Land Resource Inventory and Appraisal of the Kahama District, Shinyanga Region, Tanzania DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the DLO - Winand Staring Centre concerning the legal status of any district, division or ward area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its boundaries. Land Resources Inventory and Appraisal of the Kahama District, Shinyanga Region, Tanzania Volume II: Annexes J.A. Eschweiler D.N. Kimaro F.M. Banzi G.J. Kajuri Sc.anned from original by ISRIC - World Soil Information, as ICSU · World Data Centre for Soits. The purpose is to make a safe . depository for endangered documents and to make the accrued . 1nfon:nation available for consultatlon, following. Fair Use 1 Guidelines. Every effort is take·n to respect Copyright of the materlals within the archives where the ldentlfication of the 1 Copyright helder Is clear and, where feasible, to contact the: originators. For questions please contact [email protected]· indicating the Item reference number concerned. Report 155 Winand Staring Centre, Wageningen, 1999 ABSTRACT Eschweiler, J.A., D.N. Kimaro, F.M. Banzi and G.J. Kajuri, 1999. Land resources Inventory and Appraisal of the Kahama District, Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. Wageningen, Winand Staring Centre. Report 155. Three volumes. Volume 1: 114 pp; volume 2: 247 pp; volume three: maps. 6 figures; 11 tables; 8 maps; 38 references A reconnaissance level land resources survey bas been carried out from September to December, 1996, of the Kahama District, Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. The report contains an inventory of (a) topographic and socio-politica} information, (b) the physical environment (in terms of agro­ climate, geology, water resources, physiography, soils, major land systems, agro-ecological zones and cells), (c) present land use/land cover, and (d) the prevailing farming systems. The data are stored in a data base and their spatial distribution is shown through a series ofmaps. A generalised land suitability appraisal is carried out to guide agricultural development at the district level. The appraisal provides a brief and general overview of the land suitability of Kahama's major soil groups by agro-ecological zone for some major types of land use, notably rainfed cropping under traditional and improved traditional management, irrigated cropping under traditional management, forestry and extensive grazing. Keywords: land resources survey, land suitability appraisal, land use types, soil data base, Kahama District, Tanzania. ISSN 0927-4499 © 1999 Winand Staring Centre for lntegrated Land, Soil and Water Research (SC), P.O. Box 125, NL-6700 AC Wageningen (The Netherlands). Phone: +31317 474200; fax: +31317 424812; e-mail: [email protected] No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or published in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the written permission of the Winand Staring Centre. The Winand Staring Centre assumes no liability for any losses resulting from the use ofthis document. ALTERRA is the amalgamation of the lnstitute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN) and the Winand Staring Centre for lntegrated Land, Soil and Water Research (SC). The merger will take place on 1Januari2000. Project 89005 [Report 155/HM/12-99] 5 Table of contents Annex 1 Description of methods 6 1.1 Preliminary desk studies 6 1.2 Fieldwork 6 1.3 Laboratory analyses 7 1.4 Socio-political information 7 1.5 Natura] Resources data 7 1.5 .1 Climate 7 1.5 .2 Geology 8 1.5 .3 Hydrology 8 1.5.4 Physiography 8 1.5.5 Soils 9 1.6 Present land use and land cover 9 1.7 Farming systems 9 1.8 The Land Resources Data Base 10 1.9 Physical land suitability appraisal 10 1.10 Area measurements 10 Ia Indices of topographic maps, satellite imagery and aerial photography 11 Ib Soil observation and sample details 14 Ic Laboratory methods 22 Id Meteorological data - station particulars 23 Ie Standard NSS sheets for soil data recording. 24 Annex Il Quality of moisture supply (PIPET ratio for January and February) 27 Annex m Location and yields of springs, shallow wells and boreholes 31 Annex IV Soil mapping units and soil profile descriptions 36 N.1 Soil mapping units 36 IV.2 Soil profile descriptions 54 N.3 Soil composite samples - analytica! data 197 Annex V Listings of mapping units and their extent (by District, Division and Ward) 199 Annex Vl Crop and tree species environmental requirements 227 Annex VII Tables, querry, form and report from database KAHAMA.mdf 239 VIIa Examples of data base tables 239 VIlb One sheet (record) of form'Soil data' 245 VIIc Part of the results of querry 'Soil groups' 246 VIId Part of the report 'Area soil groups' 247 6 ANNEXI: DESCRIPI'ION OF METHODS Prior to any fieldwork relevant existing information was collected from various sources, such as existing reports, topographic and other thematic maps at a relevant scale. Such