Kilimo Kwanza

Tuesday 22 March, 2010

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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

WATER DEVELOPMENT


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The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA Tuesday 22 March, 2010

2 EDITORIAL

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Investing in agriculture requiressignificant incetivesTalk about agriculture?You are certainly talk-ing about people be-hind it.You are talkingabout agriculturaltransformation initia-tives. You are talkingabout the crucial roleplayed by the privatesector in developingagriculture...

Kenya proposes Kilimo Salamain Kilimo KwanzaKilimo Salama it’s a simpleconcept based on the riskynature of farming. KilimoSalama which means SafeAgriculture, is an insurancedesigned for Kenyan farmersso they may insure theirfarm outputs againstdrought and excess rain.

Missing the export boatFinally, debate on KilimoKwanza is gathering mo-mentum. Experts, policymakers, scientists and de-velopment partners arebeginning to express theirviews, some of thempretty strong, other quiteurgent, on what must bedone or avoided for theKilimo Kwanza strategy tosucceed

DDCA drills 5,300boreholes in 12yrsTHE issue of water has be-come a major concern forthe people of Tanzania andthe third world countries atlarge. On seeing such esca-lating problems facing thepeople, government decidedto transform selected or-ganizations that carry outessential public functionsinto executive agencies

By Guardian Writer

THEissue of water has be-come a major concern forthe people of Tanzaniaand the third world coun-tries at large. On seeingsuch escalating problemsfacing the people, govern-ment decided to trans-

form selected organizations that carry outessential public functions into executiveagencies under Civil Service ReformProgram.As a result of these government re-

forms, Drilling and Dams ConstructionAgency (DDCA) was created under the aus-pices of the then Ministry of Water andLivestock Development, which has nowbeen changed into Water Development andIrrigationThe firm is Tanzania’s sole agency that

deals with the development of water re-sources including drilling of water wellsand construction of earth-full Dams in or-der to sustainably allocate available watersources for different uses in the country.The Agency was established in 1997

under the Executive Agencies Act. No. 30 of1997, and was launched on the 26th ofMarch 1999, (though it had been operatingsince 1997) The role of the firm is to devel-op sustainable and safe water sourcesthrough efficient means and at a cost effec-tive price, hence contribute to economicgrowth of the country.This objective is in line with the na-

tional objective of alleviating poverty andimproving the health of the people in thecountry through provision of clean, safe andadequate water supply to rural and urbanpopulations.DDCA is among the first executive

agencies established with a view to ensurethat water is supplied throughout the coun-try through boreholes especially in the reg-ular areas where the supply is scarce.Its specific objectives are to locate and

develop safe and sustainable water sourcesthrough drilling of deep wells and construc-tion of dams to increase water availabilityfor different socio-economic uses and to pro-vide reliable, timely quality and affordableservices to rural, urban and peri-urbanpopulation. Because of a shortage of surfacewater, it became necessary to exploitground water through borehole drilling.Out of thousands of water projects thathave been initiated in rural Tanzania, bore-holes form the majority.DDCA has successfully carried out a

number of water projects in the country.Among them are projects concerning bore-holes drilling, feasibility studies, designand construction of dams as well as designand construction of water supply systems.Before the firm undertakes its work of

drilling a borehole in an area, it normallyundertakes a topographical survey to de-termine soil testing and designing of earthfill dams. This is done by a team of profes-sional experts the firm has employed in thefield of civil engineering.The Agency has highly qualified and

experienced personnel including, geolo-gists, hydro-geologists, drilling engineers,land surveyors, and civil engineers in fieldsrelated to water resources development andmanagementTo ensure efficient work and satisfacto-

ry results, DDCA’s experts start withground water prospecting using modernstate of the art technology, drilling opera-tions, measuring yield of water wells andlaboratory analysis for water quality, andsoil sampling to monitor underground wa-ter formations (lithology)Other services the firm executes are the

installation of pumping systems e.g diesel,solar or electric driven submersible pumps,hand pumps, training of caretakers onmanagement and maintenance of commu-nity water wells and dams, as well as train-ing of hand, electric and solar pumps bothsurface and sub-surface.On average, of 450 boreholes are drilled

annually compared to an average of 50 to100, which were drilled per year by the gov-ernment in previous years before theagency came into being. Statistics madeavailable by DDCA in the country showsthat, a total of 5,285 boreholes have beendrilled by the firm, and out of these.The boreholes drilled provide water

which is essential to life and its availabilityis crucial to both the industrial and agri-cultural well-being of a nation. In manyAfrican countries, governments have overthe years strive to provide clean water totheir people.

Thus DDCA, having been working to-gether with the international developmentorganizations to establish water projects inrural Tanzania, it has also made it possiblethe available resources to provide informa-tion to their extractions to the directorate ofwater development in Tanzania.Water supply coverage in Tanzania ac-

cording to statistics from the Ministry ofWater and Irrigation is 53 percent in therural areas and 73 percent in urban popu-lation who are served with clean water.As the human population, industries

and irrigation schemes increases, the de-mand for water increases too and in orderto arrest this situation, ground water ex-ploration and exploitation as well as damconstruction activities are necessary andDDCA has to be effective in performingthese activities.The impact of low water supply cover-

age falls primarily on the poor in urban andrural areas where the urban poor may payhigh prices to water vendors for smallquantities of water often to poor quality. Inrural areas, the low water supply coveragemanifests itself in low agricultural produc-tion and poor quality of life.Water scarcity is therefore experienced

in the rural areas where the majority of thepeople are poor. To rectify the situation,DDCA provides services to all people in ur-ban areas without marginalizing the poor.According to DDCA’s Acting Chief

