concurrently with irrigation due to shortage of water. Unlike in previous years, in 2008/09, and in the second year after pruning, the broad-leafed and spreading growth habit clone AHP S15/10 produced the highest yield of dried tea (5800 kg dried tea ha-1) followed by clone BBK 35 (4720 kg dried tea ha-1), the small-leafed clones TRFCA PC81 (4310 kg dried tea ha-1) and clone BBT 207 (3710 kg dried tea ha-1) averaged across all irrigation treatments with significant difference (P<0.001) in yield between the four clones (Table 26).

Thus the broad-leafed clone BBK35 gave the second highest yield, surpassed the yield from the small-leafed clone TRFCA PC81 and was second to clone AHP S15/10 which is also broad-leafed. This order of yield achivements by clone was attributed, in part, to the quicker recovery and relative large size leaves.

In Table 26 when yields were avearaged across all clones, the former drip irrigation treatment I1 (irrigation to remove 25% of accumulated SWD with one lateral for every row of tea) gave the highest yield (5090 kg dried tea ha-1) by I2 and I3 with similar yields (4830 kg dried tea ha-1), I4 (4530 kg dried tea ha-1), I5 (4450 kg dried tea ha-1) and I6 (4090 kg dried tea ha-1). These residual effects showed that the former drip irrigation streatments still indicated that treratments that had been receiving the least amount of drip application had the highest yields, and that drip irrigation to remove 100% of the SWD accumulated between irrigation intervals with one lateral serving two rows of tea gave the lowest yields. These results have important implications for application of small amounts of water producing yet relatively higher yields and saving of water. Thus in future adoption of less but frequent applications of water and yet obtaining higher yields as indicated in the findings from this (NJ1) and the next (N18) experiments could be considered. In 2008/09 the grand mean yield was 4634 kg made tea ha-1. Assuming all that tea was sold at the at the Mombasa Tea Auction at an average price of US$ 1:59 kg-1 and that US$ 1:00 was equivalent to Tanzania Shillings(TZS) 1,350:00, generating an income of TZS 9,946.881:00. The total cost of all the activities carried on and adat recorded for the entire nine hectare experimental field in 2008/09 was TZS 11,421,017:00, equivalent to TZS 1,269,001:90 ha-1). Thus the gross margin was TZS 8,677,879:00, indicating that, in response to objective three of the experiment, it was worthwhile conducting the experiment in 2008/09.

CONCLUSIONS

• In the secondyear after pruning, there were significant yield differences (P<0.001) between the clones with unexpectedly clone AHP S15/10 having the largest yield (5780 kg dried tea ha-1) followed by clones BBK35 (4720 kg dried tea ha-1), TRFCA PC81 (4310 kg dried tea ha-1) and BBT207 (3710 kg dried tea ha-1). Thus the broad-leafed clones (AHP S15/10 and BBK 35), once recovered from pruning and two years after pruning produced relatively higher yields compared with the narrow and small-leafed clones (TRFCA PC 81 and BBT 207).

• Significant yield responses to both drip irrigation (P<0.001) were observed with the highest yield (5,090 kg dried tea ha-1) recorded from the first drip irrigation treatment I1(1) with 25% removal of SWD and for one lateral for one row of tea followed by similar yields of 4,830 and 4,530 kg dried tea ha-1 from treatment I2 (1) with 50% removal of SWD and for one lateral for one row of tea and I3(1) with 75% removal of SWD and one lateral for one row of tea, respectively. • Following the best and consistent yield perfornance for the period 2003/04 to 2007/08 and in 2008/09, drip irrigation treatment I2 with 50% removal of SWD and one lateral for each row of tea is recommended for further testing in on-farm trials followed by wide adoption by tea estates and smallholder tea farmers.

• The lowest yield (4,090 kg dried tea ha-1) was found from the drip irrigation treament I6 (2) which received water to remove 100% of SWD with one lateral for irrigating two rows of tea.

• Examination of the grand mean yield and total costs incurred in conducting the experiment showed that it was financially worthwhile conducting the experiment as a net income of TZS TZS 8,677,879:00 was realised in 2008/09.

• Without and with interrupted irrigation application for a long time, still relatively high yields were obtained in 2008/09. These findings pose important implications for adoption of less but frequent water applications through drip irrigation or overhead sprinkler irrigation as reported in the next experiment.

• Further data analyses including dry matter production and partitioning, and root depth and distribution are in progress for detailed investigations to explain these results. EXPERIMENT N18: RESPONSES OF CLONES TO DRIP AND OVERHEAD SPRINKLER IRRIGATION

By Julius M. Kigalu8, Mary Jonathan9 and Ernest I. Kimambo§§ BACKGROUND

In 2008/09 research continued on this experiment (labelled N18) that was established at Ngwazi Estate, Unilever Tea Tanzania Limited (UTTL) in 2005/06 to test and compare the yield and responses of other parameters of two clones (BBK35 and TRIEA 6/8) to drip and overhead impact sprinkler (OHS) irrigation, and effects of fertigation using drip irrigation. Under UTTL initiatives with TRIT providing scientific input, this 10 ha experimental area is different from Experiment NJ1 (reported above) which tests only drip irrigation treatments on four clones, including clone BBK35. This is the rationale for another drip irrigation experiment.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the experiment is to compare the effects of two irrigation systems (Drip and OHS) on the productivity of tea. The specific objectives are as follows:

1. To determine the yield advantage of drip against OHS irrigation under complete replacement of SWD and the cost of full irrigation of a limited area.

2. To determine whether drip irrigation gives higher yields than OHS if SWD is only partially replaced, and the cost implications for a larger area.

3. To quantify the effect of frequent sprinkler irrigation at the same water application rate. 4. To determine whether fertigation gives comparative higher yield than drip or sprinkler irrigation with conventional fertilizer application.

TREATMENTS The tea was planted in 1994 with two clones, namely BBK35 and TRIEA 6/8 of commercial and scientific importance in East and Central Africa. This is a full-fledged 10 ha field experiment comprising of eight randomized treatments (four on drip and the other four on OHS irrigation) as described below.

• T1: Drip irrigation, applied three days per week (as treatment I4 (1) in Experiment NJ1 – drip irrigation of tea at Kibena, Njombe) to fully replace SWD. • T2: Sprinkler irrigation, 50 mm to be applied when cumulative soil water deficit (SWD) reaches 50 mm (where, SWD = Eo - Rainfall - Irrigation). This will be quite similar to current Ngwazi Estate practice though the SWD is usually not reduced quite to zero. • T3: Sprinkler irrigation with 100 mm applied when the cumulative SWD reaches 100 mm.

8 Tea Research Institute of Tanzania 9 Unilever Tea Tanzania Limited • T4: Sprinkler irrigation with 200 mm applied when the cumulative SWD reaches 200 mm.

• T5: Drip irrigation, replacing only 50% of SWD (as treatment I2 (1) in Experiment NJ1 – drip irrigation of tea at Kibena, Njombe). • T6: Sprinkler irrigation, applying 50 mm when cumulative SWD reaches 100 mm to reduce SWD to 50 mm, and the next round of 50 mm applied when SWD reaches 150 mm, and so on. • T7: Fertigation using drip irrigation, otherwise identical to Treatment 1. • T8: Fertigation using drip irrigation, otherwise identical to Treatment 5.

Fertiliser was applied at the rate of 200 kg N ha-1 as Urea (46% N) in two splits by fertigation.

DESIGN The treatments are laid out in a completely randomized design each with two replications for each of the two clones planted at a spacing of 0.70 × 1.20 m. Overall, there are 32 plots at the centre of a contiguous large area that receives a given irrigation treatment. At the centre of each of these large areas, a central net plot comprising of 100 bushes (18 × 18 m) was demarcated and well labeled as the net plot for recording experimental data for statistical analysis. Other studies, including destructive root sampling, dry matter production and partitioning, soil sampling for moisture content determination, etc.) will be undertaken from the guard area surrounding the net plots but receiving same treatments. As in 2007/08, compound fertiliser NPKS in the ratio of 25:5:5 +5S ( S representing sulfur) was applied at an annual rate of 300 kg N ha-1 in two splits in August 2008 (100 kg N ha-1 with irrigation) and in January 2009 (200 kg N ha-1).

RESULTS In 2008/09 clone TRIEA 6/8 gave similar yield (2,470 kg made tea ha-1) to clone BBK35 (2,780 kg made tea ha-1). Clone TRIEA 6/8 gave relatively higher yields in response to irrigation treatments. As in the previous year the differences of the effects of irrigation treatments (drip versus overhead sprinkler irrigation) on yield were again not statistically significant. The yields from all the treatments were lower than those reported last year, including those from the two fertigation treatments, T7 and T8 with corresponding yields of 2470 and 2400 kg made tea ha-1 compared with those from the drip experiment at Kibena, Njombe due, in part, to damage of drip laterals and end caps by rodents, early stoppage of irrigation treatments application in November 2008 even before the end of the dry season and to declining leaf offering as the experiment was in the fourth year and due for pruning in 2009/10 ready for further testing of the treatments.. As shown in (Figure 10) drip irrigation treatment T1 (drip irrigation applied three days per week (as treatment I4 (1) in Experiment NJ1 – drip irrigation of tea at Kibena, Njombe described above) to fully replace SWD gave relatively higher yield (2790 kg made tea ha-1) and similar to 3090 kg made tea ha-1 from treatment T2 (OHS sprinkler irrigation with 50 mm of water applied when cumulative soil water deficit (SWD) reaches 50 mm). This was followed closely by drip irrigation treatment T5 (d rip irrigation, replacing only 50% of SWD (as treatment I2 (1) in Experiment NJ1 – drip irrigation of tea at Kibena, Njombe)) with 2570 kg made tea ha-1 with similar yields from treatment T6: sprinkler irrigation, applying 50 mm when the cumulative SWD reaches 100 mm to reduce SWD to 50 mm, and the next round of 50 mm applied when SWD reaches 150 mm, and so on. These results indicated that keeping mature tea fields at SWD not exceed 50 mm by OHS irrigation (T2) may be considered comparable to drip irrigation applied to replace SWD by 50% (T5 or I2 at Kibena, Njombe) and drip irrigation applied three days per week (T1) to remove the accumulated SWD between consecutive irrigation intervals by 100%.

Figure 10: Yield responses to drip (T1, T5, T7 and T8) and overhead sprinkler (T2, T3, T4 and T6) irrigation treatments (as described in detail in the text), June 2008 – May 2009. The standard errors of differences of means between clones (s.e.d. (n = 16) = 227.0 kg made tea ha-1 and coefficient of variation of 24.5%.

As last year, these yields are relatively low by TRIT experimental standards, and the similarity of the yield results between treatments can be attributed, in part, to early stoppage of irrigation application because of shortage of water for irrigation, the need for next pruning of the tea bushes early in 2009/10 and damages of drip laterals and end caps causing variations in drip irrigation application, leading to relatively high coefficient of variation (24.5%) unlike in other experimental results from TRIT.

CONCLUSIONS

Ÿ Clone TRIEA 6/8 was relatively more responsive to irrigation and gave higher yields than clone BBK35 under all irrigation treatments with corresponding overall average yields of 2780 and 2470 kg made tea ha-1. Ÿ The yield responses to irrigation treatments were not statistically different. A possible explanation for this was the frequent stoppages of irrigation application due to shortage of water and as the tea was due for the next pruning. Nevertheless of the four drip irrigation treatments, the first treatment T1 (drip irrigation three times/days per week, removing all the accumulative SWD) gave relatively the highest yield (2790 kg made tea ha-1) similar to OHS treatment T2 (3090 kg made tea ha-1; sprinkler irrigation to remove 50% of the SWD developed). Ÿ On average fertigation using drip irrigation (Treatments T7 and T8) indicated relatively the the lowest yields. From 2009/10 onwards, contrasts of yields from these tretaments will be made with fertigation treatments at Kibena. Ÿ Continued frequent stopping of application of irrigation treatments contrary to the agreed plans of this experiment no doubt affects the credibility of the results and should be stopped with prompt replacement of drip laterals and other parts as and when damaged by rodents. Ÿ Further testing is recommended under continuous scheduled irrigation throughout the dry season for the one next pruning cycle. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROGRAMME (TTP)

John Mhagama, Andrew Andalwisye, Magreth Katole, Amos Makweta, and Dunstan Ndamugoba

INTRODUCTION

This is the eleventh annual report since the Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) started operations in 1998. Initially the TTP activities were implemented within the framework of a 5 year strategic plan (TRIT Annual Report 2001/2002 pages 79-84) which ended in 2006/07. The new strategic action plan is being developed to consolidate TRIT’s achievements from the targets set during the last 5years (2001/02 – 2006/07). During 2008/2009 TTP activities continued to expand within Tanzania and outside. The European Union (EU) continued to support a major portion of TTP activities through the EU’s Stabex fund. In particular farmer training and the village based smallholder tea nursery scheme components were strongly supported by this fund. The TRIT extension service contracted by WATCO has continued to serve the tea industry in Rungwe District within a third phase of three years renewable contract ending in December 2009. As an outcome of the successful implementation of the Rungwe contract, TRIT was able to extend the model to Kifanya ward Njombe District which is a catchment area for Kibena Tea Limited, Mkonge village in Mufindi District and Mponde area in Lushoto District. The core TTP responsibility still remains to extend the outputs of research through helping TRIT in general to work within the Farming Systems Approach (FSA) as well as involvement of stakeholders in developing and implementing relevant research and development agenda.

OBJECTIVES

To develop and promote technologies that lead to increases in the productivity and profitability of tea particularly from smallholders and hence to improve the livelihood of rural people especially women and also to increase Tanzania’s foreign exchange earnings.

