Revitalising agriculture in semiarid areas: The role of wetland common pool resources in crop production in dryland areas of central Tanzania.

Shemdoe, R.S., Kingazi,S.P and Kitula, R.A Abstract This paper explores the role of wetland resources in revitalizing agricultural crop production in semiarid areas of central Tanzania. It bases on the research findings from the study carried out in Mpwapwa district on assessing the status of wetlands in dryland areas of the district. The latter is a typical semiarid area that receives unimodal rainfall of about 570 mm per year, which is also unreliable. Household crop production was assessed through peasants‘ knowledge on the contribution of dryland and wetland farming in crop production and on the livelihoods of the households in the area. The methods and techniques for data collection used were focus group discussions with local communities, key informants interviews with agricultural and natural resources technical staff in the district and village officials. Others included individual household questionnaire surveys and literature reviews. The results from the study indicate that, there exist a number of wetland resources that are common pool resources in the area and about 2,241 hectares in the district have been reported to be wetland resources of which 1,672 hectares are used by peasants for crop production. Regarding land ownership in the area, an inventory of the land size was also carried out in order to determine the plot size that an average household owns in both wetland and dryland areas. It was estimated that an average household owns a plot of 0.57 and 3.44 hectares in the wetland and dryland areas respectively. About 74.6% of the interviewed peasants living close to the wetland resources in the district mentioned their livelihoods to entirely depend on small plots of land that depend on water from the wetlands and that little is harvested from the dryland plots. This indicates that, an average household in the villages surrounding wetland areas depends much on the 0.57 ha from the wetland compared to 3.44 ha of the dryland, as crop produce from dryland is very little compared to what they harvest in the wetland. Furthermore, in the wetlands there are a number of different cropping seasons through which the peasants grow high value crops compared to the single and unreliable crop season in the dryland farming. As the wetland resources in the area have been mentioned to be a common pool resource, and peasants do encroach these areas without legal restrictions, the health of the wetland resources is highly threatened. Furthermore, with increasing in population for both human and livestock, associated with climate change occurring world wide, the paper therefore draws recommendation that, quick and effective efforts are needed in order to rescue the situation other wise the existing wetlands will perish in the near future.

Keywords: Wetland resources, common pool resources, revitalizing agriculture, dryland areas, Central Tanzania.

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Introduction The role of wetland resources in revitalizing agricultural crop production in semiarid areas of Mpwapwa district Tanzania is the main issue in this paper. There has been a common misconception with regards to dryland areas worldwide that, they are — dead“ , empty, and isolated. This type of ecological zone has been regarded as unproductive places where people are unable to survive ( RPSUD, 2005 ). In reality, drylands have supported people‘s livelihoods through myriad of goods and services they provide over years, and they are home to approximately 2 billion people worldwide ( WRI, 2002 ). Uniquely in the drylands are the wetland points, which due to their ecological nature coupled with communities‘ livelihoods dependence, are facing significant challenges for their sustainability. Taylor et al. (2002) mentions wetlands to be valuable natural resources that provide many benefits to people and the environment. Their importance can be described in terms of the functions they perform, including water quality enhancement, water supply, wildlife habitat, and energy transfer as well as agricultural crop production in semiarid areas. According to California Coastal Commission (1994) functions of wetland resources are categorized based on different factors including commercial, damage prevention and ecological factors. Other factors used in the categorization of the functions of wetlands are consumptive and non-consumptive recreation, education and research as well as source of open space and contribution to aesthetic values. In Tanzania, dry land areas (both semiarid and arid) cover about 65 percent of the country with 30 percent of human population and 59 percent of the livestock population ( URT, 2001 ). Generally, wetland areas in semiarid regions support its community through three major activities. These are flood plain agriculture, dry season grazing and extraction of wood and non-wood products ( Zoungrana and Temu, 1996 ).

Dodoma region is among the semiarid regions of the country receiving an average rainfall of 570 mm per year. It is one of the main livestock keeping regions of Tanzania ( Hella, et al . 1999) . Peasants in different semiarid areas in Dodoma region practice crop production in both dryland and in wetland areas. Dryland agriculture depends on the rainfall and in the areas where wetlands exist; peasants apply irrigation for subsistence crop production using water from the wetland resources that most of them are common pool resources.