Executive, Engineer David BernardSongea, the agency is willing and has beenproviding services to the poor villageswhich are normally unable to pay for con-struction work. Records show that about 90percent of deep wells drilled by DDCA arelocated in rural areas.In urban areas, ground water sources

are rapidly being developed for individualsand institutions to meet the increasing de-mand for water supply for socio-economicuses. DDCA has been able to undertake anumber of projects in urban areas includingthose connected with urban water supplies

in regions of Mainland Tanzania andZanzibar.The agency has proved to be capable of

undertaking the task of constructing newwater sources and rehabilitating old onesat affordable costs. The firm has acquiredfrom the government capital assets, whichincludes operational drilling rigs and earthmoving equipment.DDCA is proud to have constructed a

number of new dams as well as rehabilitat-ing old ones in the country within the peri-od of its existence. The Mugumu dam proj-ect is one aimed at solving the problem ofwater scarcity in Mugumu town and thesurrounding villages. The town is the head-quarters of Serengeti district in Mara re-gion. The project’s construction has been re-vived and is now able to supply water tomore than 35,000 residents and about25,000 livestock in the area. The dam’sstorage capacity is about 14 million cubicmeters and is now able to supply water for3 consecutive years incase of prolongeddrought. The total construction costs for thedam is Tshs. 6.9 billion.Mwanyahina dam is another project

that the agency is proud of, this ision Meatu village in Shinyanga region.

The dam was constructed to meetwater demand for people and livestock

and it has a storage capacity of about 1.5million cubic meters.Kinyambwinga is dam project whose

construction started last year, would pro-vide water to nearly 3,900 people and44,640 livestock at Kinyambwinga village,Bunda district in Mara region. On its com-pletion, the dam’s reservoir’s capacitywould be 108,275 cubic meters of water.New Sola has been rehabilitated. The

dam has been the main source of water tomore than 65,000 residents and about100,000 livestock inMaswa town and 8 sur-rounding villages way back since 1974. Itsrepair started effectively in September2007 and its storage capacity is estimatedat 4.2 million cubic meters.A to Z Textile Mill based in Arusha had

its water project which was done by DDCA,and this is to ensure the availability of suf-ficient water throughout the year in orderto increase efficiency and higher productionlevels by the industry.The mill is a mosquito net industry

whose nets are used to reduce the spread ofmalaria throughout the country. Thereforethe project aimed at improving people’slives. The execution of this project involvedthe activities such as drilling of three deepand sustainable water boreholes with pro-duction capacity of about 270 cubic metersper hour per borehole.The activities at the project also includ-

ed the construction of two water storagetanks with storage capacity of 500 cubicmeters each, installation of pipelines toconveywater from the boreholes to the stor-age tanks and to the factory.Installation of two pumps each with

pumping capacity of 80 liters, sand pump-ing head 75 meters. Construction of twosteel water tanks each with storage capaci-ty of 522 cubic meters. Laying of risingmain PVC pipes (diameter 25 mm) frompumps house to overhead tank. The projecthad been successfully completed inDecember 2007 and its cost was estimatedat Tshs. 643.5 million.The agency’s vision aspires to be the

leading and most efficient organization inand outside the country in the business ofwater well drilling and construction of wa-ter storage dams, by providing sustainablewater sources and ensuring that clients getvalue for money from services providedDDCA usually measures the success by

the quality of the services that is offered.The firm provides services to its clients ac-cording to the set standards deliver notonly timely but also quality services, pur-suance of efficiency and cost effectivenessin service as well as strong customers focus.This achievement signifies that DDCA

is now able to serve a large number of cus-tomers. Therefore, it is one of the reliableinstitutions in water sources developmentat present and has won the trust of its cus-tomers. The firm’s role in poverty allevia-tion targets to improve efficiency and effec-tiveness in delivery of public servicesthrough better business and financial man-agement, hence contribute to the economicgrowth of the country by reducing the totalcost of public service.Therefore the firm provides services to

all people in urban and in rural areas with-out marginalizing the poor. The agency hasbeen and is willing to provide water servic-es to the poor villages who are normally un-able to pay for construction works.

DDCA drills 5,300boreholes in 12yrs

Inthe past one month or so, therehave been unfamiliar reports offarmers complaining of having toomuch produce on their hands. Atthe same time, efforts to give relieffood to others who are starving be-cause they did not harvest havebeen ongoing.

There have been persistent cries by thefarmers of Rukwa, articulated by theirRegional Commissioner, and now even backedby the diplomatic community, calling for thelifting of the temporary ban on food exports sothey can save their surplus maize from rot-ting. The food that is bursting the stores inRukwa should of course have been sold off todifferent areas of Tanzania where there isshortage.Even where there is no acute shortage,

putting the Rukwa maize on market wouldprovide some relief from the high prices thatconsumers are facing. But unfortunately, dueto lack of reasonably motorable roads, the foodcannot be transported to different regions.That is why the Rukwa people are apply-

ing to export, because at least they can man-age to transport to nearby Congo, Zambia orMalawi. Rukwa region simply happens to benearer to these countries than it is to Dar esSalaam, Arusha, Mwanza and most ofTanzania. It is not that the Rukwa peoplewould love to feed foreigners before their fel-low Tanzanians.The miserable farmers cannot even sell

their grain to the national strategic reserves,as there simply isn’t enough capacity by thestate to purchase or store the grain.It is therefore not easy to convince the peo-

ple of Rukwa, or anybody for that matter thatthe food export ban is in their interest. Sincethe food that is rotting in Rukwa cannot betaken to other Tanzanians, the ban is not serv-ing Tanzania either, in this specific case. Andagain since the government is not allowing thefood to be sold to nearby countries, the ban isnot helping these neighbours either. The ques-tion in the minds of the people of Rukwa, in-cluding the Regional Commissioner who rep-resents the central government, is therefore,whom the ban is serving.Other farmers are suffering with unsold