This core objective is pursued by: • Creating information uptake pathways and using them to deliver strategic research outputs to tea growers especially smallholders; • Testing new research outputs in collaboration with growers for the purpose of identifying the most suitable and appropriate technology for farmers; • Instituting a demand driven farmer training programme for empowering growers to use appropriate and efficient tea production techniques; • Establishing the capacity for smallholders to produce high quality and adequate planting material in the most cost effective and sustainable way; and • Delivering extension and other support services at the request of relevant stakeholders in the Tanzanian tea industry.

ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED DURING THE YEAR

1. Delivery of extension services to smallholder tea growers in various catchment areas: Following the extension of the contract for another period of three years beginning January 2007, Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO) continued to benefit from TRIT whereby the Rungwe Extension Unit continued to provide technical support basic tea production techniques and even on other issues related to tea production, such as fuel wood supplies. TRIT and WATCO are reviewing the next contract that will be extended for another three years period from January 2010 to December 2012. Similarly the extension services unit serving the New Mponde Tea Company continues to record successes especially on improving quality of greenleaf delivered at the factory leading to very significant improvement on the quality of made tea produced by New Mponde tea factory. TRIT continued to provide extension service to Kifanya wards until the extension staff left TRIT, replacement of other staff is underway after signing new contract with Kibena tea Limited. TRIT continued to provide specific extension services on the request of Mkonge Tea Block farm in Mufindi District. All these activities will be reported in details in the relevant sections of this report.

2. Training programmes: The implementation of the programme continued successfully during 2008/2009 with the goal of increasing farmer’s productivity, increasing quantities and improvement of quality of green leaf delivered to the factories. Farmers, extension staff and scientists participated in various training sessions organized under this programme. On-site training initiated in 2007/2008 in southern Tanzania to provide technical support for new farmers who obtained planting materials from the village based nurseries continued successfully during the reporting year. Exchange visits and cinema shows were organized to reach a larger number of farmers on various priority topics of tea production.

3. Production of printed materials and documentary films: During the reporting period two documentary films one on TRIT soil and Plant analysis laboratory and the TRIT 10th Anniversary were produced. TRIT calendar for 2009 was produced and 500 copies were distributed to various stakeholders within and outside the country. The unit continued to print and distribute leaflets especially during various training sessions.

4. The Smallholder Tea Nursery Scheme: The implementation of this scheme continued in various key smallholder tea growing areas in collaboration with the District Agricultural and Livestock Development Offices (DALDO). The smallholder’s nursery scheme is attracting more people at new sites as more smallholders join tea production. During the year various mother bush sites were planned and established to facilitate efficient supply of cuttings

5. On-farm trials and demonstration plots: These have continued to produce useful information that serve as feedback to on station based researchers. Demonstration plots have played an important role of educating local and distant farmers on some aspects of tea production, paving the way for technology adoption in other places. The established trials were maintained based on the needs of participating farmers. In all these On-farm trials, participatory approaches are used to ensure that farmers are involved at all stages of the trials and are practically doing most of the work. This approach ensures farmers are able to learn tea production techniques on the vicinity of their farming environment.

TTP Staff Development: Some TTP staff attended various training sessions and scientific forums both locally and internationally. During the reporting period Two TTP staff attended the 9th Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Agricultural Economists Society of Tanzania (AGREST) which was held in Zanzibar. SMALLHOLDER TEA EXTENSION ACTIVITIES IN RUNGWE DITRICT

By John P. Mhagama, Peter Msewa, Boaz malekela, Richard Mlelwa, Alicia Urio, Anton Omary, Frank Kapinga, Matokeo Wihanzi, Alpha Mtakwa, Mapenzi Shagama, Nyesiga Buberwa, and Magnus Chaula.

INTRODUCTION

The TRIT has been providing extension services to smallholder tea growers in Rungwe district for the last eight years on contractual agreement with Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO). TRIT operates within the framework of extension services agreement whereby the current three year contract (renewed in January 2007) ends in December 2009. The basis of the agreements has been that TRIT provides extension services to smallholders in order to optimise smallholder green leaf production and hence promoting sustainable tea production system. TRIT and WATCO are reviewing the next contract that will be extended for another three years period from January 2010 to December 2012. This report summarises the extension unit activities carried out during 2008/9. The objective of the extension unit for the year under review was to provide effective extension services on technical aspects of cultivation and quality of tea and ensured efficient coordination of green leaf delivery to the factory. Smallholders achieved a productivity level of 1,233 kg of made tea/ha during the reporting period. During the calendar year 2008 income of smallholder tea farmers from tea was more than Tshs. 2 billion.

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the extension unit is to set up and maintain production systems that ensure a sustainable increase of yields and quality of tea with tea a view of improving peoples’ livelihood in the district. The extension unit aimed to achieve the following during reporting period. • to achieve crop budget set by the company; • to maintain the quality of green leaf within or above standards set by the company; • to continue assisting smallholder tea growers adopt appropriate tea cultivation in order to increase yields of tea; • to maintain constant liaison and linkages with the green leaf haulage company in order to ensure smooth collection of green leaf from farmers and delivery to the factory; • to coordinate green leaf harvesting and collection through out the year in order to ensure an improved farmers’ productivity and efficient green leaf transportation and processing; • establish green leaf harvesting, collection and delivery system for Mwakaleli factory; • to coordinate inputs supply to farmers and its utilization for farmers to realise benefit in yields and income; • to strengthen linkages and communication with other key players and government employed extension officers based in some of tea growing villages; • to maintain linkages and feedback systems between WATCO and farmers so as to ensure correct information regarding tea operations, farmers problems and demands reaches WATCO in time, and ensuring faster feedback to farmers on company’s decision and advices; • to assist farmers establish and manage tea nurseries in order to generate plants for expansion and infilling; • To create awareness and understanding among smallholder tea farmers on issues regarding HACCP.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The TRIT Rungwe extension unit recorded the following achievements during the year 2008/9.

Greenleaf production Smallholder tea growers during the year 2008/9 produced a total amount of 16,431,465 kg green leaf. This was 92% of the budgeted crop and was 7.7% less than the amount of green leaf produced by smallholders during the year 2007/8. Failure to achieve the production target during the year under review was attributed to mainly two reasons, one being severe and prolonged drought that affected three sub-schemes namely Segela, Masebe and Kapugi, which accounts for about 43% of the total area of tea under smallholders in Rungwe (Plate 1). The second reason was low amount of fertilizer used by smallholder tea grower into their tea fields. The amount of fertilizer used by smallholders during 2008/9 season was equivalent to application level of 33.7 kg of Nitrogen/ha. This is 46% less than the level of N which was applied during 2007/8 season (Table 27). However, the extension unit and other players, WATCO, JILANJO and RSTGA worked hard to make sure that drought effect on the three sub-schemes did not affect the whole tea business in Rungwe. These efforts led to increased yield of tea in non drought affected areas that had compensated for the crop loss in drought affected areas. For example five villages from non drought affected areas produced above the expected optimal production level by smallholders in Rungwe, i.e., 2,000 kg MT/ha/year. These villages include Manow Plantation (2,933 kg) from Manow/Itete sub-scheme, Kyimo (2,434 kg), Katumba (2,325 kg) and FDC Katumba (2,128 kg) all from Rungwe South sub-scheme, and Mpumbuli (2,142 kg) from Segela Sub-scheme. The drought effect on tea yields observed during this reporting period has been taken by TRIT as a research agenda on smallholder rain fed tea in Rungwe district. Smallholder tea sector contributed 2.2 billion shillings to the district during calendar year 2008. 20000

* Drought, + 50 N/ha, ++ 63 N/ha, 18000 *# Drought, 33.8 N/ha

16000

14000 )

s 12000 e n n o t (

f 10000 a e l

n e e r 8000 G

6000

4000

2000

0 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06* 2006/07+ 2007/08++ 2008/09*# Year/Season

Figure 11: Green leaf production trend by smallholder tea growers 2001/02 to 2008/09

Green leaf quality control The quality of made tea determines the level of its competitiveness in the market. Green leaf standard has a significant influence on the quality of processed tea. The extension unit is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the proportion of good leaf delivered to collection centres by smallholder farmers meets the company’s minimum set standard of 76%. This was achieved through providing education to farmers on proper plucking standards, plucking rounds and use of recommended plucking equipments (baskets and ground sheets). The extension unit monitored constantly to ensure that mechanism to control quality of green leaf at collection points is always in place where by green leaf brought by farmers at collection centres undergo a series of inspections. Green leaf inspection is carried out by tea committee members, extension officers and green leaf clerks who make sure that only green leaf which meets company standards is purchased. During the reporting period, the average proportion of green leaf from farmers was maintained at above 76%. The proportion of main grades of made tea was 94%.

Coordination of green leaf harvesting and transportation Greenleaf harvesting and collection systems are among the key elements for improved productivity and quality of tea. Harvesting schedule influences the efficiency and effectiveness of transportation and processing in the factory. The extension unit is charged with the role of coordinating green leaf supply to the factory from all smallholder farmers such that transportation of green leaf and processing efficiency is optimized. The extension unit pursued this through maintaining a constant liaison with Greenleaf Haulage Company on the green leaf collection timetable from each collection point. Properly planned and coordinated green leaf harvesting and transportation facilitates the transporter to synchronize the planning and timely collection and delivery of green leaf to the factory, whereas the factory can easily plan for efficient processing.

These arrangements help farmers to follow proper plucking rounds and hence improving tea productivity and quality of processed tea. The extension unit monitored the established green leaf harvesting and collection plans throughout the year and proposed for changing the plucking days and collection timetable depending on crop situation that changed with growing seasons of the year. All players, WATCO, JILANJO and farmers were advised accordingly of these changes. During the reporting period the extension unit established green leaf collection system for Mwakaleli factory which started to process tea in March 2009 and reviewed that of Katumba factory. Sources of green leaf for both Katumba and Mwakaleli factories were reviewed and relocated based on factories proximity. Mwakaleli and Manow/Itete tea areas were located for Mwakaleli factory where as the remaining areas, Nditu/Suma, Rungwe, Kapugi, Masebe and Segela remained for Katumba factory.

Pruning scheme Pruning is a necessary operation in tea cultivation. It is carried out in order to reinvigorate and bring tea bushes within ergonomically manageable plucking table. The plucking interval between two successful pruning period (referred to as pruning cycle) vary from one location to another due to differences in climate, clone, bush management (plucking style, nutritional status) and the style of pruning adopted. Apart from considering proper pruning techniques (Plate 3), the pruning scheme must be carefully planed to ensure even distribution of the crop between two successful pruning cycle. Smallholder tea farmers in Rungwe are encouraged to adopt a four year pruning cycle hence a quarter of total tea need to be pruned each year. However achieving this has been PLATE 3: Extension officer difficult under smallholder environment, and this, results advising a farmer on pruning to the proportion of the area of smallholder tea to be pruned each year to range from 20 to 25% (TRIT Annual Report 2007/8 pg. 66). During 2008/9 the proportion of pruned area was 22 % (approximately 660.8 ha).

Coordination of inputs supply to farmers The WATCO has been financing inputs for smallholder tea growers in Rungwe district since 2002. WATCO supplies inputs to smallholder tea farmers on loan basis at cost and recover its money through deduction of T.shs. 25/= from each kg of green sold by smallholders to cover for fertilizer. Recovery of money for herbicide is through deduction of Ts 1000 per each litre supplied until the debt is fully cleared. The extension unit collects and compile inputs demand by farmers and submits to WATCO on timely fashion for earlier purchase and supply to farmers. WATCO uses the information and data from extension unit for ordering inputs for farmers. It is the role of the extension unit to coordinate and supervise the distribution of inputs to farmers and its application.

During the year, the extension unit supervised the distribution and application of a mixture of SA 21:24 and Minjingu Rock Phosphate (MRP) whereby the total amount of SA 21:24 distributed were 9,631 and MRP was 4,816 bags. The total amount of herbicides distributed to smallholder farmers during the same period was 11,223 litres of Glyphosate. Prior to distribution of 2008/9 inputs, the extension unit conducted training on fertilizer use that aimed at imparting to farmers basic concepts of bush nutrition and proper use of fertilizers, and how to use a mixture of the two types of fertilizer other than the commonly used NPKs 25:5:5:5. WATCO opted for a combination of SA 12:24 and MRP fertilizer because it was relatively cheaper than NPKs which was sold at the price which tea farmers could not afford. However, the amount of SA 21:24 taken by farmers on loan provided 33.79 kg N/ha to tea soils which was 46% less that the levels applied during the 2007/8 reporting period. This low N application level contributed to decreased yield of tea during the year under review.

Table 27: Amount of Fertilizer distributed Vs prices (Ts per 50 kgs bag)

2002/03 2003/2004 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 (SA 21:24 + Year (NPKs) (NPKs) (NPKs) (NPKs) (NPKs) (NPKs) MRP = 14,447) Bags 17,783 18,881 13,454 12,975 12,061 15,102 9,631 SA 4816 MRP Price (Tsh) 15,000 15,000 17,000 20,000 22,000 22,000 24,616 16,768 Ts/kg N 1,200 1,200 1,360 1,600 1,760 1,760 2,344.38 N/ha 74.27 78.86 56.19 54.19 50.37 63.07 33.79

Safe use of herbicides and handling of empty containers. WATCO and the TRIT extension unit have been concerned by hazard facing smallholder tea farmers due to poor use and handling of agrochemicals used in tea cultivation and use of empty containers. The extension unit launched a campaign that aimed at creating awareness among all smallholder tea growers on safe use of herbicides and handling of empty containers. The campaign aimed at ensuring the safety of tea farmers’ house hold families, minimizing herbicides contamination to tea, environmental protection and safe disposal of empty containers. Campaigns were conducted in the form of meetings, leaflets and posters. The WATCO has taken role of collecting all empty containers of herbicides it has distributed to farmers for safe disposal.