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As reported by Dahl (1990), a number of factors such as wetland agricultural use and development, residential and other infrastructure development threaten wetland resources. In the dryland areas of Mpwapwa district where the study has been carried out, the mostly applied wetland activity is agricultural use and development. Whereas agricultural use and development is harmful to the wetland resources as peasants have been using these areas in the expenses of crop production, peasants in some villages of Mpwapwa district still depend on these resources to earn their living. Due to the continuous utilization of wetland resources for the agricultural production, the study to assess the status of wetland resources in the area was therefore developed. As a part of the study, the role of wetland resources in revitalizing agricultural crop production were also assessed which becomes the main issue in this paper. The paper therefore describes the existing wetland resources in the district, peasant‘s knowledge on the contribution of drylands and wetland farming in crop production and on the livelihoods of the households in the area.

Methodology Study area description Mpwapwa District in Dodoma region, where the study was carried out, lies between 6 o0‘to 6020‘S and 26 o22‘ to 36 o30‘E (Fig.1). The district lies on altitude varying from 1000 to 1500 metres above sea level. The district experiences unimodal rain, which is unreliable varying between 500 to 800mm falling between December and March ( WB 1994 ). Mpwapwa district has a population of 254,500 ( NBS, 2003 ) meaning at present it is projected to be 276,482.

Sampling and data collection methods Sampling design A multi-stage sampling design was used where both purposive and random samples were drawn from people residing in the villages surrounding the wetlands in the dryland areas of Mpwapwa district. Selection of sample villages was based on the existence, size of the wetland and their accessibility. At least 5% of the households were randomly selected from each of the five villages for the individual household questionnaire surveys.

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Figure 1: Map showing the location of Mpwapwa District as a study area Source: D istrict agricultural report 2005

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Data collection methods Different data collection methods were used in order to gather the information required for the study. The methods were: Focus group discussions , which involved small group meetings that discussed issues, related to the subject under study in an informal setting. The participants in the focus group discussion were mostly peasants and livestock keepers. Key informant interviews held with the representatives from District Agricultural and Livestock Development Office (DALDO), District Natural Resource Office (DNRO), Participatory Irrigation and Development program (PIDP) and village officials. Individual household questionnaire survey: This comprised short surveys to confirm findings and capture some more information that were not captured through other methods and tools used. A total random sample of 180 respondents from five selected sample villages were used for questionnaire administration in the district Literature review involved reading of different reports both published and unpublished including the district agricultural and natural resources reports to add value to the information gathered from the communities in the field. Participant‘s observation involved the actual field surveys where the researchers visited plots where agricultural activities are taking place in the area. It helped to supplement the information gathered through other methods and approaches. Eighty percent (80%) of the existing wetland valleys in the district were visited to actually appreciate their existence.

The collected data were grouped into qualitative and quantitative forms to make easy the analysis. Household questionnaire data were coded and fed into statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) computer software for analysis to generate descriptive statistics, cross-tabs and frequency tables to enable discussions and conclusions. Qualitative data generated from discussions with community groups and individuals were subjected to content and structural- functional analyses to generate meaningful themes and tendencies related to the objectives that are reported in this manuscript.

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Results and Discussion Socio-economic status of the communities in the study area Demography, gender, age profile and ethnicity of the respondents Demographic and socio-economic aspects for the communities in the selected villages surrounding the wetland resources in the dryland areas of Mpwapwa district are presented in Table 1 and Figures 2 and 3. Population, number of households, average household size and percentage of the respondents basing on sex of the interviewed villagers are presented in Table 1. Regarding the number of households in the surveyed villages, the village with the highest number of households has a total of 772 households. For average household size, the highest household size is 6 persons per household. In all the surveyed villages more males were interviewed than females as more women had to attend household activities (Table 1).