produce not because of any official ban, but be-cause of lack of infrastructure. The applegrowers of Makete have aired their plight

rather dramatically. Faced with rotting appleswhich they cannot even sell for sh100 each dueto lack of a road, they are appealing for contri-butions so they can pay strong young men togo distributing the apples free of charge,rather than watch their produce rot.These developments point to three urgent

matters that must be addressed. First is stor-age. Investment must be made in storage ca-pacity. This will not only improve food securi-ty, it serves also to stabilize prices as foodwould be available at all times of the year.While it is government’s intention to stay

out of business, food storage is both a securityand a strategic issue that cannot be left en-tirely to the market forces. The state can buildhuge grain stores and with time, offer them toprivate operators to manage.Secondly, there is need to address trans-

port infrastructure. While efforts to upgradethe road network are ongoing and visible, thisis mostly on the highways. Feeder roads thatreach the farms must be addressed. Buildingroads cannot be too expensive for any country.If need be, let us borrow but have better roadsconnecting all productive areas to the market.However, road transport can be very expen-sive for bulky cargo over long distances.Efforts to revive the East African Railwaysthat would be professionally managed are wel-come. But Tanzania needs to invest more insafe marine transport on its many lakes anddense network of rivers.Thirdly, the capacity to process and add

value to agricultural produce needs to be nur-tured with urgency. Not only will this reducethe wastage and loss since unprocessed pro-duce tends to be perishable, it will increase in-comes in the countryside as well as employ-ment.Alternative uses for agricultural produce

other than being eaten as food can also be pur-sued through industrialisation. It also be-comes possible to pursue export markets forprocessed products. Otherwise, urging farm-ers to produce more when their produce mayend up rotting is not productive.

Wallace MauggoEditor

Paradox of rottingfood as brothersface starvation

Art & Design: KN Mayunga To have your organisation promoted in Kilimo Kwanza, Call: 0787 571308, 0655 571308 0754 571308

“The New Sola damprovides water to65,000 people and100,000 livestock

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“The low watersupply coveragemanifests itself inlow agriculturalproduction andpoor quality of life

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By Theo Mushi

Talk about agriculture?You are certainly talkingabout people behind it.You are talking aboutagricultural transforma-tion initiatives. You aretalking about the crucialrole played by the private

sector in developing agriculture. You nameit.Empowering themain actors in agricul-

ture – the farmers, is a precondition to theagricultural transformation process whichstarted in the mid 1980s from a public sec-tor led economy to a private sector drivenmarket economy. The policy changemade itnecessary for the government to embark ona continuous dialogue with the private sec-tor and other stakeholders on critical issuesaffecting our agricultural performance andoverall economic development.In this regard, the Agricultural Council

of Tanzania (ACT) which is an apex organ-ization with a lobbying and advocacy roleon key private sector agricultural issues onbehalf of members and other stakeholdersis providing a forum for all actors in theagricultural sector to engage in discussionson how to revamp – this sector. Albeit therearemany issues to look at; however, this ar-ticle will dwell on what ACT is doing to fa-cilitate discussion on incentives in agricul-ture.During the whole month of September

2009, ACT conducted three meetings to dis-cuss on the kind of incentives required toinvest in agricultural endeavours. In orderto have a broader representation, the meet-

ings were held at three zonal centers: Dares Salaam (for East –Northern Zone),Mwanza (for Lake – Western Zone), Mbeya(for Southern Highlands Zone)This exercise was funded by the

Business Environment Strengthening inTanzania – Advocacy Component (BEST-AC). The objective was to gather views fromas many agricultural stakeholders as possi-ble on what kind of incentives are neededfor investing in agriculture, ultimately usetheir views as tool to advocate and influencethe Government to formulate a pro- agri-culture policy change, and ultimately intro-duce a package of incentives to attract in-vestments in the agriculture sector.Farmers speaking their mind At the

three meetings, a number of issues relatedto incentives in agriculture were raised, dis-cussed and agreed upon. Participants ac-knowledged the importance of agriculturein term of improved incomes and social wel-fare, enhancing household food securityand creation of employment. Yet invest-ments in this sector are still very much lowcompared to other sectors such as miningindustry and tourism. For example in 2008investment in tourism and industries were268 and 221 projects respectively, whereasinvestments in the agricultural sectorrecorded only 45 projects.The participating stakeholders were of

the opinion that investing in agriculture isstill constrained by a number of challenges,including poor rural infrastructure, in-creased fuel and input prices. Another con-tentious issue was prevalence of nuisancetaxes imposed by the Central and LocalGovernment Authorities that increase thecost of doing business. The participantswere emphatic that so long as the costs of

production will remain high, very few peo-ple will be attracted to invest in agriculture.Land was observed as one of the critical

elements in encouraging investments inagriculture. However the existing VillageLand Act No. 5 of 1999 was found to haveweaknesses that deter investments in agri-culture. Most of the land has not been sur-veyed, mapped and valued. Furthermoremost of our farmers and livestock keepersare ignorant of this Act, and how to make itwork for them.It is also very important to treat land as

an item of extreme value which can alsoserve as collateral when it comes to apply-ing for loan from financial institutions.Another factor which is equally impor-

