TANZANIA: COUNTRY REPORT TO THE FAO INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES (Leipzig 1996) Prepared by: G. M. Mitawa W. Y. F. Marandu Dar-es-Salaam, December 1995 TANZANIA country report 2 Note by FAO This Country Report has been prepared by the national authorities in the context of the preparatory process for the FAO International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, Leipzig, Germany, 17-23 June 1996. The Report is being made available by FAO as requested by the International Technical Conference. However, the report is solely the responsibility of the national authorities. The information in this report has not been verified by FAO, and the opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of the material and maps in this document do not imply the expression of any option whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. TANZANIA country report 3 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO TANZANIA AND ITS AGRICULTURAL SECTOR 6 1.1 LOCATION 6 1.2 PHYSIOGRAPHY 6 1.3 CLIMATE 7 1.4 VEGETATION 7 1.5 POPULATION 8 1.6 THE MAIN FARMING SYSTEMS 8 1.7 THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR 8 1.8 SEED SUPPLY SYSTEM 9 1.9 TRENDS IN PLANT PRODUCTION 9 CHAPTER 2 INDIGENOUS PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 13 2.1 INTRODUCTION 13 2.2 FOREST GENETIC RESOURCES 13 2.2.1 Status of important forest species 13 2.2.2 Measures aimed at sustainable management 14 2.2.3 Important species threatened at species or provenance level 14 2.3 OTHER WILD SPECIES AND WILD RELATIVES OF CROP PLANTS 15 2.4 LANDRACES AND OLD CULTIVARS 15 2.4.1 Information about traditional and improved varieties 16 2.4.2 Displacement of traditional varieties by improved cultivars 16 2.4.3 Policies affecting protection of traditional varieties and wild resources 17 CHAPTER 3 CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES 18 3.1 INTRODUCTION 18 3.2 IN SITU CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES 18 3.3 EX SITU COLLECTIONS 19 3.3.1 Balance between local and exotic germplasm 19 3.3.2 Germplasm exchange 21 3.3.3 Size and nature of collections 21 3.3.4 Collecting policy 21 TANZANIA country report 4 3.4 STORAGE FACILITIES 21 3.4.1 Storage conditions 22 CHAPTER 4 IN-COUNTRY USES OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 23 4.1 INTRODUCTION 23 4.2 USE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES COLLECTIONS 23 4.3 CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMMES AND SEED DISTRIBUTION 24 4.3.1 Objectives of plant breeding programmes 24 4.3.2 Output from plant breeding programmes 24 4.3.3 Availability of seeds and recommendations to farmers 25 4.4 USE OF FOREST PLANT RESOURCES 25 4.5 BENEFITS DERIVED FROM THE USE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 26 4.6 IMPROVING PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES 26 CHAPTER 5 NATIONAL GOALS, POLICIES, PROGRAMMES AND LEGISLATION 29 5.1 INTRODUCTION 29 5.2 NATIONAL PROGRAMMES 29 5.2.1 Goals and objectives of the government 30 5.2.2 Organization structure and funding 31 5.2.3 Legislations affecting plant genetic resources 32 5.3 TRAINING 32 5.3.1 Resource base for training in plant genetic resources. 33 5.3.2 Public awareness 34 5.4 NATIONAL LEGISLATION 34 5.4.1 Quarantine 35 5.4.2 Seed trade 35 5.4.3 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) 36 5.4.4 Exchange of plant genetic resources 36 5.5 OTHER POLICIES 37 5.6 TRADE, COMMERCIAL AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS 37 CHAPTER 6 INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 41 6.1 INTRODUCTION 41 6.1.1 United Nation initiatives 41 6.2 INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRES 42 6.2.1 The CGIAR 42 6.2.2 Other International Research Centres 43 6.3 REGIONAL INTER-GOVERNMENTAL INITIATIVES 43 TANZANIA country report 5 CHAPTER 7 NATIONAL NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES 44 CHAPTER 8 PROPOSAL FOR A GLOBAL PLAN OF ACTION 46 APPENDIX 1 47 APPENDIX 2 48 APPENDIX 3A 53 APPENDIX 3B 59 APPENDIX 4 60 APPENDIX 5 61 APPENDIX 6 63 APPENDIX 7 65 APPENDIX 8 67 APPENDIX 9 68 APPENDIX 10 69 APPENDIX 11 70 APPENDIX 12 LIST OF PROTECTED AREAS 71 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 76 References 79 TANZANIA country report 6 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Tanzania and its Agricultural Sector 1.1 LOCATION Tanzania is found on the East African Coast approximately between latitudes 1°S to 12°S and longitudes 29° to 40'E (Map 1). Tanzania has borders with Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire to the west; Zambia and Malawi to the south-west and Mozambique to the South; while to the east is the Indian ocean. Out of about 94.5 million hectares total area 88.5 mill. ha. are on actual land surface, the rest is under water. More than 40% of the country's total land area is covered by indigenous vegetation which is in turn represented as coastal forest, open woodlands, closed mountain forests, wet lands, scrub and bush lands. Administratively, the country is a Union of Tanganyika (also refereed to as Tanzania mainland) and Zanzibar forming the United Republic of Tanzania. Zanzibar has an autonomous state government. 