Plate 1: TrainingTraining at Isajilo village Training is one of the extension methods for imparting new knowledge to farmers. The extension unit conducts training for updating farmers with appropriate technology on various aspects of tea production. Training is conducted in the form of village training sessions (in- house) and exchange visits. During the year under review the extension unit conducted 170 village training sessions whereby 4,476 farmer participated out of which 3,588 where men and 888 women. The village training covered all topics of tea cultivation and green leaf quality control. During the same period, the extension unit organised 18 internal farmer exchange visits whereby farmers from one sub-scheme visited fellow farmers in other sub- schemes. Exchange visits aimed at providing room for farmers from different villages and sub- schemes to share ideas and exchange experiences. The total number of farmers that participated was 540. The same number of farmers participated in internal exchange visit during the previous reporting period. There was another four exchange visits outside the district whereby 100 farmers participated. WATCO covered costs for 16 internal exchange visits while TRIT covered costs for 2 internal and 4 exchange visits outside the district. PLATE 4: Exchange visit from Mwakaleli to PLATE 5 : One of the in-house training at Segela sub-scheme Kapugi village

Village Based Tea Nurseries in Rungwe During 2007/8 period TRIT in collaboration with other key stakeholders in Rungwe organised and conducted campaigns to encourage smallholder farmers to form groups for establishing village based tea nurseries (TRIT Annual Report 2007/8 pg 68). A total of 52 nursery groups were formed out of which 46 groups survived. Implementation of nursery activities for the 46 groups started during the current reporting period. The extension unit assisted nursery group members on all technical aspects for raising plants in their nurseries. A total of 1,334,608 plants were propagated during 2008/9. The extension unit has received more requests from farmers for establishment of new tea nurseries. This is a reflection that farmers in Rungwe are gaining awareness and are getting motivated to plant new tea.

Provision of Extension materials Reading materials in various forms is used by extension systems to deliver and update farmers on new findings. During 2008/9 the extension unit prepared and distributed to farmers three types of leaflets.

− Mikakati ya WATCO katika kukabiliana na ongezeko la bei za mbolea na mapendekezo ya aina za mbolea ya chai msimu wa 2008/9 na matumizi yake; − Lishe ya mmea wa chai; and − Matumizi salama ya madawa ya kuua magugu.

Linkages and flow of information Effective linkages and proper channels of information flow among players is crucial for the Rungwe Tea Model to run smoothly. The successes that have been recorded by the Rungwe Tea Model are the result of an effective collaboration and proper support provided by the players among themselves. The extension unit has been a central point for effective linkages and flow of information for the system. The extension unit maintained the feedback system through timely and accurate monthly reports and occasional information as was gathered by extension officers during their day to day activities in the field. WATCO used reports and other information as working tools for planning on various issues related to running the company. Reports were also used by WATCO and other players namely JILANJO and RSTGA to respond and act on various issues that were raised from the fields including solving farmers’ problems. The same extension officers were used to relay the information back to farmers. Collaboration with government extension officers based in some of tea growing village grew stronger in 2008/9. Increased number of TRIT extension officers The WATCO and TRIT agreed to improved extension services delivery with a view of improving yields of smallholder tea and responding to future increase of demand from farmers. The number of farmers and area of tea is expected to increase following the response by farmers to establish tea nurseries. TRIT and WATCO agreed to increase the number of existing extension officers by three. The new three staff were recruited in November 2008. Following the increase of number of extension officers, three bigger sub- schemes were each split into two. The affected sub-schemes are Rungwe South, Mwakaleli and Segela. Therefore, the number of sub-schemes has been increased from eight to eleven. These are Rungwe North, Rungwe South, Rungwe Esat, Kapugi, Masebe, Segela South, Segela North, Nditu/Suma, Mwakaleli North, Mwakaleli South and Manow/Itete.

CONSTRAINTS Although the TRIT extension unit in collaboration with other key players recorded good achievements in the year 2008/9, there were some constraints that affected efforts put in for further achievements.

Drought Some of the major tea producing areas were hit by severe drought and production from these areas was badly affected. These areas included Segela, Masebe, Kapugi and part of Rungwe South. These areas accounts for about 43% of the total area of smallholder tea (Plate 4).

PLATE 6: Drought affected tea bushes

Roads conditions This has become a chronic problem in Rungwe. Roads condition deteriorates during heavy rain period causing green leaf trucks to travel with difficulties. Some roads become completely impassable. This has always been affecting green leaf collection as some of the green leaf collection centres are closed as they become inaccessible. Little tea is plucked and sent to distant operating buying centres. Some teas have been left un-plucked. PLATE 7: Drivers & Farmers struggle to rescue PLATE 8: Greenleaf trucks blocked by Banana a stuck truck with deteriorating and timber trucks ahead. Eventually Greenleaf in it. all tea goes red

PLATE 9: Some sections of bad roads used by Greenleaf trucks

Low use of inputs Inputs, particularly fertilizers have not been optimally utilized by smallholder tea farmers in Rungwe. High prices of fertilizer have also been the major reason for farmers to reduce the amount of fertilizer applied in their tea fields.

Frost damage Each year about 100ha of tea in Mwakaleli is damaged by frost causing a significant crop loss. The extension unit is looking into possibilities of introducing shade trees into the affected area to minimize the effect of frost.

Termite damage Termite damage to tea has been a big problem in drought prone areas. Each year a large number of tea bushes die due to termites. The TRIT Extension services unit is looking into possibilities of applying cultural methods to mitigate the problem.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION The successes of the smallholder tea sector in Rungwe district has been a result of the effective partnership between TRIT and WATCO and linkages with major stakeholders, RSTGA and Government. This partnership between a research institute, a private commercial company, district extension services and smallholder tea growers in Tanzania effectively addresses the Technology Triangle challenges towards providing extension support to farmers.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

The extension unit is expecting to achieve the following during 2009/10 • To meet the company’s pre-set crop targets • To maintain green lea quality above the company set standards • To assist farmers to further improve bush husbandry and field management • To conduct more training and exchange visits in collaboration with WATCO for internal and TRIT for external exchange visits • To continue coordinating green leaf harvesting and monitoring its transportation systems for the Katumba and Mwakaleli factories • To assist farmers to establish and manage more tea nurseries • To assist smallholder to establish and manage new tea fields as some plants currently in tea nurseries will be transplanted during the next reporting period. • Establish some leguminous trees for introducing into frost affected tea areas • Find out cultural methods of controlling termites EXTENSION SERVICES UNIT AT NEW MPONDE TEA ESTATES

By Amos J. Makweta, Respis Andrew, Benjamin Mtaki, Vilumba Kyando and James Mengo

INTRODUCTION TRIT started providing extension services to Mponde Tea Estates (MTE) in July, 2007 under a contractual arrangement initially for a period of three years (Annual report 2007/08 page 71). MTE is a commercial company owned by Usambara Tea Growers Association (UTEGA) and an investor each owning 50 % of the shares. MTE owns Mponde tea factory which processes green leaf from small holder farmers and plots managed by MTE itself. MTE plots produce about 3% of total annual green leaf. The rest about 97% is supplied by small holders from four schemes namely Mponde, Balangai, Bumbuli and Mazumbai. Under this contract TRIT is responsible for Mponde and Balangai schemes. According to preliminary results of inventory done by the extension unit Balangai has 443 ha and Mponde 450 ha. The figures will be changing because more area is expected due to field expansion that is taking place. Balangai is the major green leaf producer. Its production contributes between 40 to 50 % of the total annual production. Mponde is the second and produces between 20 and 27 % of the total production. Up to December, 2008 MTE was also buying green leaf from Korogwe farmers. By then their contribution was between 16 % and 20 % to total production.

OBJECTIVES The overall objective of the extension unit during the reporting period is to facilitate an increase in production and improving quality of green leaf from small holders at sustainable basis. The specific aims of the extension unit were to: • meet company projected green leaf target • maintain green leaf quality at or above company standard of 75 % • coordinate green leaf plucking and collection • coordinate and manage inputs use by smallholders • provide linkage between farmers and the company • assist farmers in adopting appropriate tea husbandry practices • assist UTEGA to strengthen village tea committees

ACHIEVEMENTS The extension unit made noticeable progress during the reporting period. However, there were factors that limited achievements of some goals.

Green leaf production During the reporting period the amount of green leaf produced by smallholder tea growers from Mponde and Balangai was 3,043,584 kilograms. This was 74.3 % of the target. This production was above 2008/09 production by 13.6 % showing an increasing production trend (Figure 1). Failure to meet the crop production target was mainly due to (i) Drought which hit the area severely during 2007/08 and 2008/09 season. Even in months where there were rains usually the distribution was poor. (ii) Lack of use of inputs especially fertilizer. As was the case in 2007/08 almost all farmers did not apply fertilizer into their tea. Farmers failed to use fertilizer because of its high price. (iii) Insufficient bush and field and management. However, there is some improvement in management compared to previous years and it is expected there will be further improvements. Figure 12: Comparison of combined Greenleaf production for Mponde and Balangai Scheme 2007/08 – 2008/09 Green leaf quality The quality of green leaf determines the quality of made tea. The intention of the company is to produce high quality made tea that will compete successfully in the market. Therefore producing quality green leaf is important. The extension unit continued to educate farmers on the importance of quality green leaf, proper plucking skills and handling of plucked tea. Green leaf brought to collection centres passed through a series of inspections whereby extension officers inspected green leaf in buying centres followed by green leaf clerks. The established monitoring system at the factory was also adhered to. The green leaf quality ranged from 65 % to 70 %. Further achievement was hindered by drought and lack of use of fertilizer. The have been a positive change of farmers’ attitude towards green leaf quality. Most of them realize the importance of quality green leaf and are putting efforts to ensure that green leaf quality is improved un like in the past when farmers willingness to follow measures to improve quality of made tea was low. The Extension Services Unit took the initiatives of introducing the use of plucking baskets to farmers. It is encouraging that some of them have started using it.

Coordination of green leaf harvesting and collection Well scheduled plucking system allows farmers to pluck all green leaf from the field and allows timely collection. The system also allows timely processing and hence resulting to quality made tea. The extension unit made sure that the plucking and collection schedule established during the last reporting period was maintained. The system is flexible and coped with crop levels through out the year. In order to further improve the green leaf harvesting and collection, the extension unit developed a separate timetable for the high and low crop season respectively.

Coordination and management of tea inputs Tea inputs (fertilizers and herbicides) are important in ensuring an increase of tea production. However, the amount of fertilizer used by farmers has been very low. The main reason for reduced use of fertilizer is high price of it. The extension unit continued to educate farmers on the importance of fertilizer for tea production. Several meetings were conducted to discuss issues related to fertilizer. MTE made efforts to get fertilizer which was made available to farmers at almost half the market price. NPK fertilizer was sold at over Tshs 85,000 in the market but MTE was able to loan to tea farmers at Tshs 47,600. The extension unit used demonstration plots to show the usefulness of fertilizer in order for yields of tea to improve. Apart from the bad weather, lack or less use of fertilizer affected production. There has been a good progress in the use of herbicides. Herbicide use has reached one third of the recommended rate. It is expected that the use will increase. The extension unit will continue educating farmers on the importance of using fertilizer in tea fields

Providing linkage between farmers and the company The extension unit continued to provide a link between farmers and the company. This role is important as it provides a two way traffic of information flow between the company and farmers. The link is comprehensive. The company is kept informed through monthly reports and through giving feed backs as the unit gets opinion from farmers. The company has also been using the extension unit to inform farmers various issues including giving information to farmers when payment for green leaf is ready. It was learnt that UTEGA at village level needed to be strengthened in order to be more effective. The extension unit in collaboration with UTEGA officials will continue making efforts to improve tea village committees to make them more effective.

Strengthening UTEGA village committees The extension unit and UTEGA top leaders continued to work jointly to make village committees more effective. Strengthening UTEGA committees was among the priorities of the extension unit during the year under review. The issue was addressed in various meetings and the extension unit inspired UTEGA to conduct scheme meetings. It was advised that scheme meetings should be held at least twice a year. During the reporting period two meetings in each scheme were held. Scheme leaders were expected to ensure that schemes hold meetings as well as village tea committees and farmers general meetings. UTEGA is writing a new constitution in which responsibilities at each UTEGA level is indicated. If the new constitution works the entire UTEGA system will be more effective.

Data base development During 2007/8 the extension unit carried out plots inventory in Mponde and Balangai schemes in order to ascertain the areas of tea under smallholders. The preliminary results showed that Mponde has 450ha and Balangai has 443ha. The total area in the two schemes is less by 33.8 % than previous records. The extension unit will keep on updating the information. The figures will change in the near future because more farmers have started expanding their tea fields and new farmers are being engaged in tea growing. During the year under review extension unit started providing daily information of green leaf production for every farmer for Mponde and Balangai. Few farmers have started making use of the information. Few of them made comparison between kilograms of green leaf written in village clerk book and those in our data base. One farmer learnt through data maintained at the extension unit that one of his pluckers was deviating tea to other farmers.

Field management

During the plots inventory exercise carried out in 2007/2008, 58ha were found to be abandoned. Efforts to encourage farmers rehabilitate their fields continued. During the reporting period about 10 % of the previously abandoned fields were rehabilitated. To date rehabilitated area has reached 90 %. Of the remaining fields (10%), 6 % are in Mponde and 4% in Balangai. The unit also focused on encouraging farmers to weed their tea fields. The weed free tea fields increased from 48 % during 2007/08 to 81 % during 2008/09. An increase in the rate of weed free fields is due to the increased use of herbicide. Most herbicide is used by Balangai farmers. Educating farmers using various ways including demonstration plots resulted for some farmers in Mponde scheme to start using herbicide. Usually the lowest percentage occurs during rainy season. Problems in weeding include farmers’ perception that weeding is a seasonal operation and also many still use hand hoe. As herbicide use increases it is expected weeding will improve. Few farmers are still intercropping tea with other crops. It is the intention of extension unit that all farmers use herbicides to control weeds in their tea gardens. The Extension unit continued to provide education to smallholder tea growers on proper pruning skills as part of the effort to improve field management. During the year under review Mponde and Balangai had 25 % of the fields pruned. This is the highest rate for several years. Plucking is among the critical operations in tea production because if wrongly done tea productivity may be badly affected. Educating farmers on proper ways of plucking is one of the ongoing activities of the extension unit. During the reporting period the extension unit used various ways of disseminating knowledge on proper plucking. As a result some fields have improved in terms of building up maintenance foliage especially in Balangai scheme. The improvement has contributed in increasing production in this scheme.