tant is the question of education. Most ofour farmers are lowly educated. Workshopparticipants urged that education should betreated as a strategic agent for mindsettransformation and for the creation of awell educated society, sufficiently equippedwith knowledge needed to competently andcompetitively solve the development chal-lenges they face. Farmers’ education shouldfocus on pertinent issues, like principles ofland use planning, modern farming, andagri- business. It was emphasized that theGovernment, probably through theTanzania Investment Centre should ensurethat existing incentives for investing inagriculture are made known to all stake-holders. TIC should take effort to identifyits stakeholders and individual investmentinterests. Paying attention to resource en-dowments of each area or district, and in-vesting in strategic enterprises for agricul-tural transformation, while focusing on val-ue chain analysis.Sourcing funds to facilitate agricultural

activities is another determinant of success.Farmers in most cases need a working cap-ital from financial institutions. There is aneed to strategize on long term financing ofagriculture at affordable interest rates. Inthis regard, the Government has initiatedan Agricultural Development Bank whichshould be operational in a very near future.In the meantime, a special window to caterfor the agricultural sector has been openedat the Tanzania Investment Bank. TheCentral Government has injected someTsh.20 billion as a start-up.Sound incentives in agriculture could

propel its expansion and development. Theabove mentioned incentives were broughtto the surface by participants at the ACTinitiated meetings. Albeit there are manymore to contemplate about. This is in keep-ing with pillar number six of KilimoKwanza

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZA

WHAT OTHERS SAY


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4 COVER STORY

By Guardian Writer

Finally, debate on KilimoKwanza is gathering mo-mentum. Experts, policymakers, scientists and de-velopment partners arebeginning to express theirviews, some of them pret-ty strong, other quite ur-

gent, on what must be done or avoided forthe Kilimo Kwanza strategy to succeed.Many views are emerging with some ad-dressing serious fundamentals. One thathas been strongly, in some cases passion-ately articulated over the past week is fail-ure to prepare to seize available export op-portunities and to expand forward linkageswhile promoting the growth of output inagricultural production.For example, when the farmlands be-

come more productive, many farmhandswill not be required, freeing a lot of labourthat needs to be absorbed elsewhere.Strategies to develop agribusiness areneeded. And the output must reach themarket. The Tanzanian market is notenough, and the country needs to take ad-vantage of both the current favourable de-mand in the international markets for cer-tain agricultural products for Tanzania en-joys a comptetitive advantage as well as thedifferent trade protocols it is party to, to ac-cess markets in other countries.There is also a need to aggressively and

deliberately develop others. The age-oldconcern that preoccupied our independencetime leaders of adding value to agriculturalproduce before export still prevails. The dif-ference between then and now is that to-day, it is suicidal to just talk about this andunfair terms of trade without doing some-thing about it. For as international agricul-ture expert Prof Hans Binswanger has said,“Fifty years of slow progress is too much,Kilimo Kwanza now!”Kilimo Kwanza does not end with im-

proving farm output quantity and quality.Actually, that is just where it starts. A setof other factors to make the increased pro-ductivity useful must take place.These include storage and prevention of

post harvest losses, infrastructure particu-larly transportation, manufacturing capac-ity, policy formulation, financial servicesand farmer education.With 80 percent of the population em-

ployed in the sector, streamlining the for-ward and backward linkages is not just forits sake; it is for the survival of the entireeconomy. That is why policies affectingagriculture should not be announced off thecuff, but must be a result of careful deliber-ations backed with research. As at now,there is a divergence of opinion in govern-ment itself regarding the temporary ban ofexport of grain. The Prime Minister feels insituations that have been well evaluated,farmers should be allowed to export theirproducts. But the agriculture stateministersays the banmust stay, until an exhaustivereview. Situations like what is going on inRukwa, where a million tonnes of maizemay go to waste due to lack of storage andinability to sell to neighbouring countriesthat are dire need, must not be allowed tocontinue.Around independence time, the buzz

word around many African economies wasimport substitution. This referred to the de-velopment of processing and manufactur-ing capacity, so that countries could makesome of the industrial products they wereimporting to save on the scarce foreign ex-change. Today, import substitution needsto be taken to another level of not just mak-ing more consumer products for ourselvesbut to produce a lot more of them for export.The case of an apple farm at Makete is

amazing. A project for mobilizing people togrow apples started in 2003. Today, somany apples are being produced in Maketeand there is nowhere to put them.The road is so bad that they cannot

even be taken to Iring where they would re-tail for shs500. The Makete apples cannoteven sell for sh100.They are available for free, but even

then the few villagers can only eat a limit-ed amount. Now the producers are appeal-ing for funds to hire strong young men todistribute them further free of charge,rather watch them rot. But supermarketsin Tanzanian towns are selling importedapples. If a small plant to make and packapple juice was set up in Makete, the des-perate situation would be saved.Below are a few remarks that have

been made by various people about thissubject: Ambassador of the Kingdom of theNetherlands to Tanzania Dr Ad Koekoek,at the Research on Poverty Alleviation (RE-POA) 15TH Annual workshop:

“Now assume Kilimo Kwanza works,andwe all fervently hope it does all over theworld successful agricultural developmenthas shown that making the sector highlycapital, and input intensive leads to a sub-stantial rise in labour productivity andtherefore in come but also to a rapid decline

of the number of people that can be in thesector, for Tanzania where at the momentmost employment creation takes place inrural areas and thus in agriculture whatdoes this mean?With Kilimo Kwanza, where is the pol-

icy to create millions of jobs in industry andservices for those who will leave their mar-ginal shamba’s?“Yes agriculture needs to be modernize,

perhaps not by distributing power tillers isevery district but most definitely by allow-ing farmers to benefit from market oppor-tunities and incentives, if farmers inRukwa have an opportunity to exportmaize to Zambia and the DRC is the pres-ent export ban not negatively affectingthem? Is it sensible to tell farmers what toproduce? Let me quote from a recent news-paper article: He, a farmer decided not toplant tobacco in his fields near the mainroad, because cotton was announced as theofficial crop and in the past unofficial cropswere uprooted. In my mind they should behelped when they are facing constraints notbe constrained themselves . That is the pol-icy environment. Agriculture is commercialbusiness or it will not take off.Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, at