Table 1: Demographic structure of the survey area Village name Number of Average % respondent households household size Male Female Mlembule 562 4.7 62.9 37.1 Godegode 772 5.0 83.9 16.1 Inzomvu 508 5.4 57.5 42.5 Kwamshangoo 500 5.7 65.0 35.0 Mbori 685 5.1 65.0 35.0

On ethnic groups in Mpwapwa district, as is Dodoma region at large, whereas one could expect to meet a good number of people from the Wagogo tribe where Dodoma region is their origin, the study showed different observation. From the five villages where the study was carried out, the respondents were 48.4% from Wagogo tribe, 26.3% Wakaguru, 12.9% Wahehe and 12.4% are people from other tribes including Wazigua, Wamasai and Wamang‘ati. The implication of the number of sampled respondents is that, more than 50% of the population in the study area originates from outside Mpwapwa District. The main reasons for the influx of these people from different tribes include the national policy that any person can leave any where in the country provided does not break the laws of the nation, most of these people are livestock keepers so they moved close to these wetlands

6 looking for the pasture and water for their animals. The presence of multiple ethnic groups in the area indicate that, the utilization of the natural resources from the existing wetlands is not protected by culture, as each individual tribe has its own cultural approaches on resource use, management and conservation. Thus, the implication is that, communities in this area regardless of their culture should form a strong union to come up with proper wetland utilization and conservation strategies that are not dominated by ones tradition. This is important simply because if each tribe could practice its own culture in wetland utilization and management, there may raise a number of contradictions as each tribe has its cultural way of looking at things. In addition, majority of the people (97.3%) in the study area depends on agriculture as their main economic activity; this situation has serious implication on the existing natural resources and especially the wetlands as more pressure is exerted into these resources.

Education level of respondents As an important tool for liberating people from poverty, education has been mentioned to be necessary for any developing country to alleviate its people from the extreme poverty they leave in ( URT, 2003 ). In the surveyed villages, most of the respondents attained primary education level that is, standard seven (which is compulsory in the country). Very few attended up to secondary level (Figure.2). This indicates that the level of poverty is still high in the areas and the only means of earning income to the villagers, is the existing natural resource base surrounding them, mostly being the wetland resources. This has serious implication in the general use and management of wetland biodiversity in the area as almost 74.6% of the respondent reported to depend on the wetland resources entirely for their livelihoods.

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100

90 80 70 60 50 40 No schooling 30 Primary education 20 Propotion respondents of (%) Secondary education 10 0 Mbori Inzomvu Godegode Kwemshangoo Mlembule

Villages

Figure 1: Status of the education level of respondents in selected villages in Mpwapwa

Age structure Age is an important variable in relation to the planning of sustainable utilization of resources. Knowing the age structure, one could forecast the future use of the resource base. In the surveyed villages, age structure shows that there will be an increased utilization of wetlands by the youths in the near future. The analysis of the age structure has indicated about 51% of the villagers to be in the age group between 0 œ 17 years, 46% falls on the age class of 18 œ 55 which is regarded as a working age group and 3% to be over 55 years (Figure.3). The observation implies the need of more efforts in planning sustainable utilization of the wetland resources, as they have to be used by the future generation, which

8 occupies more than a half of the population residing in the area. Proper strategies on the conservation of these resources, the inventory of the existing biodiversity and wetland resources are highly needed in order to develop a proper management plan that will take into consideration sustainable utilization of these wetlands in the dry zones of the district.

60

50

40

30

20 % population

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0 0-17 18-55 56< Age group

Figure 3: Age structure in the selected villages surrounding wetlands in Mpwapwa, Tanzania

Wetlands and their general status in Mpwapwa district Worldwide, wetlands are very important for the ecological functions, which they perform, as well as for their rich flora and fauna ( Ramsar, 1997 ). They also constitute a resource of great economic, cultural, scientific and recreational value to human life (ibidem). Wetlands and people are ultimately interdependent. Table 2 shows the existing wetlands in Mpwapwa districts indicating their location by ward or village, estimated total area and the status of utilization on area basis. It is revealed that, about 75% of the total area are characterised as functional wetlands for crop production, livestock sources of pasture and water as well as water for domestic purposes. The remaining 25% of the wetlands are characterised as idle wetlands or wetlands for natural ecosystem functions. As it is reported in FAO (2000 ), about 25% of the world's wetlands have already been lost, due largely to conversion to agriculture or diversion of water for agriculture and aquaculture. Generally, in Mpwapwa district, the status of wetlands utilization is tremendously high with exception

9 of some few specific areas whose levels of utilization is less than 50% on the basis of effective area used for agriculture. Table 2 indicates clearly that, there is a potential danger for the wetlands in Mpwapwa district to be extinct in the near future. The higher percent of the wetlands in the area lose water during the dry season due to much of its area being converted to agricultural crop production and high pressure exerted by livestock. Very few areas were found to still have water during the dry season. Figure 4 shows the example of a water source on one of the wetlands in Mpwapwa district during the dry season.