TRAINING AND MEETINGS Training and meetings are among the approaches and methods to disseminate knowledge to farmers. During the reporting period the extension unit conducted 20 training sessions in villages and 21 meetings. Training covered all aspects of bush husbandry and green leaf quality control.

FARMERS EXCHANGE VISITS During the year the extension unit organized farmers exchange visits. Twenty seven farmers from Korogwe and Muheza visited Mponde and Balangai schemes. The aim of this visit was to provide opportunity for farmers from different systems to exchange ideas and experience. During discussion farmers who visited Mponde concluded that condition for business in tea is more favourable in Lushoto than Korogwe and Muheza. During the reporting period the extension unit conducted two internal farmer exchange visits where by farmers from one scheme visited farmers in another scheme. A total of 58 farmers participated in the visits whereby twenty eight farmers from Mponde visited Balangai and also thirty farmers from Balangai visited Mponde. The visits aimed at providing farmers opportunity for exchanging ideas and experience on tea production.

DEMONSTRATION PLOTS Demonstration plots are one of the methods used by extension workers to transfer new technology to farmers. The extension unit maintained the previously established demonstration plots and used them to train farmers. Demonstration plots were strategically located to facilitate for easier access by farmers. At present the demonstration plots are intended to show proper tea husbandry, fertilizer and herbicide use and gap filling. The demonstration plots helped to increase the use of herbicide in weeding in Mponde scheme.

STAKEHOLDERS FORUM During the year the extension unit organized a stakeholders’ forum. The forum was attended by 58 participants. The participants included Bumbuli and Soni division secretaries, Mponde, Funta and Tamota wards councillors, Wards executive officers, Villages’ leaders and villages’ executive officers of tea growing villages in Mponde and Balangai schemes, UTEGA scheme leaders of Mponde and Balangai, UTEGA villages’ leaders, UTEGA leaders and Mponde Tea Estates representative and one TRIT staff from Marikitanda station who joined TRIT/MTE staff .The aim of the forum was to enable these key stakeholders join efforts and get the feeling of responsibility to come up with strategies which can ensure increased and sustainable green leaf production.

TRIT presented the green leaf production trend, field management progress, inputs use and tea nursery progress and the associated problems. Forum participants concluded that farmers’ low progress in tea production needed more supervision from both UTEGA and government at different levels. The following recommendations were adopted; 1. Villages’ governments were required to start using ‘nguvu kazi’ bylaws. This intended to engage idle labour especially youth in tea production 2. Villages’ government should start using Lushoto district by law on cash crops 3. UTEGA committees should handle all tea issues and government should play a facilitatory and supervisory role 4. All farmers should be taking fertilizer according to technical recommendation 5. Green leaf below standard should be rejected 6. MTE should continue making inputs available. Herbicide should be available at all time 7. The government, UTEGA and MTE should jointly work to eradicate green leaf middle men 8. Farmers in all hamlets should be engaged in tea nurseries 9. Farmers should continue to be timely paid for their green leaf.

CONSTRAINS There were a number of factors which hindered the extension unit from attaining higher achievements.

Weather In 2007/08 annual report page 76, we reported that production was affected by prolonged drought. It is unfortunate that drought continued in 2008/09 season. Even in months where there was rain fall its distribution was poor. Drought affected production greater than any other single factor.

Lack of fertilizer use Almost all farmers did not use fertilizer. As explained above a similar situation was observed in 2007/08 season. In both seasons 2007/08 and 2008/09 MTE made efforts of getting fertilizer at a price lower than market price. In 2007/08 the price of NPK fertilizer was Tshs. 30,000 per bag of 50 kgs. In 2008/09 such bag was Tshs 47,600 while the market price was over Tshs. 85,000. Farmers and government leaders need to take initiatives of encouraging farmers to develop the practice of using fertilizer into their tea farms.

Bad roads There was marked improvement in the road network. In this season the major routes were repaired by Lushoto council authority. Some problems were experienced in few locations especially during rainy period.

Competition for Labour Lushoto farmers are engaged in cultivation of many food crops. As some of the farmers are engaged in more than one crop, tea management runs short of labour. Youth prefer tomato to tea. Also there is a competition of labour between smallholders and Balangai estate. Many people prefer working in the estate where they feel they earn more.

CONCLUSION Apart from some problems it has been noticed that, there is an increased willingness among farmers to follow technical recommendation, increased willingness to use inputs especially herbicides, appreciation by farmers on quality green leaf, increased willingness to cooperate with extension officers. Farmers are ready for changes. Adequate support from other stakeholders is needed for a faster change of farmers. Strengthening farmers’ leadership at village level as pointed out in 2007/08 TRIT Annual report (page 76), still remains a major challenge to be dealt with.

RECOMMENDATIONS

There exist extensive prospects for further improvement in tea production in Lushoto district. The extension unit is proposing the following in order to achieve the expected results. • Strengthening UTEGA at village level is still of highest priority • Unlike in 2007/08 this season the major routes were maintained by district council. However some parts were difficult to pass through or were not passable during rainy season. It is therefore advised that the District council should be inspecting the roads regularly and repair promptly to make roads passable throughout the year. • MTE and UTEGA should continue looking for possibilities of lowering inputs prices • MTE and or UTEGA should start preparing farmers’ payroll in which names of individual farmers appear. Farmers should be able to compare information prepared by village clerk and MTE/UTEGA information. SMALLHOLDER TEA EXTENSION ACTIVITIES AT MKONGE VILLAGE MUFINDI DIRTICT

By Bernard Nyanzali and Andrew Andalwisye

INTRODUCTION

The Mkonge Tea Block Farm Cooperative society (MTBF) is an association of 523 farmer’s located at Mkonge village in Mufindi district with total area of 182 ha under tea. Involvement of TRIT in Mkonge village started way back in 1999 when a series of pilot activities that included farmers training on tea husbandry, on-farm clonal field trials and initial village based nursery were conducted. The collaboration between TRIT and Mkonge village continued along the same arrangements after Stabex fund was made available to TRIT. The activities were expanded to other tea growing villages throughout the country. In October 2005 Mkonge farmers through their association (MTBF) signed a contract with TRIT for provision of extension services. The contract was signed initially for a period of two years from October 2005 to October 2008 utilising funds loaned from African Development Foundation (ADF) which is an NGO formed by the United States senate to provide grants to community groups and small enterprises that targets under-served and marginalized groups in Africa.

The ADF has teamed up with other international donor organizations to help Tanzania smallholder tea growers groups to acquire the investment capital they needed to establish revolving funds that can finance the purchases of new crop varieties and fertilizer by individual members. Mkonge Tea Block Farm Cooperative society being one of recipient of ADF support in 2005 received a grant of Tshs 144.7 million. The grant aimed at establishing input support revolving fund, meeting training cost (on tea agronomy, HIV-AIDS , Staff and committee costs), and extension services. During the reporting period total of 2,078,615 kg of green leaf were produced from the current 180 ha. This was 4 % higher than the projected budget. TRIT has posted one extension officer to provide the extension service for Mkonge village on contractual arrangement.

OBJECTIVES The overall objective of the extension services is to facilitate an increase in production and improving quality of green leaf from smallholders at sustainable basis. The specific aims of the extension unit were: • To maintain green leaf quality at or above company standards, • To coordinate green leaf plucking and collection, • To liaise with transporters for timely collection of green leaf from respective collection points, • To conduct pre season assessment of demand for all input by tea growers and compile figure for timely procurement process, • To provide linkage between farmers and MTC, • To assist farmers in adopting appropriate tea husbandry practices, • To supervise the distribution of inputs and subsequent proper usage by farmers ACHIEVEMENTS

The extension unit at Mkonge made significant achievement during the reporting period including the following;

Green leaf production A total amount of Greenleaf produced by Mkonge smallholder tea growers during the year 2008/9 was 2,078,615 kg of green leaf. This was 4% higher than the budget and 21% higher than that of 2007/2008. The produced Greenleaf is average of 2,310 of MT/ ha. This is the highest yield record in the district (even in country) for smallholder. This yield contributed to village income of 270,219,950 million Tanzania shillings. This achievement was made possible due to adoption of the technical advice provided by TRIT extension officer in the village especially on adherence to plucking rounds, a well as coordinated harvesting, smooth collection of greenleaf and timely payment by MTC. ADF revolving fund played a great role of ensuring that inputs (Fertilizers and Herbicides) are procured and distributed to farmers timeously. Currently the ongoing efforts is centred in increasing productivity by efficient use fertilizer, increasing productive time by acquiring own vehicles for transportation of green leaf and infilling the gaps. ) s e n n o t

(

f a e l

n 2,500 e e r

G 2,000

1,500

1,000

500

2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

Year /season

Figure 13: Average Annual greenleaf yield per Ha for Mkonge Village 2000/01 – 2008/09

Green leaf harvesting, handling and transportation. Plucking schedule and transportation has great influence on the quality of Greenleaf delivered at the factory gate. The extension unit in the village works to ensure that farmers strictly abide to the plucking interval and plucking standard. Collection time for each weigh point is set in collaboration with farmers and the transporter is informed accordingly. Leaf quality is checked before being weighed. Two trained committee members or the Extension Manager are always present at weighing centres to ensure that only good quality leaf is sent to factory.

Management and Coordination of input supply to farmers. The extension unit in the village conducts pre-season demand for inputs (Fertilizer and herbicides) for each individual tea grower. These requirements are compiled after checking the accuracy of each requests (in line with the field size & condition) and sent to MTC who subsequently handles the bulky purchase and distribute to farmers on credit. This arrangement has worked very well as it consistently enabled farmers to access input at lowest price compared to other suppliers and herbicides are sourced from Local dealers with competitive price. Before distribution to farmers, training is usually conducted on efficient use of inputs. A total of 1,000 bags of N: P: K 25:5:5 and 600 litres of herbicides (glyphosate) were distributed in village respectively.

ADF revolving fund; The fund aims at improving the farmers’ productivity by ensuring not only fertilizers are available for farmers use at appropriate time but also planting materials for both expansion and gap filling. The revolving funds have been used to assist farmers to pay tea pluckers and the amount is usually recovered at the end of month after the payments for greenleaf are received from MTC. This set-up enables constrained farmers to manage harvesting all the tea farms on time despite of current labour shortages facing the village. The labour shortages are partly caused by competition with the surrounding tea companies (MTC and UTTL) which employs a number of workers from the surrounding villages including Mkonge.

Mkonge village nursery The Mkonge village tea nursery currently with 167 members has about 1,260,000 plants (planted in three shades) which were propagated during the reporting period. The propagated plants use reliable water from the installed hydrum water pumping system. TRIT provided training for nine members who form the technical committee of the nursery. The nine members collaborate with the Extension Manager to ensure that all technical aspects of raising tea plants are being adhered to by all nursery group members. The nursery group is being guided by a constitution which was ratified by all members. TRIT is designing a system that will enable the group to be dependent in future.

Weeding The emphasis is to ensure that farmers maintain weed free tea fields. The extension manager organizes tea weeding campaign in the village. During the campaign, the extension manager is accompanied by nine production committee members who visit each field. Once the farmers are found not to have weeded their fields, they are subjected to a penalty as per local bylaws by the MTBF. Farmers are encouraged to use herbicides and the outcomes are encouraging as demand for herbicides seem to increase year after year. For the reporting period, an average of 75% (136.5 ha) were weed free.

The Best tea farmer competition; The Tea board of Tanzania conducts annual competition of selecting best tea grower in the country. For two consecutive years, members of Mkonge Tea Block Farm produced winners whereby in 2007/08 season Mr. Francis Chang’a was the overall national best tea farmer. In 2008/09 season Mr. Meckdard Nyunza won the Zonal best farmer award. These achievements were made possible due to successful adoption of recommended technologies by respective farmers and collaboration shown by farmer with TRIT and other stakeholders in the village. CHALLENGES; • MTC contracted Green transporter: The persistent late collection of harvested greenleaf impacts both on the plucker productivity on the following day as well as adherence to plucking rounds. • High prices of fertilizers (NPK 25:5:5) is the stumbling block to the on-going effort of helping farmers to increase yield in the village. • Poor roads conditions during the wet season renders some feeder roads impassable, • High prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the village poses a threat to labour availability for field operation, although current we do not have statistics but a significant number of people are attending clinic and using ARV’s. • Low price of green leaf is acting as disincentive to smallholders.

FUTURE PLANS • To Strengthen current green leaf collection centres and building the new ones; • To acquire village own green transport facilities (vehicle). Already ADF has set aside a budget for one truck. Furthermore, Cheeter Development an NGO which supports rural development has shown interest to support procurement of another vehicle; • To join Fair trade organization so as to accrue benefit offered to registered members, • To solicit the strategic investor so as to have a joint venture on tea processing factory. • To look on the possibility of using excess water from hydrum water pump for small scale irrigation • To increase green leaf from 2,000,000 to 2,500,0000 for period 2009/2010 FARMER TRAINING PROGRAMMES

By Magreth Katole, Dunstan Ndamugoba, Grace Kavishe, John Mhagama, Amos Makweta, Simon Chatanda, Rafikieli Masha and Andrew Andalwisye

INTRODUCTION

The farmer training programme under the TTP is being funded by the European Union through Stabex funds since July 2001. Preliminary work started way back in 1998 when baseline surveys provided information on training needs, and farmers’ knowledge gaps on tea production techniques. Both training requests from stakeholders and training needs assessment preclude all the training activities being implemented, and have worked in all tea growing areas in the country.