RAPOA workshop: We know that there ismarket failure, especially for both agricul-tural inputs and outputs. Yet in the medi-um to long term we would like to see astronger role for the market to encourageefficient use of resources in development ofagriculture. What should the role of thestate in the short to medium term?“We have seen success with some out

grower models. Is it possible to replicatethese models across other crops? If not,what institutional framework could be ap-plied to those crops that do not easily fitinto the out growermodel to ensure up scal-ing and promotion of an integrated system?“Scale of operation is important for cost

saving and enhancing competitivenesshowever we also know that land ownershipis important for all Tanzanians, how canwepromote agricultural competitiveness inthe framework of small holdings?“Lesson from the past is that, the most

successful cooperatives were those whichorganically and democratically grew fromthe smallholders themselves, rather thanthose handed down from the top. What aretoday’s impediments to the growth of coop-eratives?”Ambassador of Ireland Anne

Barrington, also at the RAPOA workshop:“There were two companies that were pro-ducing high quality products which in-volved small holder fruit farmers from theUluguru Mountains in Morogoro regionand from the Coast region. These farmerswere supplying the factory with pineapplesand oranges.“Both of these companies seemed to me

to be a win-win-win; win for the companiesthemselves, win for small farmers and pas-toral communities and win for Tanzaniaboth for consumers and with the potentialfor regional and intercontinental trade.“To me this seemed to be exactly what

Tanzania needed: Kilimo Kwanza in action.The visiting heads of mission were im-pressed. Recently enquired how much bothcompanies were doing; tomy surprised bothhad ceased production.“We need to know why this happened,

on the face of it the companies were modelsof what was needed here local productsfrom small marginalized farmers wereprocessed, value was added and the productwas sold on the national and internationalmarket. Now if these companies remainclosed, a key outlet for pastoral communi-ties has disappeared and the farmers’ fruitwill rot on the trees and in the fields.”“It is inspiring for the government to

have taken ASDP as a tool for implement-

ing ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ but there is a need forthe private sector to be involved throughoutthe process.You need well improved links between

rural and urban infrastructure, water, irri-gation, agro-processing industries, marketsand the financial sector. The government

ought to promote trade and agribusiness inthe regional context so as to reap greaterbenefits from the East AfricanCommunity.”Hans Binswanger Tshawane

University of Technology, Pretoria’ SA:“Unless Tanzania agriculture becomes out-ward looking, success with Kilimo Kwanzawill hurt producers. Tanzania can be proudof many of its achievements in agricultureand rural development. But improvementin Tanzania performance are still far toomodest, and virtually absent in the exportsector. “The improvements are not enoughto bring about a radical acceleration of agri-cultural growth. The international agricul-tural environment has became much morefavorable… Fifty years of slow progress istoo much; Kilimo Kwanza now!”Egyptian Ambassador to Tanzania, HE

Wael Adel Nasr, in an interview with theKilimo Kwanza:“Tanzania has the most fertile soil I

have ever seen. I have succeed in cultivat-ing and growing fruits in my garden here atmy residence and it is fantastic. The waterin Tanzania is more than enough.If it is well utilised, Tanzania could be

the biggest food exporter in the world.Tanzania has everything; the number oflakes it has is unbelievable.If Egypt could have just one percent of

the rivers in Tanzania, it would do wondersbecause even now, we have a population ofmore than 84 million and we are managingin agriculture to the extent that we only im-port wheat, but the rest of the food we have.“We are ready to support agricultural

development here and it is in and our in-terest so we can import from Tanzania infuture. If in the Nile Basin countries wecould come up with a unified policy toutilise basic agriculture inputs together, wewould be the richest countries in theworld.”

Missing the export boat

“Lesson from thepast is that, themost successfulcooperatives werethose which or-ganically anddemocraticallygrew from thesmallholdersthemselves, ratherthan thosehanded downfrom the top

“

“Unless Tanzaniaagriculture be-comes outwardlooking, successwith KilimoKwanza will hurtproducers. Tanza-nia can be proudof many of itsachievements inagriculture andrural develop-ment...

“Kenyan High Com-missioner to Tanza-nia HE MutindoMutiso explains toThe Guardian’sAngel Navuri thepossible synergies be-tween Tanzania’s Kil-imo Kwanza andKilimo Salama, thenewly introducedsafety net for Kenyanfarmers:

Question: So what is KilimoSalama?Answer: Kilimo salama it’s a simple

concept based on the risky nature of farm-ing. As you know, the weather patterns arevery unpredictable. Farmers invest heavilyin agriculture inputs for crops and then gethit by rainfall failure. This happens be-cause the farmer could not get weather up-dates on the right time to cultivate.Kilimo Salama which means Safe

Agriculture, is an insurance designed forKenyan farmers so they may insure theirfarm outputs against drought and excessrain. The project, which is a partnership be-tween Syngenta Foundation forSustainable Agriculture, UAP Insurance,and the telecoms operator Safaricom, willoffer farmers who plant on as little as oneacre insurance policies to shield them fromsignificant financial losses when drought orexcess rain are expected wreak havoc ontheir harvests.Kilimo Salama was designed based on

the learning of a pilot project in Laikipiadistrict where several hundred maize farm-ers insured their farm inputs against

drought in the long rains season of 2009,following the drought that had hit them theprevious season, as measured by bothweather stations. There was a payout andall farmers were compensated dependingon the extent of the drought as measured attheir weather station (a 30 percent and 80percent payout, respectively). The pilot wasthe first of its kind in Kenya.Kilimo Salama features many elements

like the mobile phone registry and paymentsystem and distribution through rural mi-cro-insurance retailers. So by paying asmall fee-which is called premium, thefarmer is assured of total farming.Kilimo Salama has another level - by

giving the farmers basic equipments by dis-tributing mobiles to enable them focus onweather of their own locality and get thenecessary alerts that affect when to plantand when not to plant! Sms technology hasin other words provided an advancement ofsecurity as regards weather.Kilimo Salama should thus be integrat-

ed to KilimoKwanza to consolidate this his-toric initiative. Kilimo Kwanza is a goodstart but the idea of weather has not beenaddressed accordingly.