1.2 PHYSIOGRAPHY The total area of Tanzania is 945,000 sq. km (of which 2,450 sq. km are in Zanzibar. Two thirds of this area is dominated by ancient plateaux. The Central Plateau comprises of gently undulating country over much of the western half at an elevation of 1200 m. Dissected highlands, up to 2,100 m, flank the deep trough of Lake Tanganyika to the west and extend, with isolated blocks of the Uluguru, Nguru, Usambara and Pare Mts. continuing a line to the northeast border. Plateau_w at a rather lower elevation and with more varied topography occur in the north-east and in the south-east behind the narrow Coastal Plain. Tectonic and volcanic activity have produced spectacular effects in the Eastern Rift Zone, the snow-capped dome of Kilimanjaro (5800 m asl), and Mt. Meru (4966). There are many mountain peaks to the west including the famous Ngorongoro Crater and the still active Ol Donyo Lengai. TANZANIA country report 7 Lakes Natron, Eyasi and Manyara lie in the rift valley floor. In the south, the Poroto and Rungwe mountains are built up from a smaller area of volcanic activity. The plateau soils on the crests are deep, slightly acidic infertile sandy-loams, changing to dark clay soils in the shallow valleys and extensive interior basins. In the north-east part of the country, the predominating soils are slightly alkaline red-earths, sandy loams and clays. These change to a mosaic of sands, clays and coral along the Coastal Plain and on the off-shore islands. 1.3 CLIMATE The mean annual rainfall varies widely from about 320-2,400 mm a year, with actual early records ranging from 110 mm in 15 days (at Mkomazi) to 3,250 mm in 153 days (at Tukuyu). Although comparatively well watered as a whole, there are considerable annual variations and most of the country has a long dry season with rain practically restricted to November - May period. A bimodal distribution is characteristic of the north-east and in the vicinity of Lake Victoria. About half of the country receives less than 750 mm a year, which is generally regarded in East Africa as necessary for any intensive form of agriculture. The predominant vegetation aspect is, therefore, of a dry type with local often abrupt changes to moist regimes in the highlands, parts of the coastal belt, near Lake Victoria and also wherever ground-water is available. Being close to the equator, variations in mean monthly temperatures are slight. Mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures are very closely correlated with altitude. 1.4 VEGETATION Tanzania is a tropical country and contains representatives of all the plant formations found in Africa's main ecological zones. It has about 10,000 species of higher plants (Polhill, 1968) compared to the estimated 30,000 species for the whole of tropical Africa (Brenan, 1978). The main vegetation types, are shown on Map 2 while the dominant species and locations where they are found are shown in appendix 1. TANZANIA country report 8 1.5 POPULATION Based on the 1988 census, Tanzania's population in 1995 is 27.3 million with a growth rate of 2.8% per year. The population density is about 29 persons per square kilometre. The highest densities are found in Lake Victoria basin, North-Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands and Dar es Salaam. Nearly 90% of the population lives in about 8,000 rural villages with an average of approximately 300 farm families per village. Rural migration to urban centres is increasing as a result of poor economic opportunities in the rural areas. 1.6 THE MAIN FARMING SYSTEMS Subsistence type of farming for food crop production is practised over a large area of Tanzania. It is fairly common to find cereal crops grown in association with legumes although monocropping of rice, maize and wheat is not uncommon. Most of the cash crops are grown by small scale farmers. Plantation crops such as sisal and sugarcane are grown in large farms. 1.7 THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR The economy of Tanzania hinges on the agricultural sector. The sector employs about 80% of the employed population; contributes about 60% of both GDP (at current prices) and merchandised exports. Food crops production dominates the sector, totalling 55% of agricultural GDP with livestock accounting for 30%.