Figure 4: water source of Kwamshangoo wetland in Mpwapwa district, Tanzania

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Table 2. Existing wetlands in the dryland areas of Mpwapwa district, Dodoma, Tanzania. S/N Name of the Location by Total Area Area utilized Percentage (%) wetland ward or village (Ha) (Ha) utilization 1 Malolo Wazaganza 800 500 62.5 2 Lumuma Mafene 300 300 100 3 Kitati Kitati 120 120 100 4 Mbori Mbori 160 160 100 5 Lufusi Lufusi 60 60 100 6 Idodoma Idodoma 60 35 58.3 7 Inzomvu Inzomvu 16 16 100 8 Godegode Godegode 150 50 33.3 9 Kwamshangooo Ising‘hu 32 32 100 10 Tambi Tambi 90 75 83.3 11 Mlembule Mlembule 107 107 100 12 Lugula Mwenzele 32 32 100 13 Ipera Kinusi 61 61 100 14 Mbuga Mbuga 18 18 100 15 Nzugilo Nzugilo 10 10 100 16 Matonya Matonya 15 15 100 17 Lufu Lufu 15 15 100 18 Mang‘haliza Mang‘haliza 10 10 100 19 Wotta Wotta 15 15 100 20 Wangi Wangi 25 15 60 21 Galali Galali 60 25 41.7 22 Vikundi Vikundi 5 5 100 Total Area 2,241 1,672 74.6 Source: District Agricultural Report for 2005.

Potentials of the wetlands in revitalizing agriculture in semiarid areas Whereas agriculture is considered the principal cause of wetland loss worldwide (Stuip et al. 2002), Brouwer (2002) mentions a combination of wetland and dryland areas to facilitate local people with a range of production options from which they can choose, depending on for instance the rainfall in a particular year. In Mpwapwa district, crops are grown in two major categories, including crops grown in the valley and some other crops grown on the dryland farms. Wetlands play a vital role in the economy of peasants in semiarid areas of Mpwapwa district. The interviewed peasants in the area mentioned to highly utilize plots in the wetland areas for crop production for producing horticultural crops. These crops are produced in more than one season in a year. During the rain season,

11 which are between January and April, peasants in the area plant crops such as maize, Irish potatoes, paddy and sweet potatoes. This goes concurrently with crops that are grown in the dryland plots. During dryland season, which is from May to December, wetland plots are used for planting horticultural crops such as tomatoes, onions, cabbage, amaranths, spinach and okra. In the same plots peasants harvests fruits including orange, pawpaw and guava. Other crops including Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugarcane and banana are also planted in the wetland plots in the area. Table 3 indicates average horticultural crop production from the wetland plots recorded from all potential wetlands in the district over years which shows onions to be the leading horticultural crop from the wetland areas. This shows how useful the wetlands are in revitalizing crop production and assisting in reduction of poverty in Mpwapwa district.

Table 3: Horticultural crop production trend in tons from 1997/98 to 2003/04 Mpwapwa District, Tanzania Crop 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 Cabbage 0.75 0.8 1.5 2.5 2.5 3.2 3.5 Spinach 0.02 0.25 0.03 0.05 0.45 0.35 2 Amaranths 5.3 5.8 6 6.3 6.8 6.15 7.04 Tomatoes 30 30.2 30 32 32.5 32 35 Egg plant 0.25 0.3 0.45 0.5 0.75 1.2 1.5 Onion 23000 23000 25000 27000 27750 36000 40000 Okra 2.5 2.3 2.7 3 2.5 3 3.5 Orange 0.6 1 1.5 17 2 2.2 2.5 Guava 2 2.5 2.4 27 3.2 3.5 3.8 Bananas 4 4.5 4.8 42 5 5.5 6.3 Papaw 2.5 2.4 2.8 2.6 3.5 4.5 4 Source: Mpwapwa District Agricultural report 2005

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Problems facing agricultural crop production in Mpwapwa District

Similar to most of the Tanzanian Districts, agricultural crop production in Mpwapwa District is faced by several problems. These problems are categorized as:

Unreliable rainfall In Mpwapwa District, most of the time the rainfall is of short time. On average, the District receives about 570mm for only four months pear year. In this case most of the peasants fear to expand their farms and also peasants fail to prepare their farms for the dryland farming on time. As a result very little crop produces are attained. Peasants with the access to wetland located plots therefore put more efforts in utilizing these areas to ensure good returns. This then shows the main role the wetland areas play in revitalizing agriculture in the District.