Q: How far has the region gone inpursuing common agriculture poli-cies?A: The Common Agriculture policy of

East Africa has adopted the agricultureproducts and addresses issues including

selling of the products. Countries like TheUnited States and Canada have addressedsuch systems to a high degree.During the Third Meeting in Kampala,

the Third Session of the Second EastAfrican Legislative Assembly sitting at theChambers of the Parliament of Uganda inKampala has adopted a common strategyfor food security in the region.Given the importance of food security in

East Africa, especially in the light of cli-mate change, the committee initiated, inearly 2009, a process of evaluating the bestway that the EAC can ensure food securityfor its entire population.The Committee recognised that the re-

gion as a whole had substantial unutilizedpotential for agriculture and that even theresources that are put into use are under-utilised because of low productivity oflabour, land and water. Despite the fre-quent pockets of food shortages and hungerin the EAC region and the below optimumproduction, the region on average producesadequate food for its population.Moreover, most of the food statistics

used to assess food supply and adequacyunderestimate the extent of supply becauseoften they do not fully take into accountfood commodities/products from livestock,fisheries, other marine and aquatic prod-ucts, horticultural produce, and forestryfood products.For this reason, the EALA Committee

on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural

Resources was of the opinion that the EastAfrica Common Market provides an excel-lent opportunity to “make food insecurityhistory” in the EAC region through aCommon Strategy for Food Security, thatencompasses increased productivity, betterhandling and processing, and marketing offood products across the region. This re-quired a common regional strategy. Beforeadopting the report, members urged part-ner states not to focus only on investingheavily on highway infrastructures, butalso on rural feeder roads that bear directimpact on the common man of East Africa.

Q: What is your assessment onKilimo Kwanza so far?A: Talking of Kilimo Kwanza, the gov-

ernment is trying to make sure food pro-duction increases but storage is anotherchallenge. I am referring to strategic foodreserves in terms of buying and preservingthe food for the future.

The government has a responsibility tofeed its people at any cost but now the gov-ernment is preaching the farmers to pro-ducemore yields but the farmers don’t havestorage because we may be having a prob-lem of plenty. Based on this challenge thegovernment needs to build good storage forfarmers because it is using a lot of money tomake farmers increase the production. Butit will all be wasted because there is nostorage for bulky output and the farmerscant sell to other areas.There are three areas that the govern-

ment needs to take seriously. These are se-curing for the farmer fair price on their in-vestment; addressing their need to be facil-itated in terms of storage and other agri-culture inputs, and insulating them fromthe vagaries of nature.But ironically, if all this succeeds there

will be a war because the cartels control thefarmer and the markets of the worldHow can Kilimo Kwanza and Kilimo

Salama help each other? Kilimo Salamashould now be integrated to KilimoKwanzato enhance the holistic development of theagriculture sector. And in the spirit of bi-lateral cooperation we can work togetherand build bridges to make this phenomenaa success.

Kenya proposes KilimoSalama in Kilimo Kwanza

MMAAJJII WWEEEEKK1166tthh –– 2222nndd MMaarrcchh,, 22001100

““CCLLEEAANN AANNDD SSAAFFEE WWAATTEERR FFOORR GGOOOODD HHEEAALLTTHH””

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFI-CER, MANAGEMENT AND DAWASCO STAFF JOIN ALLTANZANIANS TO MARK WORLD MAJI WEEK 2010.

IN DAWASCO, WATER IS IMPORTANT FOR LIFE. IN ORDERTO IMPROVE WATER SERVICES, EVERY ONE IS RESPONSI-BLE FOR PAYING THEIR MONTHLY BILLS. SETTLE YOURBILLS AT ANY DAWASCO CENTRE OR AT ANY BRANCHOF CRDB BANK, BARCLAYS, BOA BANK AND NMB.

P.O.BOX 5340 Dar es Salaam,Telophone 22-2131191/4,Fax 22-2110931,

Emergency 255-75644266,Email:[email protected],

Web:www.dawasco.com

DDAAWWAASSCCOOWWEE WWIILLLL RREEAACCHH YYOOUU

Maize being packed in sacks at Kibaigwa market in Dodoma.

Investing in agriculturerequires significant incentives

The Guardian KILIMO KWANZATuesday 22 March, 2010

7


6 MAJI WEEK MAJI WEEK

1. Introduction

On 28th April, 2009 theParliament of the United Re-public of Tanzania enactedthe Water Resources Man-agement Act, number 11 of2009 (hereinafter “WRMA”)and the Water Supply andSanitation Act, number 12 of2009 (hereinafter “WSSA”).According to article 97(1) ofthe Constitution of the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania of 1977(“the Constitution”), any Billpassed by the Parliamentshall be assented by the Presi-dent of the United Republicso as to become law. Thus inaccordance with the Constitu-tion, His Excellency the Presi-dent of the United Republicassented the two Bills intolaw on 12th May, 2009. Thetwo Acts came into force on1st August, 2009 after thecommencement notices pub-lished in the Gazette via Gov-ernment Notices Nos. 234and 235 of 10th July, 2009.

