KEY LEARNINGS FROM THE GCRF-AFRICAP STUDY TOUR AT LUSHOTO AND DISTRICTS, ,

By

Stephano P. Kingazi & Shakwaanande R. Natai Tanzania Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (TCSAA) E-mails: [email protected] & [email protected] Website: https://www.tanzaniacsaalliance.or.tz

For more information about GCRF-AFRICAP programme - https://africap.info

April 2020

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1.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1.1 Participants of the study tour This blog post summarizes the key learnings from the study tour at Lushoto and Muheza Districts in Tanga region, Tanzania. The tour commenced on 15th March at Lushoto Highlands Hotel and ended at Amani Nature Reserve, Muheza on 21st March, 2020. It was made possible through the Global Challenges Research Fund, AFRICAP - “Agricultural and Food systems Resilience“: Increasing Capacity and Advising Policy” (GCRF-AFRICAP) programme, funded by the UK government https://africap.info. The tour involved 28 participants: 1 researcher from Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFOR), Lushoto, 4 farmers from farmers’ groups in the projects, 2 representatives from Tanzania Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (TCSAA), 2 research assistants from Council, 7 experts/extension officers from Muheza District Council, 6 experts/extension officers from Lushoto District Council, 3 from the University of Leeds, 1 from Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), 1 each from Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), Mlingano, Tanga and Selian, Arusha respectively.

The study-tour involved field visits (practical) to the project sites and daily workshops at the centres to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning (reflective learning). However, the actual study-tour at last involved 25 participants after three lead facilitators from the University of Leeds left the tour on emergency call back to UK in relation to COVID-19.

1.2 Aim of the study tour The main aim of the study-tour was to share knowledge and practical insights from two independent projects namely: TFCG/ONGAWA Integrated Adaptation and Resilience Programme which was being implemented at Muheza district between 2017 and 2019, and the GCRF-AFRICAP Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security Programme Climate Smart Villages, which was being implemented at Lushoto district between 2010 and 2019. The intention of working in Lushoto is to utilize the Climate Smart Agriculture Learning Alliance link with the research activities to enable learning across districts up to regional level and use this evidence to impact the national level policy through policy engagement and feedback meetings.

1.3 Specific learning objectives The study-tour was guided by the following learning objectives: i. To develop an improved understanding of local and regional vulnerability, climate-risk and uncertainty ii. To develop an improved awareness of agriculture and food system resilience, and of the supporting governance and policy processes iii. To gain new knowledge and practical insight from sharing experiences on climate-smart agriculture and food system programme design, implementation and monitoring & evaluation

2 iv. To feel empowered to transfer the knowledge gained to farmers and colleagues

1.4 Study tour themes The tour was guided by the following themes: i. Agriculture, food systems and resilience (technologies and practices) ii. Weather, Climate and Extreme Risk iii. Policies, Institutions and Innovation Systems iv. Off-farm systems eg. markets and livelihood diversification v. Monitoring and Evaluation

This blog post summarizes proceedings of the study-tour and key learnings from the study-tour that is of particular relevance to TCSAA and more broadly for policy implementation and revision of climate smart agriculture resilience plans and other agri-food policies, strategies and action plans in Tanzania.

2.0 THE PROCESSES, APPROACHES AND METHODS USED The overall process took about seven days starting from 15th up to 21st March 2020 as outlined in Appendix 1. Based on the stated learning objectives, the approach used for the study-tour was based on collaborative team management, combined theoretical, practical and participatory in nature (See plate 1). Dr. Harriet Smith insisted that the learning process should be fully participatory. The day started with self-introduction by all participants followed by introductory presentations from key facilitators as follows: i) an overview of the theme for the day; ii) group formation; iii) group discussion based on given terms of reference; iv) plenary presentations and v) questions and answers on issues raised during presentations.

Plate 1: Collaborative team effort in field planning and implementation1

1 All field photos were taken by Mr. Daniel Semberya, a Journalist from The Guardian Newspaper, Tanzania. 3

3.0 PROCEEDINGS OF THE STUDY TOUR 3.1 Courtesy call at Lushoto District Council The day started by paying an official courtesy call at the office of Lushoto District Executive Director (DED) to abide with country laws and regulations when working at local government (district) authorities. Plate 2 is group photo of key facilitators after the courtesy call.

Plate 2: A group photo at Lushoto District Council after the courtesy call.

After that introductory visit to DED’s office, the three lead facilitators from the University of Leeds (Drs. Harriet Smith, Samuel Eze and Hemant Tripathi) left for Dar es Salaam airport to UK while the rest of the team of facilitators and tour participants proceeded to Mbuzii climate smart village.

3.2 Study tour at Mbuzii village Plate 3 illustrates the visit in a nutshell.

Plate 3: Field visit at Mbuzii village, Lushoto District.

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After the field visit all participants went back to the hotel venue for thematic presentation by facilitators as illustrated in plate 4.