information was obtained from the District Council and the various technica! district offices (located within Kahama­ town), regional offices in Shinyanga (notably the DHV Office), Dodoma (i.e. Min. ofEnergy and Minerals; geological maps), Dar es Salam (Met. Dept.; meteorological data), Tanga (NSS; natural resources data) and Ukiriguru (ARTI; farming systems data). As a bases for platting any georeferenced information, SC-DLO prepared a topographic base map of the district at a scale of 1 :250,000 derived from the existing topographic maps covering the entire district at a scale of 1 :50,000 (See Annex Ia (topographic maps); note that most of these mapsheets are based on surveys carried out 25 to 35 years ago ). This map shows the main towns and villages, primary and secondary roads, gazetted Forest Reserves, main streams and contour lines (at a 100 m interval). Furthermore SC-DLO provided satelite images at a scale of 1:250,000 covering the entire district (see Annex Ia; satellite imagery). Since the survey was carried out at reconnaissance level, most of the results are of a generalized nature and some variation must be expected within the identified mapping units. 1.1 Preliminary desk studies During preliminary desk studies, following the interpretation of the satelite images (Landsat TM6, bands 3 (red), 4 (near infra-red) and 5 (mid infra-red) of 11-07-1994 (2 images) and 05-08- 1994 (1 image covering the remaining small eastem part of the district), comparisons with other existing information, and local knowledge provided by relevant technica! officers, tentative thematic maps were drawn on transparant copies of the base map. The boundaries were verified in the field during the survey and the most common units described accordingly. In this way preliminary maps were prepared showing geology, physiography, soils, hydrology, land use/land cover and protected areas. The same procedure also assisted in the delineation of farming systems zones. Climatic data obtained from the historica! records of various (mainly rainfall) stations within and around the district were analysed and monthly long-term averages calculated and plotted on a map (notably rainfall and temperature data). After the finalization of these thematic maps, soils/physiography data were combined with climatic data to define "agro-ecological zones". These zones were evaluated for their suitability for various types of land use. 1.2 Fieldwork The study team spent about three (3) months in Kahama District of which a total of about ten weeks was spent in the field, from the end of September till December 1996. In view of the approaching rainy season (rains were expected to start sometime in November) which could affect field accessibility (considering the rather poor condition of the district raad network) the survey started in the far north and south of the district and gradually progressed towards Kahama town. Two survey teams, concentrating on soil/physiography and land use aspects, carried out most of the fieldwork; each team was headed by a soil surveyor from the NSS and assisted by two District Officers. A number of casual labourers were employed to dig soil profile pits. A third team, consisting of the team leader and various technica! officers concentrated on land use and land cover, hydrology, climatic aspects, geology, protected areas and farming systems. Vehicles and drivers were made 7 available to the teams by the District Council. A free survey method was used, making use of existing roads and motorable tracks. Visits were also paid to local authorities (such as Ward Executive Officers, Village Chairmen, etc.) and discussions were held with a number of farmers met in their fields. 1.3 Laboratory analyses A total of 292 soil samples were taken from soil profile pits. hl addition 53 composite samples (for soil fertility analysis) and 90 samples (from 10 soil profiles sampled at three depths in triplicate) for pF analyses (to determine the available water holding capacity) were taken and analysed at the soil laboratory of the NSS in Mlingano (for sampling details see Annex lb ). The following standard soil analysis were carried out: particle size distribution, pH, organic Carbon, Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus, exchangeable bases and Cation Exchange Capacity. Analysis of Carbonates and Electrical Conductivity were carried out for some samples derived from alluvial deposits. Methods of analysis are presented in Annex I.c. 1.4 Socio-political data The boundaries of Kahama District were verified in the field with the assistance of local authorities (such as ward executives, village chairmen and village elderlies). After showing the survey team the exact location of the district border in the field, the coordinates were recorded using a GPS (GTM-grid) and these coordinates were subsequently plotted onto the 1:50,000 topomaps and later transferred to the 1 :250,000 base map.