The training activities comprise of training programmes for collaborating extension staff and stakeholders both within and outside the country, farmer groups and participating researchers in all tea growing areas through on station training, on-site training, exchange visits/study visits, follow-up visits as well as mass training in the villages through meetings and cinema shows. Various training modules were developed to guide training sessions and some have been revised/translated into kiswahili to be more understandable by the farmers and other stakeholders.

Participatory approaches are employed during need assessment and in all training sessions in order to increase trainees interactive participation, and hence its effectiveness. Training sessions are designed to give a comprehensive balance between theory and practical. Different complementary training techniques/methods are integrated during training sessions to enhance participants’ participation and understanding. For example lectures can be followed with plenary sessions, group discussions/presentations, field visits and supplemented with video shows. Issues on HIV/AIDS are incorporated during the training sessions to sensitise farmers on its effects, preventive measures and avoiding stigmatizing the HIV/AIDS victims aiming at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS in tea growing communities. At the end of the training session, each participant attempts an exercise in order to examine their understanding of the course content and evaluates the training course. Trainees give their opinions or recommendations concerning the course or for future training courses. They are required to prepare action plans to be implemented at their respective locations under the supervision of the TRIT staff or collaborating extension staff. Reference materials such as handouts and leaflets are being provided.

OBJECTIVES

• To build farmers capacity to meet the challenges on tea production by sensitising them to engage on tea production; • To assist farmers to increase productivity on their tea farms; and • To assist farmers to increase the quality of green leaf delivered to the factories. ACTIVITIES

Training of extension staff & Collaborators During the reporting period two training sessions were conducted at NTRS whereby 57 extension and field staff participated in the training sessions. Also a total of 11 extension staff participated in different farmer training sessions in the on-station, onsite training, exchange visits and cinema (Table 28).

Study tour visit by Njombe Town Council staff to Mufindi and Rungwe A team of 27 Njombe town council staff from Njombe district visited TRIT Headquarters in Mufindi district from 3rd to 6th November 2008. The team included the Town Director (TD), Chairman of Township Council, Town Agriculture and Livestock Development Officer (TALDO), District Crop Officer, Subject Matter Specialist-tea, Division Extension Officers, Ward Executive officer, Village Executive Officer and other staff from Njombe Town Council office.

The study tour had objectives of exposing the Town Council staff to TRIT activities and to other tea growing areas. The study tour gave the visitors an opportunity to visit, view and discuss with key stakeholders a number of tea related activities. The programme covered visits to Mufindi and Rungwe District.

At NTRS the team was shown the trials that are carried out at the station including the new Soil and Plant laboratory. During the tour to the field at Mkonge village and Kisigo farm, the team had an opportunity to discuss issues related to smallholder’s tea growers in the district and the challenges and opportunities that they are facing.

In Rungwe district they visited Rungwe Smallholders Tea Growers Association (RSTGA). They also had an opportunity to talk with the management of Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO) and TRIT –Rungwe extension unit. The team then visited the tea-processing factory (WATCO), during which tea quality issues were explained. At the end of the study tour, trainees contributed in preparing a district work plan as an initiative for promoting tea in their areas.

On station training for field and extension staff A total of 30 extension and field staff consisting 6 new TRIT extension staff (Rungwe and Mponde), 10 field staff from the tea estates (UTTL, Mponde and Kiganga) and 9 new extension officer (DALDO-Ludewa, & Njombe and TALDO-Njombe) participated in on- station training conducted at NTRS from 7th to 11st June 2009. The aim of the training was to enhance the understanding and knowledge of the new extension staff in tea field management. The training was an opportunity for sharing/exchanging experiences in extension services and in also enhancing teamwork skills amongst the participating staff.

The participants were equipped with knowledge and skills on all important management practices in tea production together with extension methods to help them in identifying challenges and opportunities and be able to identify feasible strategies/solutions in order to improve the farmers’ situations.

The training session consisted of theoretical lectures, practical simulations, field work/visits and study tours to some selected locations in Mufindi. The participants visited TRIT Igoda farm and Mkonge village for field practical session whereby they were able to discuss issues on management practices in tea fields with host farmers. During the training, the participants identified challenges and solutions in tea extension.

At the end of training; participants were each provided with a training manual covering the whole course content which can serve as a reference material as well as a training guide for further training in their respective working environments.

On Station Training of farmers Farmer’s access to knowledge, and subsequent adoption and adaptation to recommended tea production technologies is largely dependent on the effectiveness of the extension system in reaching the farmers. Once contacted it is easier for extension services to assisting farmers on ways to improve tea production and productivity. The Farmer Training Programme is contributing to these objectives through training sessions conducted, on station at NTRS and MTRS, through exchange visits, practical fieldwork, demonstrations plots, on-site training, Farmer Field School sessions, follow-up visits and cinema shows in villages.

The training sessions consists of both theory and practical. Also interactive communications methods such as group discussions/presentations and field visits to nearby villages to observe tea husbandry practices from their fellow farmers are employed during these sessions. At the end of each training course, each individual farmer or group members prepare action plans to be implemented back home under the supervision of the TRIT staff, collaborating extension staff or farmer facilitators. Participants are provided with handouts/leaflets, guidebooks on the topics covered for future reference. In the reporting period the programme trained a total 1,926 farmers including 783 women (Table 28).

On station training for Ludewa Farmers on establishment and management of tea nurseries A total of 29 farmers from Ludewa including 11 women and two extension staff were trained at NTRS from 17th to 20th August 2008. The participating farmers were all members of the newly established village-based tea nurseries. The training was aimed at equipping the farmers with knowledge and skills required in tea nursery establishment and management in order to empower them to train their fellow group members as part of their action plans in their respective villages. The program involved a visit to some of the well established village-based tea nursery in Mufindi district. The visit aimed at exposing them to successful tea nurseries for them to gain experiences. They had discussions with their fellow farmers on how to run the tea nurseries successfully and forming solidarity among group members.

On Station Training for Rungwe Farmers on establishment and management of tea nurseries On station training on establishment and management of tea nurseries and new tea field for Rungwe farmers was conducted at NTRS from 21st to 24th August 2008. A total of 27 farmers including 4 women participated in the training. The training aimed at equipping the farmers with the principles and techniques on preparation of mother bushes, establishment and management of tea nurseries and new tea field. The training was done in both theory and practical and supplemented by video shows on establishment and management of tea nurseries and new tea field in evening sessions. Handouts were also provided for their references. Follow-up and supervision of the implementation of the farmers’ action plans will be done by TRIT-Rungwe technical staff.

On Station Training for East and West Usambara Farmers on establishment and management of tea nurseries Four on station training sessions were conducted at MTRS for East and West tea growers whereby a total of 100 farmers of whom 39 were women participated in the training from 15th September to 2nd October 2008. The training was aimed at equipping the farmers with the principles and techniques on the preparation of mother bushes, establishment and management of tea nurseries and new tea fields.

The courses were delivered in theory and practical and incorporated group discussions, group presentations, cinema shows and field visits to on-going research activities at MTRS. Practically, the participants practiced on layout a tea nursery shed; nursery beds, polythene pots filling, preparation of planting materials and planting in the nursery. The purpose of the field visits was to expose the trainees on on-station experiments and on-farm trials about inputs use, performance of various clones and tea management for higher production. They promised to join efforts so as to increase the size of their tea nurseries and hence improve their tea production. At the end of the training session, the trainees prepared an action plan on how they were going to implement what they had been taught.

On station training for Isitu Farmers Two on station training sessions were conducted at NTRS for Isitu tea growers during the reporting period. The first batch comprising of 35 smallholder tea growers including 14 women participated in the training which was conducted from 6th to 9th November 2008. A second batch of 33 smallholder tea growers including 10 women participated in the training from 9th to 12nd November 2008.

Topics on improved tea husbandry practices which included weed control, recommended rates of fertilizers and their application, record keeping and tea plucking as well as quality control were taught. Issues on the effects of HIV/AIDS and possible strategies to mitigate those effects were discussed. During the training they visited TRIT Igoda tea farm and practiced on how to use herbicides on young tea, proper time for decentering, and were shown demonstrations on how to establish a new tea field.

During the group discussions, participants agreed that they will train their fellow tea growers on better tea husbandry practices in order to improve their tea production on their return home. They prepared an action plan which will guide them during implementation.

On station training for Mufindi Farmers On station training on tea management practices was conducted at Ngwazi Tea Research Station from 26th to 28th May 2009. A total of 16 farmers from Mufindi of which 8 were women participated in the training. The farmers came from 8 villages namely Mpanga, Nandala, Udumuka, Ifwagi, Ikwega, Kasanga, Ifupira and Mkonge.

The aim of this training was to improve smallholder’s tea field management practices by enhancing their skills on good tea management practices. It also provided an opportunity for farmers to exchange ideas; technologies and share experiences with TRIT researchers and technicians. The training consisted of both theory and practical sessions, followed by group discussions and presentation, field visit and video shows on different tea management practice.

During their field visit at Ngwazi Tea Research Station, participants were oriented to various research trials that are carried at the station that enabled them to see different kinds of clones, their productivity records, description of their resistance to pest and disease and the effect of applying different quantity of fertilizer and irrigation on those clones. Also farmers spent some time learning nursery management activities on a nursery managed by Ngwazi Research Station. Farmers visited soils and plants laboratory and meteorological station where they were able to see various equipments and how they work. At the end of the sessions, trainees were given handouts covering key topics learnt in class and they also developed their action plans to improve their weaknesses on their return back home.

On station training for East and West Usambara’s Tea Farmers On Station Training was conducted at MTRS from 1st to 13th June, 2009. A total of 84 participants attended the training in four separate groups; Group 1 consisted of 22 participants (19 men and 3 Women) from Mponde and Korogwe. Group 2 consisted of 23 (20 men and 3 women) from Baga scheme whereas from Mayo (Group 3) 21 participants (13 men and 8 women) attended the training. The final group from Amani, comprised of 18 participants (10 men and 8 women). During the training the topics covered include; establishment and management of tea nurseries, establishment of new tea fields and management of tea fields including weeding, pruning, plucking and fertilizer application. During the evening time farmers were shown educational videos on the establishment and management of Tea nursery, establishment and Management of new field and HIV/AIDS in order to create awareness to farmers about the disease.

On site farmer training in villages

On-site training for Mufindi farmers Two on-site training sessions on establishment and management of tea nurseries; management of tea plants in the nursery and on new field establishment were conducted in Mufindi District for two batches. Training for the first batch was conducted on 13rd August 2008 in Nandala village whereby a total of 70 smallholder tea growers (40 men and 30 women) participated. Training for the second batch was conducted on 14th August 2008 for Mwitikilwa, Ludilo A & B nursery groups. A total of 55 tea nursery group members including 20 women participated. The village-based tea nursery members promised to continue to work hard and expand their tea nurseries in order to improve tea production. The farmers, particularly from Mwitikilwa village requested TRIT to help with nursery activities as they were seeking advice from other nursery groups previously trained by TRIT. The group was previously supported by DALDO office - Mufindi. The training consisted of practical skills and demonstrations on establishment and management of tea plants in the nursery and on new field establishment tea.

On-site training for Njombe Farmers One on-site training session was conducted on establishment and management of tea nurseries for newly established nursery groups in Njombe District. The training consisted of practical skills and demonstrations on establishment and management of tea nurseries for the newly establish village-based tea nursery group members. The sessions were conducted in four villages (Lwangu, Utengule, Ntila and Madoga) from 8th to 11st September 2008. About 85 nursery group members including 30 women participated in the training. The aim of the training was to enhance the understanding of the group members on tea nursery establishment and management skills together with group formation and the role of group constitution which ultimately will lead to efficient performance of these nurseries.

On-site training for Igominyi tea farmers Igominyi tea association (ITOA) requested TRIT to assist on the mobilization of farmers to form nursery groups. The request was triggered by farmers from four villages who requested help from TRIT through their tea organization to start growing tea. In response, the sensitization campaigns were conducted from 23rd - 24 June 2009 with the objective of reiterating the importance of tea as source of income in the area. The campaign was also used to explain how the village based nursery approach operates. The sensitization sessions were conducted in four villages namely Utengule, Boimanda, Magoda and Kisilu. This effort resulted into formation of five new nurseries with capacity to raise 500,000 plants.

Farmer Exchange visits

Exchange visit by Lushoto farmers to Rungwe and Mufindi Districts A total of 27 farmers including nine women from Lushoto district visited their fellow farmers in Mufindi and Rungwe districts from 21st to 25th September 2008. In Rungwe district they visited Rungwe Smallholders Tea Growing Association (RSTGA), Village- based tea nurseries and smallholders’ tea field. They also had opportunity to talk with the management of Wakulima Tea Company (WATCO) and TRIT –Rungwe extension unit.

The Lushoto farmers admired and appreciated the RSTGA which owns shares in the tea factory, having a strong farmers association and ability to make some managerial decisions through their committees leading to better green leaf prices.

In Mufindi District the farmers visited some of village-based nursery. They were surprised to see a tea nursery with about 80,000 propagated plants owned by only 4 members. They congratulated the nursery members for their achievements.

Exchange visit by Njombe tea farmers to Mufindi Districts A group of 47 farmers (split into two batches) from different villages in Igominyi division, Njombe district visited Mufindi District from 17th to 23rd May 2009. The farmers came from newly established village-based tea nurseries.