Plate 4: Thematic topic presentation, discussions, reflections and plenary presentations at Lushoto Highlands Hotel after field visit.

3.3 Study tour at Yamba village The team visited Yamba village to learn about integrating scientific and indigenous knowledge for weather forecasting. Thereafter the team travelled back to the hotel for introductory presentation on weather, climate and extreme risk. That was followed by group formation for discussions, plenary presentations and critical reflections on the field sessions (Plate 5a-c).

Plate 5a: Participants keenly listening from the local weather forecast experts.

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Plate 5b: Participants on group with local weather forecast experts.

Plate 5c: Presentation, group discussions, reflections and plenary presentations on thematic topic of the day - weather and climate.

That marked the end of two days’ field visits in Lushoto ready for travelling to Muheza District on the morning next day to study the monitoring and evaluation project activities.

3.4 Travel to Muheza District and Amani Nature Reserve The day started by a long travel from Lushoto to Muheza District which is about 120 km. This took about three hours’ drive on tarmac road. On arrival at Muheza District, few facilitators led by Mr. Mziray paid a courtesy call to the Muheza District Executive Director (DED) as was the case at Lushoto District.

Thereafter the team travelled about 35 km further to Amani Nature Reserve where participants secured rooms for accommodation, got late lunch then met at the Amani Nature Reserve’s conference room for a brief presentation on monitoring and evaluation thematic area regarding the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance Eco-villages project implemented by TFCG/ONGAWA, FAIDA MALI and Muheza District Council. Plate 6 illustrates the presentations made by facilitators before group works and plenary session.

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Plate 6: Monitoring and Evaluation thematic area presentations by Mr. Mziray & Mr. Baraka Kajiru at Amani Nature Reserve’s conference room.

However, due to long travel associated by bad road where one of the vehicles got tyre puncture, one of the facilitators, Mr. Kingazi introduced a role play to cheer up participants as illustrated in Plate 7 below.

Plate 7: Participants enjoying a role play led by Mr. Kingazi at Amani Nature Reserve’s conference room.

That was followed by other presentations by Mr. George Sayulla and Mama Natai on monitoring and evaluation and its implications on research and policy. Plate 8 illustrates the presentations.

Plate 8: Monitoring and Evaluation Implications presentations by Mama Natai and Mr. Sayulla at Amani Nature Reserve’s conference room.

3.5 Study tour at Mgambo and Shambangeda villages This was the first day to the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance Eco-villages (GCCA+ Eco-villages) project to meet with farmer groups implementing innovation systems through demo farms, post-harvest technologies and off-farm butterfly farming outside forests (Plate 9).

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Plate 9: Participants visiting conserved maize, cassava and butterfly farms at Mgambo village.

After the field visits the team travelled back to Amani Nature Reserve Conference room for presentation on the thematic area: innovation processes and institutions, followed by group discussions, critical reflections and plenary presentations on the day’s visit as illustrated in plate 10.

Plate 10: Presentations, discussions and critical reflections on innovation processes and institutions studied during the day’s field visit.

3.6 Study tour at Zirai and Misalai villages The visit set out to study off-farm systems starting with spice warehouse and met with spice farmers involved in the spice marketing project led by FAIDA MALI. The team also planned to visit farmers practicing zero-grazing for dairy and beef cattle introduced by the project. Unfortunately that visit was impossible due to a funeral event which was going on at the village

8 earmarked for zero-grazing visit. Another mishap this day included one of the vehicles which got stuck in mud on the road – this took about 2 hours to resolve. We proceeded to milk processing centre in Amani where milk collection in the area takes place. Plate 11a&b illustrates the day’s proceedings including group discussions and critical reflections on the field session.

Plate 11a: Team visits to spice farmers at Zirai and Misalai villages

Plate 11b: Illustrations of the field visit at milk collection centre and the presentations at the conference room thereafter

3.7 Reflection of the week and departure The final reflection from the entire study-tour was made by Mama Natai of TCSAA with complements from others facilitators and participants. That was concluded by issuing of certificates of participation to all participants and a group photo as illustrated in Plate 12a&b below.

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Plate 12a: Closing ceremony and issuing of certificates to participants.

Plate 12b: A group photo of the graduated participants.

4.0 KEY LEARNINGS FROM THE STUDY TOUR

Leaning ≠1: Collaborative team spirit It was learnt that the collaborative team spirit introduced and insisted by Dr. Harriet Smith during day one indeed turned into reality throughout the study tour. The facilitators and participants were all determined to work together through shared knowledge and experiences. The approach of shared learnings was comprehended quite well in such a way that participants were free to share and learn from one another.

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Leaning ≠2: Competence of lead farmers on technologies and innovations It was learnt that project farmers, especially in Lushoto district, where CCAFS programme has operated for almost ten years, were quite conversant with what they were doing by being fluent in explaining the technologies and innovations introduced by researchers. This was also the case for farmers at Muheza study villages. That implies that farmers involved in projects have graduated from the field schools to become trainers of fellow farmers.

