FARMERS in Kongwa and Mpwapwa districts are poised to reap the rewards of an innovative initiative led by esteemed agriculture experts from local and international institutions. This groundbreaking effort is designed to empower farmers to enhance crop production by implementing strategies to combat the adverse effects of climate change.

Among the most drought-prone areas, the two districts stand as resilient bastions in the face of erratic and capricious rainfall patterns, coupled with pervasive land degradation. These challenges have led to crop failures and extreme weather events, with seasonal rainfall hovering consistently below 400mm per annum in these regions.

Christened ‘Enabling a Resilient and Prosperous Community through Participatory Agroecological Practices in the Semi-Arid Region of Central Zone (ResComm -II) Project, the robust initiative targets to increase adoption of agroecological practices among the beneficiary farmers within a total of eight villages in Kongwa districts.

In Kongwa, the benefiting villages include Sagara A, Sagara B, Laikala A, Laikala B, Mlali, Nghumbi, Lengaji, and Moleti, the areas which receive an average annual rainfall of 550mm per annum mainly characterized by high spatial and temporal variability.

Being its second phase of implementation, the project under the comfortable financial patronage from Biovision and LED Liechtensein Development Service will see over 2bn/- be spent to impart the farmers in the two districts with the best agroecological practices to cheat negative effects of drought towards crop production and productivity.

And apart to train the farmers how to lessen drought effects, the second phase of the project which will run for at least three consecutive years, 2024-2026, also incorporate a series of constructive efforts to disseminate vital knowledge on livestock keeping sector, especially poultry and small ruminants.

In the implementation of the robust project, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) stands at the driver’s seat, leading others, which are International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (TALIRI) and the Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT).                                Briefing on the ResComm II project during a special event for its official inception day, held yesterday in Lengaji village, Chiwe ward of Kongwa district, Prof Anthony Whitbread, the Project Leader from ILRI, informed that throughout the project, the target is to see a total of 900 households with improved incomes and food security.

Together with that, he expressed that at least 1,875 households in the two districts will be impacted by the project, with an eye to ensure a total of 200 hectares under sustainable management.

“The general vision of extending rolling out of this project is to increase the adoption of agroecological practices, improve food and nutritional quality for vulnerable households, and promote sustainable landscape management in Kongwa and Mpwapwa districts using community-based agroecological approaches,” he sounded.

He communicated thankful message for the vital manner to which the project has received positive cooperation from the office of Dodoma regional commissioner (RC), Kongwa and Mpwapwa districts commissioners (DCs), also appreciated the high commitment being demonstrating by all institutes that are in the implementation list of the project.

 “After fetching encouraging results in empowering the farmers to curtail effects of climate change during the first phase of its implementation from 2021-2023, the project’s second leg seek to go more further to the extent of increasing incomes among the households and nutrition among children  and women,” he added.

In his remarks, the event’s chief guest, Kongwa District Commissioner (DC), Mayeka Simon Mayeka hailed the project’s funders and implementers for realizing the need to assist the farmers in the district to battle against the effects of climate change, especially drought.

“Farmers in different districts across Tanzania are faced with diverse challenges and thus, implementation of this project in our district must be regarded as a rare potential opportunity necessary to be tapped effectively to help transforming your household livelihoods,” he challenged the farmers.

Adolf Jeremiah, the Research Field Coordinator from ILRI in his brief remarks said assisting the farmers to venture economically onto poultry was also in the heart of the project’s implementation vision for the next three years.

“The project is contemplating to impart the farmers with necessary skills on poultry project, and there will be several efforts to ensure they’re adopting improved crossbreed chicken as well as managing chicken disease,” he observed.

 Through engaging into poultry programs, he expressed, the involving households will stand chances to improve their livelihoods, but also improve children’s health and cognitive development.

Prof Erick Komba, the Director General of TALIRI said as per the project’s design his side will major to steer dissemination of useful skills on livestock keeping, on poultry and small ruminants, towards the farmers.

“In the project, our other role is to train the project’s beneficiaries over how professional to produce best fodder through establishment of a number of fodder banks, the potential demo plots tailored to be used by the farmers as yardstick to learn over the side” he unveiled.

He added that under the well-established fodder tree banks, they have planted the Gliricidia sepium and Laucaena Pallida, the meaningful forage tree species in help maintaining soil moisture and fertility.

The Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (TARI) in the project is to roll out to the farmers validated natural resources technologies, dubbed insitu rainwater harvesting technologies and soil erosion control measure-Fanya Juu/Chini terraces.

 In general, the other initiative under the project’s vision includes efforts to promote soil conservation practices, improve soil fertility management in degraded areas, and deployment of innovative water harvesting methods.

To ensure for better results, the project has picked two champion farmers in each of the beneficiary village to produce quality declared seeds (QDS) for climate resilient crops, such as sorghum and pigeon peas.

The seeds varieties to be produced in the constructive initiative include Macia, for sorghum, and Mali for pigeon peas.

The selected farmers for the producing the seed varieties will receive intensive training from the Tanzania Official Seeds Certification Institute (TOSCI) in order to stand professional chance to produce the seeds with needed quality, hence increase the relevant availability and accessibility to the farmers.