The exchange visit was aimed at empowering and equipping farmers with skills and knowledge on establishment and management of tea nurseries. It also provided an opportunity for the visitors to exchange ideas; technologies and share experiences with their colleagues in Mufindi on how village based nurseries operate.

During the exchange visit, farmers visited village based tea nurseries of Mninga and Mwaya village where they were able to observe tea plants at different stages of growth. At Mninga village they visited a nursery (Mwamko B) owned and managed by three widows which had a capacity for 80,000 plants. They discussed various issues with their fellow farmers on how to mobilize and manage nursery groups. Also they visited TRIT Igoda Farm where they were surprised to see a well managed young tea fields. Participants promised to sensitise fellow farmers back home to work hard in nurseries to get enough plants for new tea expansion and infilling and improve the management the existing tea fields. At the end of the training participants prepared action plans for implementing back home under the supervision of the TRIT technical staff and collaborative extension staff in their village.

Exchange visit by Mufindi tea farmers to Njombe Districts A total of 50 farmers from Mufindi district visited fellow farmers in Igominyi division, Njombe District from 24th - 26th May and 12th -14th June 2009. The visits aimed at exposing them to activities carried out by Igominyi tea farmers with their smallholder organization (ITOA). Farmers visited village based tea nursery at Luponde and smallholders’ tea fields. Participants were impressed by the large expansion of new tea fields of Igominyi tea farmers. At the end of the training farmers were provided with handouts with tea management topics. They prepared action plans for implementation upon their return back to Mufindi

Exchange visit by Lupembe tea farmers to Igominyi A total of 24 farmers including 2 women from 16 village-based nurseries, of Lupembe and Isitu divisions accompanied by one TRIT Staff and Extension officer from Lupembe visited Luponde area from 28-30/6/2009. The aims of the visit were to share and exchange knowledge and skill in field establishment and management and nursery management. On the first day of the visit the DALDO for Njombe District, Ms. Elita J. Mligo inaugurated the visit. On her opening remarks, she emphasized the need to capitalise on the opportunity to learn, for their own benefit and the society they represent. She also reminded the participants on the procedures required to apply for funds under the DADP’s. These resources are earmarked for community demanded development initiatives especially in the agriculture sector, so it is another opportunity which must be tapped for tea development. She thanked TRIT for organizing the visit and the existing collaboration. During the visit they had an opportunity to visit two farmers’ tea fields, two nursery sites and Luponde tea processing factory. At the end of visit they promised to mobilize and sensitize their fellow members back home to work hard in their nurseries and tea field by following what they learnt on tea management practices, they also vowed to improve on plucking according to recommended standard.

Exchange visit by Rungwe tea farmers to Mufindi Districts The exchange visit for Rungwe tea Farmers were conducted on two batches from 1st to 6th June 2009. The exchange visit aimed at to give farmers opportunity to exchange ideas with their fellow farmers of Mufindi district, to learn research activities done at NTRS to enable farmers to disseminate what they learnt to their fellow farmers. Participants consisted of farmers’ representatives from 9 sub schemes, whereby 41 were men, 15 were women, accompanied by 2 TRIT extension staff.

During the exchange visit farmers participated in theoretical and practical lessons on tea managements practices. The programme covered visits to Ngwazi Tea Research Station (NTRS), tea smallholder of Mninga, Mkonge, Mwaya and Sawala villages.

At NTRS the participants were shown the trials that are carried at the station including visiting TRIT soils and plants laboratory and meteorological station. There was a great interest by participants when they saw different kinds of clones’ performances at ongoing experiments of N17.

During the visit to the smallholder tea field, farmers had an opportunity to discuss with their hosts, issues related to smallholders’ tea growers in the district and problems that are facing smallholder tea growers in their respective villages. In Mwaya village farmers met with some of the members of Mwaya nursery group and saw two nursery sheds with plants at different stage of growth. They also exchanged ideas on necessary steps for nursery establishment and management. In Mkonge village participants, met with the winner of the national best smallholder farmer for the year 2008. They were highly inspired by his success after visiting his tea field and having discussion on how much fertilizer he was applying to his tea field and the resulting yields. They were briefed on organizational structure of Mkonge Tea Block Farm and various activities conducted by the organisation and members. In Mwaya and Sawala village they were impressed by a large tea field owned by a smallholder farmer with about 6 acres. They promised to increase their tea acreage by joining in the nursery group so that they get more planting materials for infilling and tea field expansion. They also exchanged ideas on their collaboration with green leaf buyers who are factory owners for Mufindi farmers is Mufindi Tea Company while for Rungwe farmers is Wakulima Tea Company, Their role and farmers role and what should be done to strengthen this collaboration.

At the end of the visit, each sub-scheme presented a report on what they learnt and prepared action plans on what they were going to implement and sensitise their fellow farmers back home under the supervision of TRIT-Rungwe extension staff, RSTGA and DALDO staff.

Internal Exchange visit for Mufindi Farmer Field School An internal exchange visit for Mufindi FFS members was conducted on 24th to 26th June 2009 it comprised 56 farmers including 26 women accompanied by two FFS facilitators. The aim of the internal exchange visit for FFS member was to provide opportunity for Mufindi FFS group member to learn and share new ideas/technologies and experiences, observing successes, constraints and opportunities from their fellow FFS member. During the exchange visit each group was able to assess and compare their own FFS plots with those of their colleagues facilitated by TRIT staff and FFS facilitators. After field observation participants discussed what measures should be taken to improve tea productivity in their farms (FFS and farmers plots). Through discussion with farmers it was noted that most farmers did not have adequate plucking time because the leaf collection lorry collected leaf only once per week on irregular time schedule and farmers are forced to rush to the buying centre whenever the truck arrived. These irregularities minimize plucking time hence farmers are unable to keep up with the plucking rounds. The problems of greenleaf plucking schedule affects the FFS sessions especially if it happens on the plucking day.

Exchange visit by Korogwe and Muheza tea farmers to Lushoto Districts A total of 27 farmers from Muheza and Korogwe Districts, including seven women and one TRIT collaborator visited Lushoto (Mponde and Balangai sub schemes) from 26th June-28th June, 2009. The objective of the visit was to meet with their fellow farmers in order to exchange knowledge and experiences on issues related to smallholder tea production activities. On 26th farmers visited the Balangai sub scheme and noted different issues which were later discussed with their fellow farmers during the afternoon gathering. On 27th they were able to move around the Mponde Sub scheme (Kweminyasa village) where they saw different tea fields. Here some strengths and weaknesses were observed and were also discussed during the afternoon gathering with their fellow farmers.

During the gathering the farmers’ discussion was lead by the various topics; including availability of tea input facilities, Nursery groups, General tea field management practices, Village/leadership systems and Greenleaf sales.

Follow up of FFS Follow up visits were conducted to monitor and evaluate the performance Farmer Field School (FFS) members in their tea field. The visit were conducted in seven FFS of Mufindi district in for two session of 1st - 4th July and 15th - 16th August 2008. The exercise involved all FFS group members, FFS facilitator and TRIT staff. Members were the one who were evaluating the field status under the supervision of extension staff.

The evaluation exercise showed that the Farmer field schools had made significant impacts at farm level with respect to their tea field management practices. At farm level, the FFS innovators were making conscious changes in their tea fields and tend to employ more good agricultural practices than non-FFS members. The evaluation of individuals tea fields for FFS participants showed about seventy percent of the FFS members’ were adopting technical options learned during FFS sessions. The farmer field school has helped farmers to try out new technologies that make sense from their own experience.

Although the impacts of FFS have not been fully evaluated at district level, some preliminary observations have shown some positives attributes of the methodology. Farmers participating in field schools in Mkonge village perceive that farmer field schools have contributed to creating strong farmer based structure. The evaluation showed that FFS members are already needed to provide their knowledge to other farmers whereby the beneficiaries pay the trainers for their service.

Cinema shows in villages

Cinema shows on establishment and management of tea nurseries and new tea fields in Ludewa district Five cinema show sessions were conducted in five villages (Ilawa, Manga, Madilu, Madope and Mfalasi) in Ludewa district from 26th to 31st August 2008. A total of 801 viewers (425 men and 376 women) and two extension staff participated in cinema shows on establishment and management of tea nurseries and new tea fields. During the shows, awareness on the requirements and support needed for the village-based nurseries was created to the farmers who are not yet involved in tea nurseries. HIV/AIDS films were also shown. Table 28: Summary of training conducted for 2008/2009

TRAINING FARMER GROUP TOPIC COVERED PARTICIPANTS STAFF ACTIVITIES M F On station training NTRS Ludewa tea farmers Tea field establishments and 18 11 2 17-20/8/08 managements NTRS Rungwe tea farmers Tea field establishments and 23 4 1 21-24/8/08 managements MTRS East and West Tea nursery and field 61 39 - 15/9-2/10/08 Usambaras tea establishments farmers NTRS Isitu tea farmers Nursery establishments and tea 44 24 - 6-12/11/08 husbandry NTRS Mufindi tea farmers Nursery establishments and tea 8 8 - 26-28/5/09 husbandry MTRS East and West Nursery establishments and tea 62 22 - 1-13/6/09 Usambaras tea husbandry farmers On site training Mufindi 13 village tea nursery Tea nursery and field 80 50 - 13,14/8/08 establishment and managements Njombe 11 nursery group at Tea nursery and field 55 30 - 8-11/9/08 Kidete establishment and managements Njombe Njombe Tea field establishments 36 23 - 23-24/6/09 Exchange visit Lushoto to Lushoto tea farmers Tea Nursery establishments and 18 9 1 Rungwe / Mufindi managements 21-25/9/08 Njombe to Igominyi tea farmers Nursery establishments and tea 27 20 - Mufindi husbandry 17-23/5/09 Mufindi to Mufindi tea farmers Tea Field managements, nursery 35 15 - Njombe activities, smallholders 24 -26/5/09 and associations 12-14/6/09 Lupembe to Lupembe tea farmers Tea Field managements, nursery 24 2 1 Igominyi 28- activities, smallholders 30/5/09 associations Rungwe to Rungwe tea farmers Tea Field managements, nursery 41 15 2 Mufindi activities, smallholders 1-6/6/09 associations Mufindi Internal Mufindi FFS Tea husbandry 30 26 2 visits 24-26/6/09 members Muheza and Muheza and Tea Field managements, nursery 20 7 2 Korogwe to Korogwe tea farmers activities, smallholders Lushoto 26- associations 28/6/09 Lushoto Internal Mponde and Tea Field managements, nursery 36 22 2 visit Balangai tea farmers activities, smallholders 24,25/6/09 associations Rungwe Internal Rungwe tea farmers Tea Field managements and 100 80 4 visit 29/6-7/7/09 nursery activities Cinema show Visit Ludewa district Ludewa tea farmers Tea plucking, pruning, tipping, 425 376 2 26-31/8/08 green leaf handling and HIV/AIDS TOTAL 1143 783 19 Field visits at NTRS Study tour visit by staff from Burundi and Rwanda A total of 9 staff from Burundi (3) and Rwanda (6) visited the Tea Research Institute of Tanzania in two different groups on Dec 2008 and Jan 2009. The aim of the tour was to increase their knowledge and skills in tea irrigation. They learnt much about how irrigation is being conducted in Tanzania tea fields as they visited on-going irrigation experiments in Mufindi and Njombe district.

Study tour visit at NTRS During the reporting period various stakeholders continued visiting TRIT to learn various actives carried out by institute and explore areas for collaboration in farmer training programme. The visitors included Ordinary and Advanced level secondary school students from Mufindi district, official visit from staff of Programme for Biomass Energy Conservation (ProBEC/North), TEMDO and CAMARTEC. They were briefed on activities being conducted by TRIT particularly in technology transfer programme and how TRIT is communicating with her stakeholders’.

Production and distribution of Printed Extension Materials

TRIT leaflets Two leaflets were produced; TRIT and Soils and Plant analysis laboratory during the inauguration of TRIT Soils and plant analysis laboratory and distributed to various stakeholders throughout the country and outside the country.

TRIT Calendar 2009 TRIT continued to produce a colourful calendar with photographs on different aspects of activities. Five hundred copies of calendar for the year 2009 were produced and distributed to various stakeholders within and outside the country.

Production of Documentary films Two new documentary films were produced one on TRIT’s Soils and Plant Analytical Laboratory and TRIT 10th Anniversary. The documentary videos will be shown to various stakeholders as a way of promoting TRIT laboratory and other research undertakings.

FACILITIES

Training Centres The two training centres at NTRS and MTRS continue to function well. Farmers, extension staff, participating scientists/researchers and other guests were accommodated during training sessions and other events. The Ngwazi Training Centre accommodates up to 30 people and has a multipurpose hall where different occasions are normally held to a maximum of 300 people. Marikitanda Training Centre has accommodation for 24 people, a rest house for five guest/ resource persons and classroom for 30 people. Both stations have internet, catering and multi-channel television services.

ICT equipments TRIT’s information and communication technology equipment such as digital cameras, digital video camera, computers, power-point projectors, overhead projectors, printers, scanners, TV screen/video decks, DVD and VHS recording deck, editing facilities and internet/e-mail facilities had a profound effect on the training programme. The equipment facilitated a continuous production of documentary films, training modules, reports, training manuals/guidebooks, booklets, leaflets, posters and calendars which are usually distributed to various stakeholders including trainees, farmers in the field and visitors at TRIT stations.

Vehicles A 29-seater minibus continued to facilitate smooth movement of trainees during exchange visits and other training sessions. A mobile cinema van facilitated cinema shows in the villages such that a large audience is easily reached and educated at once. A generator within the van made it possible to achieve our mission even in rural areas where there is no electricity.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

During 2008/2009 the Farmer Training Programme succeeded in conducting several training sessions on different topics of tea production including exchange visits and cinema shows.

