Food security anxiety grips northern regions with rains yet to start

Arusha. Fears are mounting over food security in the northern regions due to the poor rains.

With March often being the peak of seasonal rains, there is little the skies have yielded so far in most parts of the vast zone.

The situation is particularly worrying in the Manyara Region, which is famous for the production of cereals for the local market and export.

The lowlands in Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Tanga regions have not been spared either by the delayed rains.

“The situation is very bad. It has not rained for a long time,” said Mr Lekei ole Milakon, an elder from Kisiwani Village in Same District.

Water holes for livestock and wild animals have dried up, fuelling human-wildlife conflicts as the latter invade villages in search of water.

“We only had showers during the short rains late last year. There is little hope of sufficient harvests,” he told The Citizen by phone.

Dr Elias Nagol, a spatial science expert, said he was worried by the trend, hoping for the situation to normalise.

He expressed his concerns at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) as dust storms hit the barren landscape surrounding the facility.

“If it does not rain in the next one month, there will be much suffering for the people and their livestock,” he said.

Dr Nagol warned that delayed or failed rains in the area were worrying because northern Tanzania was in the same zone with the drought-stricken regions of the Horn of Africa.

Mr Maoyi ole Seriani, an activist from Ngorongoro District, said inhabitants of the area are much concerned by rising food prices.

A tin (debe) of maize is now selling at Sh25,000, more than double the price some months ago when it was selling at only Sh10,000.

“The situation is grim in Loliondo where livestock have died due to shortage of water and forage,” Mr ole Seriani said.

He added that the last time the remote district, largely inhabited by nomadic pastoralists, had “some rains” was in December last year and last January.

Uncertainty of the long rains so far is a tale of mixed fears and hope for residents of Hanang District in Manyara Region.

The Reverend Elibariki Gayewi, a Lutheran Church pastor, said it was too early for him to say if the situation would ease or worsen.

“When it rains, many people are much relieved and less worried (of harvests and their animals) but a biting sun is enough to send the worst fears,” he said.

Speaking by phone from Katesh, the cleric confirmed, however, that drought has impacted the recently planted crop fields in some villages.

Mr Giloya Mwammwaya, a farmer in Mogitu Village, said although many people had panicked over the seemingly uncertain weather patterns, there was hope.

“Our worst fears from February 10th are now over. Rains are now falling in many areas,” he told this newspaper.

Mr Mwammaya said the Hanang people have not abandoned their traditional beliefs and have been conducting some rituals in the hope they will attract rain.

However, Mzee Francis Gidabuday allayed fears of calamity due unfavourable weather in the area, saying the rainy season extends to May.

The Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) announced late last year that the northern regions will experience normal to below normal rains during the 2022/23 season.

The state agency confirmed that the reduced rains would impact agriculture and urged farmers to grow drought resistant or early maturing crops.

Mr Jibay Samhenda, a livestock keeper-cum-farmer in Gisammbalang Village, said some farmers will have to replant their farms with cereals which wilted a recent drought.

Fears of prolonged drought had been felt in the lowlands of Kilimanjaro Region, where hundreds of people converged recently for prayers.

“The situation is grim. The Sahara desert is pushing southwards,” lamented Adam Kuleit ole Mwarabu, the leader of a local NGO for pastoralists.

He spoke as nearly 500 people, many of them nomadic herders, converged at a sacred site in Siha District, Kilimanjaro Region to pray for rain.