High price of inputs Most of the ordinary peasants are low-income earners. Due to the structural adjustment programme initiated in the1980s forced the government to reduce subsidies to peasants, most of them cannot afford to buy essential agricultural inputs for boosting their crop production in the rainfed crop production. This therefore hinders high crop production in the area. From the villages surveyed 61% of the respondents mentioned high prices and poor availability of the farm implements/inputs to be one of the main problems facing crop production in the area.

Lack of technology About 90 percent of peasants in the District use very low agricultural technology. Most of them use the traditional methods with poor tools and inputs, which results to poor crop production in the area. Basing on these traditional methods, improving them could aid in improved crop production and hence, favor improved livelihood.

Inadequate extension services There exist inadequate extension services provided to farmers in the District. From the interviewed farmers in the surveyed villages, 78% mentioned not to have ever received an extension service regarding the proper crop production in the area. This may be due to

13 various reasons including lack of motivation and commitment to extension workers. Furthermore, extension workers also lack working facilities, which hinder them to reach many farmers in the district.

Major threats facing the wetlands in the semiarid areas of Mpwapwa District Several problems have been mentioned to exist in the wetlands. Included were waste disposal during rain season through floods, siltation, poor sanitation and water and land for agricultural resource use conflicts. Wastes: It was mentioned that during rainy season, wastes both liquid and solid from upstream, which is actually Mpwapwa town centre, are released to the flowing water, which ends up at the wetland water source. Though the respondents did not mention the occurrence of diseases in the area related to wastes, they projected that the occurrence of waste related diseases to be inevitable if quick remedial actions are not taken on board. Siltation: Sand mining for construction purposes as an ongoing activity at the upstream and moving cattle and other livestock, which has resulted into reduced soil compaction in the areas close to the wetland lead to the siltation of the water source. This is due to the fact that during the rain season the flowing water towards the valley may result to blocking the water source for this wetland. Poor sanitation : This has been mentioned to be one of the devastating problems within wetlands. This was on the aspect that, there is no proper sites for livestock watering and sites for domestic water collection (Figure.5). This has been seen as a problem because livestock when drinking, they also defecate on the same stream where women and children in the area fetch water for domestic purposes. Further, there is no areas set-aside for washing clothes; this has an implication of water pollution from the washing detergents being used.

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Figure 5: The use of wetlands for domestic and livestock purposes in Mpwapwa

Conclusion Generally, in this study a number of arguments have been raised regarding socio-economic characteristics of people in the area, their dependence on wetland resources and problems that these wetlands are faced with. Furthermore, the inventory of the existing wetlands in the area has been documented, their status understood, how people and livestock depend on these wetlands has been documented as well as the threats posed to these wetlands. With increasing population for both human and livestock, associated with the climate change occurring world wide, quick and effective efforts are needed to rescue the situation other wise the existing wetlands will perish in the near future. The authors recommend further study on assessing the actual biodiversity status in the selected wetlands in the area to be carried out. Whereas wetland areas in the drylands of Mpwapwa districts are useful in revitalizing agriculture and improve welfare of peasants in the area, some initiatives must be taken on strengthening best indigenous soil and water conservation practices that enhance crop production in the dryland farming system. The latter will increase crop production in the dryland farms and finally reduce the entire dependence on the wetland resources in the area hence maintain the sustainable utilization of the wetland resources.

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Acknowledgement We would like to thank the Research Programme on Sustainable Use of Dryland Biodiversity (RPSUD) for funding the research whose results are reported in this manuscript. We are grateful to the farmers in different villages in Mpwapwa District, community facilitators, Mpwapwa District Agricultural and livestock officials as well as the District Natural Resource officials for their co-operation.

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