Tanzania Feeding a Nation | Page 4

Tanzania faces an economic crisis: they can't support their rapidly-growing population with the current state of their agricultural production. Agriculture is the main staple of Tanzania's economy; currently 80% of their income comes from agriculture related sources. (Simbeye, F. W., 2013) Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, despite having vast arable lands and other resources at their disposal. However, the population is growing at an alarming rate, and by 2016, they will not be able to support such a large population. This is in part due to severe droughts that Tanzania has been experiencing in the last few years.

Drought also creates a variety of other prevalent issues. The lack of water is creating vast plains of dry brush, which isn't beneficial for growing crops, but is also putting Tanzania at high risk of wildfire. Potential flames would spread fast using the dry brush as the perfect fuel.