FFS extension approach in Mufindi and Rungwe continues to show some improvements in technology dissemination with FFS members continuing to advise their fellow farmers on tea management practices in collaboration with DALDO office and TRIT staff.

Production of two new documentary films on fertilizer application and weed control in tea fields has added to TRIT’s video library for farmers’ education, despite that many training requests through cinema show visits could not be fulfilled because of the bad weather, bad roads and occasionally van equipment breakdown.

Although great efforts are made by TRIT to mobilise and train farmers on good tea management practices especially the use of fertilizer to increase yield, the escalating fertilizer price may still affect productivity of Tanzania tea smallholders because of the inability of smallholders to purchase the high priced fertilizers.

FTP will continue to deliver relevant knowledge and other support services at the request of tea stakeholders inside and outside the country. It is recommended that districts authorities ensure that roads in tea areas are passable throughout the year to facilitate more training linkages with stakeholders.

Farmer training on fertilizer application and yield of tea is challenged by the currently high prices of inorganic fertilizer. It is recommended that Government and /or other parties subsidize the fertilizer substantially so that farmers find it easy to use it on their tea field. SMALLHOLDER TEA NURSERY SCHEME

Andrew Andalwisye, Simon Chatanda, Magreth Katole, John Mhagama, Amos Makweta and Dunstan Ndamugoba..

INTRODUCTION

The village based tea nursery project financed by European Union (EU) through Stabex is in the eighth year of implementation since inception in 2001. It is a participatory approach adopted by TRIT to establish sustainable systems for raising tea planting materials for smallholder tea sub-sector in the country. The project was launched to address the shortage of tea planting materials by the smallholder sub-sector following the dissolution of the Tanzania Tea Authority (TTA), which used to raise tea plants in central nurseries. The plants were distributed to the farmers on loan basis which were recovered later from green leaf sales. A pilot study on the possibility of initiating participatory village based tea nurseries at Mkonge village in Mufindi district provided a frame work under which TRIT established participatory village based nurseries in other tea growing districts. Apart from obtaining planting materials, farmers acquire appropriate technology in raising tea planting materials in a cost effective way with a sense of ownership of the raised plants.

The funding from EU has not only being instrumental for the project success but also enabled many farmers to improve their livelihood through the income obtained from the planted tea fields. From 2001 to June 2009 TRIT managed to facilitate smallholders to propagate a total of 57,746,702 plants. Farmers used these plants for infilling gaps in the existing tea fields and in planting new fields. A total of 23,998,710 plants equivalent to 2,079 ha have been planted out in the fields since the project started.

This report describes activities carried out during for the period of 2008/2009. During this reporting period, 7,847,300 plants were propagated at 166 nursery sites located in seven tea growing districts namely, Mufindi, Njombe, Rungwe, Lushoto, Muheza, Ludewa and Korogwe. This was 247,300 plants (3.2%) higher than the projected number plants.

During the same period effort to initiate nursery activities in new tea growing areas of Njombe, Mufindi, Lushoto and Rungwe were made following requests that had been received from farmers. A series of sensitization campaigns followed by onsite training were carried out to ensure organized nursery groups are equipped with basic tea nursery techniques and their modality of operation.

The revived nursery activities in Rungwe district continue to be supervised closely through the TRIT extension staff with support from WATCO and RSTGA. Continuous follow up by TRIT extension officers has been made it possible for the work plan set for individual nurseries to be implemented. A total of 1,334,608 plants were propagated during the reporting period. Strategies to maintain the momentum of nursery groups have been put in place for the next project implementation period. A total of 5,080,944 plants were planted out from village based tea nurseries in different tea growing areas (Table 30). This is equivalent to 366 ha of newly established smallholder tea farms. Cumulatively this is equivalent to 2,079 ha of the newly-planted areas so far. Farmers continued to infill tea field gaps. A total of 1,606,304 plants were used to infill gaps in four districts (Njombe, Mufindi, Lushoto and Muheza). OBJECTIVES The main objectives of the smallholder’s nursery scheme is to facilitate increased tea productivity and production through the establishment of tea nurseries for raising plants for both infilling as well as new planting (TRIT Annual Report 2001/2002 pp. 69). This was expected to contribute to the improvement of the livelihood of the smallholders in the tea- growing areas of Tanzania. This broad objective is achieved by pursuing the following specific activities: • Assisting smallholder tea growers to overcome the acute shortage of planting materials by involving them in the production of plants through the village based tea nurseries; • Training as many tea smallholders as possible on the basic techniques of producing tea plants in a cost effective way; and, • Creating a sustainable source of planting materials for the smallholder tea industry in Tanzania.

ACTIVITIES As reported earlier, TRIT is working closely with respective District Councils, Tea companies, farmer organizations and groups in the implementation of the project. Under these arrangements the District Council allow TRIT to use the services of the collaborative extension staff working in tea growing villages, whereas the tea producing companies avail clonal tea cuttings. Farmers retain the responsibility for providing labour, land and other locally available resources within their proximity. The programme facilitates organization and formation of groups, provides technical expertise, procures and provides industrial nursery materials and other inputs necessary for operating a successful nursery project. During the reporting period the following activities were undertaken.

Identification of potential collaborators Currently the project is working with 23 Collaborators from District Agriculture and Livestock Development Officers (DALDO’s). These collaborators are located in different districts Njombe (8), Mufindi (4), Lushoto (2), Muheza (2), Korogwe (3), Ludewa (2) and Rungwe (2). The extension Staff are based in strategic locations within the tea growing areas. Once identified, they undergo relevant training on basic skills of tea management in order to empower them towards working more confidently with farmers. Collaborators help to advise farmer working groups on technical aspects of nursery practices in the absence of TRIT staff. These are resourceful in linking TRIT staff with the farmers by facilitating a two way communication including setting appointments for accomplishment of various activities by TRIT staff. TRIT provides collaborators with working facilities such as bicycles, protective gears (rain suit and rain boots) and fuel allowance for those who own motorbikes. The collaborating extension staff have been very useful towards the implementation of the project and their efforts have greatly contributed to the success of the project.

Organizing smallholders tea nursery farmer groups The project works with willing farmers who comply with the nurseries concept and are in a farmer based nursery groups. Different approaches are employed by TRIT in the formation and creation of tea nursery groups. Sensitization campaigns are made through public meetings, and the farmers organize themselves in groups after the modalities of project operations have been understood. The groups subsequently send their request to TRIT for support. Once the request is received an advisory visit is made to group members to explain how the nursery project being implemented by TRIT operates. The responsibilities of each party and support to be provided by TRIT are explicitly explained to the groups. Intensive and strategic training is offered to newly formed nursery groups through onsite training, on station training either at Ngwazi or Marikitanda Tea research stations, Farmers exchange visits , cinema shows and farmer field schools. The collaborative effort from all stakeholders has always been instrumental for the success of formation of farmer’s nursery groups. Political leaders, religious leaders, government officials and farmer organization leaders, play a great role in the sensitization campaigns. The participatory approach employed by TRIT in implementing this project avails farmers an opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge on tea nursery techniques which lead to establishing their own backyard nursery for getting more plants. This approach enables TRIT to meet the increased demand of planting material from a large number of resource poor farmers. While group work on nurseries continues, prospective groups have the responsibility to fulfil the following pre-requisites:

• A group should have between 12 to 40 members; • Provide land that has no dispute for the nursery establishment, • Provide locally available material required for the nursery constructions, and • Be prepared to perform all activities including supplying the required labour for the nursery works; and • Prepare a constitution to guide them.

After meeting these conditions, TRIT then provides all industrial materials such as polythene tubes and sheets, fungicides, pesticides, planting materials, fertilizers, watering facilities, suitable nursery soils analysis, transportation and the technical backstopping.

ACHIEVEMENTS Propagated plants During the reporting period 7,847,300 plants were propagated at 166 nursery sites out of 334 existing nurseries. This was 247,300 plants (3.2%) higher than the projected number of plants. Mufindi district led by producing 32% of the total plants followed by Njombe and Rungwe which produced 28% and 17 % of the total plants respectively (Table 29).

Table 29: Achievements on the Smallholder tea nursery scheme as at 31st June 2009

District Projected Actual No Number of Annual plants Plants Proportion No of of Members projections propagated (Jul of Total nurseries nurseries 2008/ June 2009) plants Mufindi 30 70 1,221 2,200,000 2,504,597 32% Njombe 130 134 2,295 2,500,000 2,198,645 28% Rungwe 45 47 302 1,200,000 1,334,608 17% Muheza 15 13 195 250,000 233,000 3% Korogwe 6 6 90 200,000 205,000 3% Lushoto 42 47 626 950,000 1,076,768 14% Ludewa 17 212 300,000 294,682 4% Total 95 334 4,941 7,600,000 7,847,300* 100% *Includes 122,283 plants from backyard nurseries

Plants transplanted to the field About 5,080,944 plants were planted in the field in all tea growing area during 2008/2009 planting season (Table 30). This is equivalent to 366ha (13,888 pp/ha) of newly established smallholder tea farms. Prior to planting season, TRIT conducted training sessions on the basic techniques for the establishment and management of new tea fields for collaborating extension officers and farmers. Documentary video films and leaflets were prepared and issued to the prospective farmers for better understanding of the basic principles of good tea management. Decisions on allocation of plants among members are left to farmers themselves but normally it is based on individual labour and the group’s constitution.

Table 30: Nursery plants and planted in the fields by farmers in all tea growing areas

Plants propagated Number of plants planted in the field District Jul 2001 – Jun 2009 2002/2008 2008/2009 Total Mufindi 21,243,492 6,412,438 1,212,321 7,624,759 Njombe 23,095,353 8,356,542 1,771,023 10,127,565 Rungwe 2,432,785 347,496 4,000 351,496 Muheza 3,929,685 2,021,074 617,370 2,638,444 Korogwe 1,135,700 455,200 298,130 753,330 Lushoto 5,538,005 1,248,016 1,178,100 2,426,116 Bukoba 77,000 77,000 0 77,000 Ludewa 294,682 0 0 0 TOTAL 57,746,702 18,917,766* 5,080,944 23,998,710

Plants infilling the field gaps Infilling the tea field gaps is one of project objectives. During the reporting periods 1,606,304 plants were used to infill the gaps in mature tea fields in all districts where the project is operating.

Backyard nurseries During the reporting period about 14 backyard nurseries were identified with a total of plants 122,283. TTP will continue to carry out the inventory of backyard nurseries and report appropriately. Farmers initiatives to establish backyard nurseries provides a clear picture that the village based nurseries approach is appropriate for establishing a sustainable system for the smallholder tea sector in Tanzania.

Establishment of Village clonal Mother bushes Establishment of village clonal mother bushes intended to bring planting materials close to farmers. Since the inception of village based nursery project back in 2001, planting materials used for propagating plants have been sourced from mother bushes reserved either in private company estates or TRIT own fields. The need for planting material by smallholder growers is increasing as the project expands and hence the need for a sustainable sources of planting materials. Therefore, TRIT decided to establish village mother bush centres that will serve as close source of planting materials. Under this arrangement, smallholders provide land, labour, plants from their village nurseries and care after establishment, whereas TRIT provides technical backstopping, clones suitable for farmers’ environments and inputs (fertilizer and herbicides). During the reporting period one mother bush site was established in Njombe district at Nundu village making a total of seven sites that have already been established in Njombe districts. A Programme to establish similar mother bushes in other districts are underway for next project implementation. Sensitization and reviving of nursery activities in tea growing Districts Sensitization campaign is aimed at initiating tea nursery activities in new tea growing areas were conducted following requests from different districts. Collaborative efforts from all important Stakeholders were involved. In Njombe district, TRIT received a request from Igominyi Tea Outgrowers Association (ITOA) for an initiation of nursery activities in Lwangu, Boimanda, Mtila, Kisilu, Utalingolo, Iduchu and Mbega. The sensitization meetings conducted in these villages resulted into the formation of new nurseries in Lwangu (7), Mtila (1), Boimanda (2), and Kisilu (1). Other villages are also in the process of forming groups. In West Usambara, sensitization campaign was conducted in Mazumbai, Nkongoi, Tekwa and Tamota for Lushoto district and Amani in Muheza district. 76 nursery groups were formed as a result of the campaigns. On the same reporting period a Tea Stakeholder Forum met at Mponde to discuss different crosscutting issues concerning challenges facing the tea sector in Lushoto district and proposed interventions. One of forum deliberation was to ensure that every village section (Kitongoji) has to start a nursery site(s) and that TRIT extension staff Mponde should coordinate and supervise formation of nurseries in different villages.

Pests and Diseases control Termites Pseudoacanthotermes militaris attacks were observed in plants grown in polythene tents in Rungwe district. Termites were controlled by endolsulfan 35%. Fungal infestations were also observed in some nurseries in Njombe, Mufindi and Lushoto Districts. The fungus was efficiently controlled by a combination of two types of fungicide namely, Dithane 80 WP and Ridomil.Sucking aphids Taxophera aurantii attacks some young shoots results into retarded plant growth in the nursery under the polythene tent and during the hardening stage in northern and southern Tanzania. The pest was effectively controlled by spraying tea with Endosulfan®. (Thionex)

CHALLENGES AND CONTRAINTS

Rapid expansion of nursery activities and rising demand for plants The nursery activities are expanding speedily in different districts and demand for support from farmers especially for Njombe, Mufindi, and Lushoto district is overwhelming. This positive impact for farmers eagerness to establish new nurseries has considerably stretched the human resources available to facilitate the programme. TRIT is working diligently to ensure that these requests are met and farmers’ morale on nursery activities is sustained.

Lack of commitment by some collaborators and District Council staff TRIT is working closely with different stakeholders on the implementation project activities. Commitments of collaborators are important for the success of planned nursery activities. Some of collaborating agents in some districts under the project activities are not fully committed to nursery activities. This has reduced the project impact and success in those particular areas.