The WRMA repeals theWater Utilisation (Controland Regulation) Act, number

42 of 1974 [Chapter 331 R.E.2002] and theWSSA repealstheWaterworks Act, [Chap-ter 272 R.E. 2002]. The re-pealed laws ceased to applysince 1st August, 2009 whenthe new Acts came into force.

On account of the factthat the current water lawsare new, it is proper to takemeasures to inform the soci-ety the existence of these newwater laws so that they com-prehend their rights and du-ties provided in the new Actsas well as the roles of otherinstitutions in implementingthe Acts. In so doing the soci-ety can effectively participatein the management and de-velopment of the water sec-tor.

It is on this basis that incelebrating the water weekfor year 2010, this article on‘New Water Legislation andObligations of Society in Im-plementing Them’ has beenprepared to inform the soci-ety the existence of these newlaws, and highlight some ofimportant provisions pro-vided therein so that they un-

derstand and implementthem.2. Some Important Pro-

visions in the NewWater Legislation

2.1 The Water ResourcesManagement ActNumber 11 of 2009This Act provide for the

establishment of the NationalWater Board, Basin WaterBoards, Catchment/sub-catchment Water Committeesand Water Users Associa-tions.

The thrust of WRMA ismanagement of water re-sources in the country. Con-tain provisions which providefor management, conserva-tion, protection, developmentand utilization of water re-sources. Like any other pieceof legislation dealing withmanagement of natural re-sources, section 10 (1) ofWRMA spells out that allwater resources in MainlandTanzania shall continue to bepublic water and vested in thePresident as trustee for andon behalf of the citizens.

Therefore, there is no privateownership of water resources.The use of water from anysource (lake, river, dam,spring, underground water,etc) and discharging wastewater in any water sourceshall be done after obtaininga water use permit or dis-charge permit respectivelyfrom Basin Water Board.

Uses of water which donot require a permit are asstipulated in sections 11, 12and 52 which include ab-stracting and use the waterfrom any source without con-struction of any works; use ofwater from shallow hand dugwell of which its depth doesnot exceed the depth stipu-lated by the Minister in regu-lations; harvesting rain waterand use them so long as theworks for harvesting suchwater does not exceed the ca-pacity stipulated by the Min-ister in regulations and use ofwater by virtue of customaryright.

All such uses of waterwithout permit are limited touse of water for domestic pur-

poses only otherwise one hasto obtain water use permit

For purposes of manag-ing, developing and protect-ing water resources, section31 ofWRMA provide for thepreparation of National Inte-grated Water Resources Man-agement Plan which will beprepared based on integratedwater resources managementplans prepared by BasinWater Boards and CatchmentWater Committees. The Planshall be subject to consulta-tions with all stakeholders be-fore the approval is made. Itis through this Plan that dataand information regardingwater balance, water de-mands present and fore-casted, water availability andpotential areas for designa-tion as protected zones andgroundwater controlled areaswill be identified. AlsoWRMA has provisions whichintroduce the establishmentof protected zones for pur-poses of protecting and con-serving surface andunderground water. Humanactivities likely to adverselyaffect the conservation andprotection of water sourcesare prohibited within sixtymeters from water sourcesbut the Minister for watermay by notice in the Govern-ment Gazette prohibit suchactivities beyond sixty metres.Criminal offences and thepenalties to be imposed toany person who will be foundguilty of an offence have beenprovided. Apart from impris-onment and fines, the of-fender may be required to payfor the damages he/she hascaused basing on the polluterpays principle.

On issues of administra-tion, the WRMA provide theinstitutional framework andstipulate the powers andfunctions of the Minister re-sponsible for Water Re-sources, Director of WaterResources, National WaterBoard, Catchment WaterCommittees, Water Users As-

sociations and the public gen-erally.

2.2 The Water Supplyand Sanitation Act,number 12 of 2009According to section 4 of

the Act, the objective of thisAct is to mobilize and ensurethe right of every person inTanzania to have access to ef-ficient, effective and sustain-able water supply and

sanitation services by takinginto account the several prin-ciples one being delegation ofmanagement functions ofwater supply and sanitationservices to the lowest appro-priate levels.

The thrust of WSSA issustainable management, op-eration and regulation ofwater supply and sanitationservices which includes dis-posal of waste water in the

whole country except Dar esSalaam and some areas ofCoast Region which are ad-ministered by the Dar esSalaam Water and SewerageAuthority Act of 2001(DAWASA Act).

WSSA provides for the es-tablishment of NationalWater Investment Fund,Water Supply and SanitationAuthorities (WSSA) , andCommunity Owned WaterSupply Organisations (COW-SOs) and enumerates thepowers and functions of theMinister responsible forWater, the Minister responsi-ble for Regional Administra-tion and Local Governments,Regional Secretariats andLocal Governments Authori-ties.

While the objective of theFund is to provide for invest-ment support for water serv-ice provision andmanagement of catchmentsareas serving water supplyabstraction, WSSAs andCOWSOs are entities estab-lished with responsibilities ofproviding water and sanita-tion services in their areas ofjurisdiction.

A COWSOs which may beestablished and registered forpurposes of managing waterschemes and providing waterand sanitation servicesthrough such schemes may bein the form of Water Con-sumer Association, WaterTrustee, Cooperative society,Non-governmental organiza-tion, company or any otherbody or organization estab-lished under any written law.Sections 31, 33 and 34 whenread in tandem we find that aCOWSO is established by anagreement of the majority ofthe members of a communityand registered by Local Gov-ernment Authorities.

