Cropping last year as saying that more than Sh39 billion was allocated to the Irrigation Commission for the current budget year.
Tanzania enacted the National Irrigation Act 2013 in a bid to protect farmers from the growing stresses of extreme weather and climate change, by promoting better use of irrigation. �e National Irrigation Act strengthens the National Irrigation Policy of 2010. Among other things, the law establishes the Irrigation Commission, a national body with the mandate to coordinate, promote and regulate irrigation activities across the country. Researchers and experts are rooting for more investment in the irrigation farming as solution for the farmers to manage drought caused by climate change and reduce hunger.
" �e development of irrigated agriculture has boosted agricultural yields and increased the number of cropping seasons to two or more in many parts of the world, thereby conserving important forest resources, contributing to price stability under climate variability, and helping to feed the world ' s growing population," says the deputy director of the Environment and Production Technology Division of the Washingtonbased International Food Policy Research Institute( IFPRI) Claudia Ringler in a summary of new analyses. For instance, rice production in irrigation schemes with developed infrastructure is estimated to be over 5.0 tonnes per hectare while under rain-fed agriculture the yield is less than 2 tonnes per hectare.
Last October, the 2016 Global Hunger Index( GHI) of the IFPRI ranked Tanzania 96 out of 118 countries, with a " serious " level of hunger. �e country has made signi cant progress in reducing hunger, according to the report though, down from a high of 42.4 score in the " alarming " category in 2000 to 28.4 in 2016. �e GHI is a tool designed for the IFPRI to comprehensively measure and track hunger globally, regionally, and by country. Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda were in the same group of " serious " level of hunger but with different scores.
�e analyses indicate that a combination of accelerated irrigation development with increased investments in water use efficiency at the basin scale would reduce prices of rice, wheat, and maize by 7.4 per cent, 3.6 per cent, and 1.5 per cent, respectively by 2030. " Although some of these investments might seem expensive, they would provide huge bene ts to communities in the developing world and have the potential to help millions leave poverty and hunger behind," adds Ms Ringler.