Disconcerted efforts in establishing tea nurseries The approach employed by some organizations implementing nursery project have been attracting farmers to start village based tea nurseries with initial cash payments for locally available materials and for some labour compensation. TRIT provide farmers with industrial materials only which they cannot really afford. Some TRIT trained farmers and nursery groups have shifted to join those groups which receive money. However, when the expected payments cease the nurseries collapse in those areas.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION The great potential and opportunities existing in different tea growing areas has not been fully exploited. These collaborative effort by all key players in the tea subsector are of paramount importance to ensure these potentials are fully exploited for the betterment. Tea smallholders need to be sensitized and encouraged to join the village based tea nurseries. For the past eight years many farmers benefited from the project. Howerver, more work is needed to be done for Rungwe, Muheza and Korogwe smallholders to increase the output.

FUTURE PLANS

• To design and implement a system of empowering nursery groups to become independent for the older farmer nursery groups. The proposed approach will entail weaning out older farmer groups by encouraging them to start saving money from their tea farms in order to buy polythene materials required for their nursery work. This will free resources for the more new groups hence contributing to sustainable self financing future nurseries for the smallholder’s tea growers in Tanzania.

• To continue sensitizing farmers on the establishment of mother bushes in every ward so as to bring planting materials close to the farmers. • To work out an approach that can facilitate improvement of nursery activities in poorly responding districts. Collaborative efforts by key stakeholders will be employed. The target districts are Bukoba, Korogwe and Muheza.

• Continue identifying and training potential collaborators.

• Sustain achievements made in different districts such as Mufindi, Njombe and Lushoto without losing the momentum by closely monitoring the activities and swiftly responding to needs of the nursery members in collaboration with our stakeholders.

• To facilitate the establishment of tea nurseries in new tea growing areas as per requests received including the current requests from Magoda, Utalingolo, Kilisilo, Igola and Mgala villages in Njombe district; Ibwanzi and Isipii Mufindi district; Mlalu Lushoto district and Tamota in Korogwe district.

• To propagate a total 13,000,000 plants for the period 2009/2010 in all tea growing areas. FIELD INVENTORY FOR MUHEZA AND KOROGWE DISTRICTS

Simon J. Chatanda, Latitia William and Ramadhan Matafi.

BACK GROUND

Field inventory is deemed necessary in tea field in order to establish the actual area planted, to determine the rate of input requirements in relation to planted area, and to establish data base for policy issues and regulatory needs. During the reporting year TRIT in collaboration with the Village Leaders and extension staff conducted a field inventory for tea growing villages including Medium and smallholder growers in Muheza and Korogwe Districts.

METHODOLOGY

Individual tea fields were measured by using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in every tea growing Village. Both tea village committee members and tea plot owner were involved during the exercise. The recorded tea areas were also presented to the Village Offices for record keeping and future use and the work was completed successfully.

RESULTS

Table 31 below presents results of the field survey. 30 tea growing villages were covered in this exercise of which 20 villages were in Korogwe and 10 villages in Muheza District. Large tea estates were not included in this survey. The results show that smallholders and medium scale tea growers have approximately 707.7 ha of tea farms. These are owned by 1,919 farmers of which 246 and 1,673 farmers are in Muheza and Korogwe respectively. Mpale village (Korogwe) has the largest area with approximately 93.0 ha followed by Zege and Vuje villages (Korogwe) with 77.7 and 70ha respectively. Whereas Maramba village (Muheza) has the smallest area of 0.2 ha. The survey results also indicated that the mean farm size for villages range from 0.20 ha at Maramba to 1.09 ha at Kwevihombo (Muheza). According to the current situation Antakae, Zilai villages (Muheza) and Mali, Tewe and Mpale Villages (Korogwe) have the highest planting rates. The high planting rates in these villages is attributed by the ongoing village based nurseries supported by TRIT.

CONSTRAINTS;

• Scattered farm plots hence more time consumed during the exercise. • High percentage of gaps in most farm plot hence a need for infilling and • Most of the farms are poorly managed hence low income per household. Table 31: Smallholders tea area inventory in Korogwe and Muheza Districts

District Village No of farmers Area (Ha) Mean area MUHEZA Zilai 62 17.4 0.28 IBC 19 6.2 0.33 Antakae 56 25.8 0.46 Malamba 1 0.2 0.2 Shambangeda 9 4.0 0.44 Mgambo 38 15.1 0.40 Kazita 4 0.7 0.18 Mlesa 17 10.3 0.61 Kwevihombo 28 30.4 1.09 Misalai 12 8.1 0.68 Sub total 246 118.2 KOROGWE Zege 237 77.6 0.33 Manka 61 18.0 0.30 Bungu 165 65.9 0.40 Vuje 217 70.0 0.32 Ngulu 118 36.2 0.31 Bungu msiga 61 16.3 0.28 Muheza 26 7.8 0.30 Lutindi 58 26.3 0.45 Masange 4 0.6 0.15 Kieti 50 15.5 0.31 Tewe 65 20.9 0.32 Mali 149 61.4 0.41 Mpale 249 93.0 0.37 Kwemanolo 48 20.3 0.42 Kwefingo 61 33.4 0.55 Old Ambangulu 4 1.3 0.33 Vugili 8 3.1 0.39 Makwele 24 5.3 0.22 Mlalo 34 8.2 0.24 Bagamoyo 34 8.4 0.25 Sub total 1,673 589.5 TOTAL MUHEZA & 1,919 707.7 KOROGWE ON-FARM TRIALS AND DEMONSTRATIONS

By Dunstan M Ndamugoba, Andrew Andalwisye, Solomon Msomba, Ernest Kimambo, Rafikiel A Masha and Amos Makweta

CONCEPT

The on-farm activities being conducted by TTP continue to play a vital role of linking the station based activities with the end users of the research outputs for both large scale and smallholder tea growers. In on farm research and development, the constraints limiting agricultural production are first identified at farm level in order to guide technology development, either on –farm or on-station. The planning and implementation of the on- farm and other intervention measures is done in close collaboration with growers in order to ensure that the technologies being tested and disseminated are relevant to the respective stakeholders. The current on-farm activities cover the following major areas:

• Introducing and testing of new planting materials; • Tea field establishment and management practices; and • Testing the use of key farm inputs under grower conditions.

CLONAL MOTHER TEA BUSHES

Farmers continue receiving planting material of high yielding and good quality clones from TRIT and some willing estate owners. TRIT long term plan is to establish clonal mother bush centres at every tea growing village so as ensure farmers availability of high yielding clones within their proximity. The TRIT tea nursery scheme supported by the European Union through a Stabex fund continues to facilitate the program of clonal tea materials at many village sites. Clonal mother bush plots have now been established in villages at Mkonge, Ihanga, Nundu, Kitulila, Image, Isitu, ELCT-Lupembe, Idamba-Iwafi,and Madilu in Southern Tanzania and Kizerui, Magogoni, Makanya, Antakaye, Mpale and Mponde and are at different stages of growth.

During 2008/2009 MTRS demonstration plots provided 1,500,000 cuttings of clones 6/10, 6/11, 31/8, 6/97 and 11/4 to farmers. The station has been a convenient outlet for East and west Usambara clonal tea materials for nurseries and for initiating village tea mother bush centres. Kibena tea limited, MTC, UTTL and WATCO have always been very supportive in providing area for tea mother bushes for southern Tanzania. TRIT acknowledge these valuable contributions to support smallholders.

CLONAL OBSERVATION AND MOTHER BUSHES IN NJOMBE

Background The participation of smallholder farmers in Village based tea nursery activities and farmer training sessions organized by TRIT has made many farmers realize the importance of growing clonal tea for improved tea production. It was learnt that sources of clonal planting materials would become a limiting factor for future expansion of tea in many localities. Many tea nurseries have for many years been planted with clonal planting materials from tea estates at cost. Smallholder farmers cannot afford buying the planting materials and covering transportation costs from estates to nurseries. TRIT established a clonal observation trial at two locations, ELCT-Lupembe and Iwafi in Njombe with a view evaluating the clonal performance characteristics and latter on serve as sources of planting materials close to farmers. The farmers’ role is to manage the field and yield data recording.

Objective • To involve farmers in field assessment of new clonal materials in the village; • To assess the adaptability of the newly introduced clones to local farming system; and • To establish sustainable source of planting materials for village based tea nurseries

Treatments Three test clones 31/8, SFS 150,207 and 6/8 as a control were established during February 2006 at Iwafi and ELCT-Lupembe. Each clone was planted in one plot at each site at a spacing of 0.6m x 1.2m separated by a single guard row between clones. The total plants per plot is 160. Fertilizer was applied at the rate of 150 kgs of nitrogen ha-1yr-1 in two splits during the wet season. All sites were mulched for moisture conservation.

Preliminary results Annual yield of made tea ( kg MT ha-1) Yield records during the third year after establishment (i.e., end of June 2009), showed that yields of all clones were higher at Iwafi than at ELCT. Clone SFS 150 and 207 recorded the highest yield at both locations while the control clone 6/8 produced the lowest crop at both sites (Table 32)

Table 32: Annual yield of made tea(kg mt ha -1) for ELCT and Iwafi

Annual yield ( kgMTha-1 CLONE Iwafi-Idamba ELCT-Lupembe SFS 150 1,906 1,613 31/8 1,748 1,438 207 1,908 1,130 6/8 1,587 611

Conclusions and Way Forward The evaluation will continue for another two seasons in collaboration with farmers. The best performing clones will be distributes through cuttings to the existing village based nurseries as a way of ensuring that more farmers gets access to these new proven clones. WORKSHOPS, MEETING AND SERMINARS

By Bruno J. Ndunguru

INTRODUCTION During the reporting period, TRIT facilitated and its staff attended a number of workshops/ conference, seminars and meetings within the country and abroad.

TRIT was represented in a number of meetings and fora organized by various stakeholders and collaborators within the tea growing districts. The highlights of these meetings and events are reported in the following sections.

REPORT ON THE TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROJECT RAF/5/058 FIRST COORDINATING MEETING HELD AT KARI, KABETE, NAIROBI, KENYA, 30th MARCH – 3rd APRIL 2009

The first coordination meeting of country project coordinators (PCs) for the Technical Cooperation (TC) Project RAF/5/058: Enhancing the productivity and income generation of high-value crops using small-scale irrigation technologies was hosted by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Agricultural Research Laboratories at Kabete, Nairobi Kenya, 30th March to 3rd April 2009. The meeting was attended by PCs from 18 participating African countries: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya Arab Jamahiriya, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the sole funder of the project, was represented by Mr Mickel Edwerd, Programme Management Officer and Ms Lee Heng, Technical Officer. TRIT was represented by Dr. Julius Kigalu, Crop Water management programme leader.

For five working days (March 30 to April 3, 2009), the meeting essentially looked at issues raised during the opening session receiving presentations from keynote speakers, reviewed and adopted the project document, country reports on soil and water management and nutrition of crops were presented, strengths and weaknesses analysis was carried out, held field visits, and prepared individual work-plans and recommendations of the meeting. These activities marked the commencement research activities on the Technical Cooperation Project RAF/5/058.

THE 9th SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE AGRICULTURE ECONOMISTS SOCIETY OF TANZANIA (AGREST), VISITORS INN, ZANZIBAR; 5th – 7th OCTOBER 2008

Three TRIT staff Dr. Emmanuel Simbua, Andrew Andalwisye and Magreth Katole attended the 9th Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Agricultural Economics Society of Tanzania (AGREST) held at Visitors Inn in Zanzibar from 5th -7th October 2008. The Theme of this conference was “Agricultural Transformation from Subsistence to Commercial Agriculture” with four subthemes namely; 1) Marketing, Trade, Value Addition and food Safety and Standards; 2) Good Governance Impact on Agricultural and Livestock Development; 3) HIV/AIDS and Malaria Challenges on Agricultural and Livestock Production, and 4) Incentives for Agricultural Transformation e.g Taxation, Credit etc. 5) The scientific conference was followed by the Annual General Meeting which also elected new office bearers. Dr. Emmanuel Simbua who is also TRIT Research Director, was elected the Vice Chairman of AGREST, whereas Ms. Magreth Katole, the Economist with Technology Transfer Programme was elected as a Director representing members from the NGO’s and private sector. The election of two TRIT staff into the AGREST Executive Committee in a way reflects TRIT’s growing reputation as a professional institute with competent researchers. PUBLICATIONS

Kigalu, J.M. and Sanga, B.N.K. (2008). Soil and water conservation in young tea. In: Land and Water Management in Southern Africa Towards better water use in semi-arid and arid areas, 568-585 (Eds. A. Mapiki and S. Makgetlaneng). Africa Institute of South Africa (2008), Pretoria, South Africa. (Eds) Calvin Nhira, Alfred Mapiki and Patrick Rankhumise (2008). Land and Water Management in Southern Africa Towards sustainable agriculture, i-xvi & 822 pp. Africa Institute of South Africa (2008), Pretoria, South Africa.

Kigalu, J.M. (2008). Effects of planting density and drought on root depth and distribution, soil water deficit, volumetric soil water content and xylem water potential of young tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze). Paper presented at the 3rd Regional Conference on Agricultural Water Management in Eastern and Southern Africa Held at the United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September 15-19th 2008 TEA GROWING AREAS OF TANZANIA

Bukoba & Muleba

East & West Usambara

Kilolo Mufindi Njombe

Rungwe

LOCATION TEA AREA LOCATION TEA AREA SUB- TEA AREA (Ha) (Ha) SECTOR (Ha) Rungwe 5,549 Mufindi 5,066 Estates 11,270.20 West Usambara 3,889 Kagera 1,627 Smallholder 11,431.05 East Usambara 2,561 Kilolo 205 TOTAL 22,701.25 Njombe 3,805

Printed by Peramiho Printing Press