3. Duties of the Societyin Implementing theNew Water legislationThe legal system in Tan-

zania is based on the princi-

THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIAMINISTRY OF WATER AND IRRIGATION

Theme: Clean Water for Healthy World

MAJI WEEK, MARCH 16 – 22, 2010

NEW WATER LEGISLATION AND ROLES OF THE SOCIETY IN IMPLEMENTING THEM

Continues page 7 Continues page 8

From page 6

Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation Professor Mark Mwandosya


8 MAJI WEEK

ple that the Constitution isthe fundamental law of thecountry. All other laws areenacted by the Parliament ac-cording to the authority of theConstitution. Therefore, indiscussing the duties of thesociety in implementing thelaws of the country, in myview, such duties may be di-vided into two categoriesnamely (i) duties embeddedin a specific law and (ii) du-ties imposed by the Constitu-tion.

3.1 Duties Embedded in aSpecific LawA specific law here refers

to a dedicated piece of legisla-tion governing a certain sec-tor, for instance waterlegislation. Therefore, thenew water legislation as spe-cific laws governing the watersector, have provisions whichimpose certain duties to thesociety as far as the manage-ment of the water sector isconcern.

According to section4(1)(e) of WRMA, the objec-tive of WRMA is to ensurethat the nation’s water re-sources are protected, used,developed, conserved, man-aged and controlled takinginto account among othersthe principle of promotingstakeholders’ involvement inwater resources managementat all levels.

As I have already ex-plained above, the institu-tional set up under this Actascends to the highest levelfrom the lowest level, that is,the water users associations.According to section 80 ofWRMA, water users associa-tions are responsible for man-agement, distribution andconservation of watersources. In this respect, thesociety has the duty to man-age and conserve water re-sources through water usersassociations.

Besides, section 7 ofWRMA provides that everyperson residing in MainlandTanzania has a stake and aduty to safeguard and protect

water resources and to informthe relevant authority of anyactivity and phenomenon thatmay affect the quantity andquality of the water resourcessignificantly. A similar provi-sion is found in the NationalEnvironmental ManagementAct, Cap.191 regarding pro-tection and conservation ofthe environment in which“environment” is defined toinclude water. As the law im-poses such duties to an indi-vidual who is a member of thesociety, surely it is obviousthat the society as a set have acollective r duty to safeguardand protect water resources.

The aspect of involvingthe community has also beentaken into account by WSSAas far as provision of watersupply and sanitation servicesis concern. Regarding theroles of the community thisAct, emphasize on transfer-ring of ownership of watersupply schemes in rural areasto the respective communityand enabling beneficiariesand stakeholders to partici-pate effectively in the man-agement and operation ofcommunity water supply. Theobjective here is to give thecommunity full mandate ofprotecting the water infra-structures as they will beowned by themselves.

3.2 Duties Imposed bythe ConstitutionThe Constitution as the

basic law of the country, laythe solid foundation on thesociety’s duties in implement-ing any written law of thecountry. In this context arti-cles 26 and 27 of the Consti-tution provide as follows andI quote:26. (1) Every person has

the duty to ob-serve and to abideby this Constitutionand the laws of theUnited Republic.

(2) Every person hasthe right, in accor-dance with theprocedure pro-vided by law, to

take legal action toensure the protec-tion of this Consti-tution and the lawsof the land.

27. (1) Every person hasthe duty to protectthe natural re-sources of theUnited Republic,the property of thestate authority, allproperty collec-tively owned by thepeople, and also torespect anotherperson’s property.

(2) All persons shall berequired by law tosafeguard the prop-erty of the stateauthority and allproperty collec-tively owned bythe people, tocombat all formsof waste andsquander, and tomanage the na-tional economy as-siduously with theattitude of peoplewho are masters ofthe destiny of theirnation.

When one reads theabove quoted articles of theConstitution, will deduce thatit is the society which has themain duty to implement orotherwise enforce the laws ofthe country. Such duties maybe summarized as (i) observ-ing and abiding the laws ofthe country’s (ii) taking legalaction to ensure protection ofthe laws of the country (iii)protecting the natural re-sources of the Country andproperty of the state au-thority (iv) combating allforms of waste and squan-der, and (v) mastering of thedestiny of the nation.

Basing on these constitu-tional provisions, it suffice tosay that any law enacted inaccordance with the Constitu-tion enjoys the constitutionalsafeguards and privileges ofbeing implemented by the so-ciety irrespective of whether

or not such law has explicitprovision imposing such aduty to the society. The newwater legislation being thelaws of the country enacted inaccordance with the Constitu-tion enjoys such safeguardsand privileges of being imple-mented by the society.

Therefore regarding thenew water legislation, the so-ciety has a duty to ensure thatit observes and abide themand to take legal action to en-sure their protection. Simi-larly, water resources aspublic water and natural re-sources of the United Repub-lic, the society have the dutyto protect them and combat-ing all forms of waste andsquandering.

4. ConclusionBy way of concluding re-

marks we can say that the so-ciety has the stake duty toimplement the new water leg-islation. In fulfilling the du-ties imposed by theConstitution and the newwater legislation, the societydetermining the destiny oftheir nation and the nation’swater resources. The impor-tance of water is very wellknown by all. Despite the factthat water is crucial for socioeconomic activities, it hasbeen agreed that ‘water is life’and therefore the fact is ‘nowater no life’.

From these premises aconclusion may be drawn thatavailability of water deter-mine the destiny of man’s life.Availability of water dependson the positive actions of so-ciety in relation to water re-sources. Taking into accountthe importance of water inlife, section 4 of WRMA ex-plicitly states that the pur-pose of the Act is to ensurethat the nation’s water re-sources are protected, used,developed, conserved, man-aged and controlled in a man-ner that takes into accountthe needs of the present andfuture generation. Let weagree and support the prem-ise that “WATER IS LIFE”.

From page 6

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