Leaning ≠3: Limited adoption of introduced technologies by other farmers It was observed throughout the study villages that despite the proven benefits of introduced technologies and innovations, neighbouring farmers in almost all villages hardly adopted. On probing why this has been the case, project farmers hinted that neighbours don’t want to learn expensive and hard to do activities like terraces.

Leaning ≠4: Limited promotion of indigenous knowledge systems The lessons learned from Yamba village shows that despite the interesting story about the use of indigenous knowledge on weather forecasting, local experts are to a large extent elders who lamented that after the programme no one seemed to support them.

Leaning ≠5: Limited understanding of the concept of M&E among farmers During plenary discussions in Muheza district, almost all farmers complained of not knowing M&E knowledge and methodologies to apply to their farm projects. Some were even unable to define what M&E actually is and how it implies in their day-to-day farm activities. However, that was contrary to expert participants who seemed to be quite knowledgeable with the theory and practice of M&E as it is one of their routine activities in their professional career as extension and technical staff.

Leaning ≠6: Limited knowledge and application of the national level policies, strategies and plans to local level by extension officers When asked on their awareness of agriculture and food systems resilience policies, strategies, programs and plans developed at national level, significant majority of participants (except the group from Lushoto district) were unaware of the climate smart agriculture policies, strategies and resilience plans existing at national level.

5.0 CONCLUSION The study tour was very informative and indeed participatory. Tour facilitators, researchers, district level experts/extension staff, lead farmers and drivers worked as a team in such a way that learnings were fluid among participants. The two districts’ sites were more or less the same with differences in spice farming characteristic and road networks. The access roads to Lushoto climate villages were somehow improved and maintained unlike those in Muheza highlands. Last but not least, the authors of this report

11 are of the opinion that linkage between policy makers and policy implementers seem to be missing, especially on matters of climate smart agriculture development in Tanzania.

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Appendix 1: An overall itinerary for the study tour. Morning field session Lunch Afternoon reflection session Evening 8am-1pm Break 2pm - 5pm Arrival and introductions Location: Lushoto Highland Hotel Departure from Muheza District Offices 10am 4pm – 6pm Sunday 15th March Arrival to Lushoto at approximately 2pm Introduction to the week Free 2020 Introduction to the study tour and important time 2pm-4pm arrivals from Muheza will have time to find suitable information for the week accommodation in Lushoto town Introduction to CCAFS programme Distributions of stipends Farm production systems Departure 8am from Lushoto Highland Hotel Location: Lushoto Highland Hotel Monday 2pm-5pm 16th March Visit Lushoto District Office Lunch Free 2020 1-2pm Introduction to Food-systems' & Resilience time Visit to CCAFS villages to showcase the farm management Group discussions and workshops for critical reflections practices and technologies promoted by CCAFS on the field sessions Weather, climate and extreme risk Location: Lushoto Highland Hotel Tuesday Departure 8am from Lushoto Highland Hotel 2pm-5pm 17th March Lunch Free 2020 Visit to CCAFS village to showcase the project on integrating 1-2pm Introduction to weather, climate and extreme risk time scientific and indigenous knowledge for weather forecasting Group discussions and workshops for critical reflections on the field sessions Wednesday Travel day + Monitoring and Evaluation

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18th March Location: Amani Nature Reserve 2020 Departure 8am from Lushoto Highland Hotel 2pm-5pm

Lunch Free Visit Muheza District Office 1-2pm Training on Monitoring and Evaluation for food and time

agriculture programmes Arrive in Amani at lunch time Introduction and overview of GCCA+ project Innovation systems Location: Amani Nature Reserve Thursday Departure 8am from Amani Nature Reserve 2pm-5pm 19th March Lunch Free 2020 Visit to GCCA+ village to showcase farm demonstration 1-2pm Introduction to innovation processes and institutions time groups, and meet with participants of the farmer groups. Group discussions and workshops for critical reflections on the field sessions Off-farm systems Departure 8am from Amani Nature Reserve Location: Amani Nature Reserve Friday Visit to GCCA villages to showcase spice farms and spice 2pm-5pm warehouse, and meet spice farmer representatives involved 20th March Lunch Free in the spice marketing project. Visit to the milk processing unit in Amani 2020 1-2pm time Introduction to off-farm systems Visit farmers with zero-grazing cattle and meet cattle farmer Group discussions and workshops for critical reflections representatives on the field sessions

Reflections of the week + Departure Location: Amani Nature Reserve Saturday 9am – 12:30pm 21st March Lunch Departure after lunch 2020 Final reflections from the week 12:30 Transport provided for return to Muheza / Lushoto Presentation of certificates and group photo Distribution of final stipends

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