9
Figure 3: Share of livestock types across the six regions from national total numbers
Men are usually engaging in bigger animal rearing such as cattles, goats and sheep. Whereas,
women generally look after smaller animals such as poultry (chickens / ducks) and pigs.
As shown in
Table 3
only a very small share of the rural population in the visited regions are
involved
in fishing activities, mainly inland fishing in the lakes and rivers.
19
Table 3: Number of households involved in fishing activities by region
Region
Total number
of HHs
HHs involved
in fishing
% HHs involved in
fishing
Arusha
376336
905
0.2
Dodoma
450305
1105
0.2
Mara
308483
1623
0.5
Morogoro
501794
1884
0.4
Mwanza
481107
1537
0.3
Shinyanga
258981
956
0.4
Tot.
2377006
8010
2.1
19
Source: Tanzania Census (2012)
10
3.
Results of the assessment
3.1.
Risk and vulnerability
Through changing temperatures, increase in precipitation and sea levels rise, amongst other
factors, global climate change is already modifying hazard levels and exacerbating disaster
risks. Economic losses from disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, etc. are now
reaching an average of USD 250 to 350 billion each year.
20
In addition to this, Southern
Africa, including Tanzania, is currently under the grip of an intense “El-Niño” event, which
is considered the worst in the last 50 years.
21
This country, is regularly exposed to such types
of events, however what is occurring this 2015 / 2016 agricultural season is very similar to
what took place in 1997, where the agriculture sector experienced heavy losses and damages
coupled with the destruction of key infrastructures (i.e. houses, roads, bridges and irrigation
schemes). Figure 4 shows the frequency of the natural hazards affecting the visited regions,
based on the Focus Group Discussions’ (FGDs) results, where floods and drought are
considered the most frequent ones, followed by pests and diseases, storms and very rarely
hail, as well as frost and other hazards. Mwanza region has the highest rate of natural hazards
recurrence, followed by Arusha, Dodoma and Mara regions. Morogoro and Shinyanga
regions are instead usually less affected.
Figure 4: Main natural hazards experienced by the communities
As mentioned before, the frequency of the different natural hazards differs from one type to
another. Although floods are considered as the most impacting hazard, and usually the less
recurrent, respondents indicated that their occurrences cause the most severe impact while
also affecting larger agricultural areas. On the other hand, droughts are more frequent as they
are taking place almost every season but their impact is restricted to some regions or districts
/ municipalities. Even when storms are happening regularly, their impact is much more
localized; compared to pest and disease outbreaks which happen seasonally but affects larger
areas or high numbers of animals, see details in
Table 4
.
20
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (2015)
21
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/382932/icode/
11
Table 4: Frequency of natural hazards
in % of respondents
Type
of hazard
Rarely
Regularly
Seasonally
Yearly
Floods
73
14.5
26.5
0
Drought
13.5
14.5
29.5
70
Storm
13.5
71
3
0
Pest and disease
0
0
35
20
Frost
0
0
3
0
Hail
0
0
3
0
Others
0
0
0
10
3.2.
Impacts on the affected livelihoods
3.2.1.
Crops
For over 85 percent of the assessed population, crops production is the main source of
income. On average each male headed household cultivates an area of 8.3 acres, whereas a
female headed household 3.5 acres. In Arusha and Dodoma regions the cultivated areas were
reported to be at above average for male headed households and below average in Dodoma,
Morogoro and Mwanza regions for female headed households (
Table 5
).
Table 5: Area in acres owned by male and female
headed households by region
Type of household
Region
Arusha Dodoma Mara Morogoro Mwanza Shinyanga
Male
headed
12.5
9.9
7.7
5.6
6.6
7
Female headed
5.6
2.9
3.3
2.8
3
4.8
Maize resulted to be the most cultivated crop, followed by rice, sorghum and cassava.
Thereafter pulses, sweet-potatoes and oil crops as well as vegetables and others like ginger or
cardamom are cultivated by a smaller proportion of the population, see details in
Figure 5
.
Figure 5: Households cultivating specific crops