WORLD FOOD
PROGRAMME
FOOD
AND
AGRICULTURE
ORGANIZATION
A Joint FAO/WFP Report on the Crop and Food Situation in the Country
for the Development Partners Group Meeting of March 2009
Highlights

The Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFC) has
issued an alert on the potential outbreak of red locusts during the
current cropping season. Should control measures be delayed, about 3
million tones of cereals are likely to be affected.

The Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) report indicates that the
rainfall activities continued over much of the country with substantial
amounts observed mostly over parts of the unimodal sector.

The first quarter of 2009 has seen food commodity prices still rising since
it started in 2007. Prices of maize in January 2009 were higher than
those of January 2007 by 93% in Arusha, 107% in Dar es Salaam, 134%
in Dodoma, 104% in Mbeya and 21% in Shinyanga.

The government is currently stocking a total of 119,123 MT of maize and
6,649 MT of sorghum, totaling to 125,770 MT. Part of stocks are used for
both food and seed interventions in the food insecure areas.

Following failure of the 2008/09 vuli season in most of the bimodal
rainfall areas, particularly in north eastern Tanzania, and a poor start of
the msimu rains in several of the unimodal rainfall areas, government
has released funds to assist with seed for hard hit resource weak
households.

The Purchase for Progress (P4P) Country Implementation Plan (CIP) has
just been approved by the WFP Executive Director, assuring speedy
implementation of the P4P initiative this coming marketing season.

The Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries (MLDF) reported
recently that presence of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in the
northern districts of Tanzania bordering Kenya has been confirmed. MLDF
has requested the UN through FAO to assist in mobilizing resources to
control spread of the disease.
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1. Red Locust Potential Outbreak in Tanzania and Neighboring Countries
The Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFC) has issues an alert on
the potential outbreak of red locusts during the current cropping season. The insects are
likely to affect an estimated 3 million MT of cereals in the major cereal production areas
of the southern highlands regions. The report further reveals that, "The swarms if not
controlled, are likely to emigrate from the breeding areas and invade neighboring
farming areas and spread further into neighboring countries such as Uganda, Kenya,
Zambia, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi with serious consequences to food
security in the region.
Similar alert has been issued by the International Red Locust Control Organization For
Central and Southern Africa (IRLCO-CSA) in Mozambique.
The IRLCO-CSA report on Tanzania and Mozambique outbreaks stated that, “in view of
the magnitude of infestation levels and potential damage to millions of hectares of crops
is making a special appeal for donor support in survey and control operations as a
matter of urgency."
In Tanzania, the survey carried
out in the Iku-Katavi and Lake
Rukwa plains in January and
February
2009,
revealed
numerous and dense Red Locust
populations located in a total
area covering 150,000 ha in the
Iku-Katavi plains. Similarly, an
estimated 10,000 ha in the
North and South Rukwa plains
were infested with numerous
hopper bands with densities
ranging from 10-50 hoppers/m2.
Fledging
is
expected
to
commence by the end February
2009. Formation of swarms is
expected to take place in
May/June 2009.
Source: MAFC
The Government, through FAO, is looking for assistance to contain the outbreak. It is
estimated that a total of US $ 50,000 will be required for the exercise.
2.
Rainfall performance and crop condition
According to the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) report, the rainfall activities
continued over much of the country with substantial amounts observed mostly over
parts of the unimodal sector. During the last week of February, soil moisture supply was
adequately maintained over much of the unimodal areas that favored crop growth and
development. Crops generally maize and beans ranging from vegetative to earring
stages were in a poor to moderate states of growth as observed over most parts of
central (Dodoma region), Tabora (east) region, south-western highlands (Iringa north),
southern region (Tunduru district) and southern
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Crop Failure in bimodal areas of
northeastern regions of Tanzania
coast
(Lindi
and
Mtwara
regions). The wilted and stunted
crops in some of these areas
were to be replaced by short
term and drought tolerant crop
varieties such as millet, peas,
and root crops like sweet
potatoes and cassava.
The SADC Agrometeorological
weather update for February
indicates that the north-eastern
parts of Tanzania, short rains
“vuli were a mediocre and many
parts in those areas are likely to
face acute food shortages.
Recovery however is expected
from the long rains “masika”
that fall between March and
June.
The ongoing Government seeds
and fertilizer support should be
beneficial in theses areas if are
delivered prior to commencement of the long rains. The SADC report also indicated other
areas similarly affected in the region to include eastern Zimbabwe and central and
southern Mozambique.
Source: SADC
3. Prices of basic food commodities continue rising even as we begin 2009
Food commodity prices have been on an increasing trend since January 2007 in both
rural and urban markets. Figures 1 and 2, demonstrate continuing high prices of maize
and beans in selected urban monitored markets in the country. In particular, prices
soared between August 2007 and February 2008 before coming down between March
and June 2008 commensurate to the beginning of harvests and availability of fresh
supplies to markets. A comparative analysis of the prices of maize between January
2007 and January 2008 shows significant increases of 115% in Arusha, 124% in Dar es
Salaam, 89% in Dodoma, 215% in Mbeya and 83% in Shinyanga. Nevertheless, those
prices remained higher in 2008 than corresponding months in 2007 because the general
decline of prices resulting from fresh harvests did not help to bring prices down to the
2007 levels.
The trend of sharp increases in food prices has been recorded everywhere in the country
even in major producing areas such as the food basket regions of the southern
highlands. Food commodity prices are still rising as we enter 2009. For example, prices
of maize in January 2009 were higher than those of January 2007 by 93% in Arusha,
107% in Dar es Salaam, 134% in Dodoma, 104% in Mbeya and 21% in Shinyanga.
Higher food prices, besides benefiting producers particularly the resource poor
smallholder farmers for whom agriculture forms a major source of their livelihood
support; have eroded the capacity of access to food for the market dependent poor
households struggling to make ends meet.
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Figure 1: Whole Sale Prices of Maize in Selected Market in Tanzania (Tanzanian
Shillings per 100 Kilogram)
Source of Data: Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dar es Salaam
Figure 2: Whole Sale Prices of Beans in Selected Market in Tanzania (Tanzanian
Shillings per 100 Kilogram)
Source of Data: Ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dar es Salaam
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4. Government Emergency Reserves have dropped to 125,770 MT
The government is currently stocking a total of 119,123 MT of maize and 6,649 MT of
sorghum, totaling to 125,770 MT. The government is releasing part of the sorghum
stocks for distribution to farmers as seeds for replanting in areas where crops wilted due
to moisture stress. More local Governments have been collecting the stocks allocated for
distribution in their respective areas. Pending the report from the ongoing food security
assessment, the stocks are likely to go further down as more grains are distributed to
food insecure households in both bimodal and unimodal rainfall regions.
5. The purchase for progress for Tanzania approved by WFP Executive
Director
The Purchase for Progress (P4P) Country Implementation Plan (CIP), has just been
approved by the WFP Executive Director, along with CIPs for Malawi and Mozambique.
The CIP provides institutional arrangement for WFP and other partners to engage in the
process of purchasing staple food from small holders farmers. WFP plans to purchase
during the coming marketing season, a total of 3,000 MT through P4P modalities, but
also continue on a parallel track with its normal local purchases through private traders.
Based on the success of the pilot P4P, amount of local purchase will be increased
gradually up to the fifth year of the project. The resources from ongoing WFP
Programme in Tanzania and the region will be used to buy food locally under the P4P
initiative.
6. Presence of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in Tanzania has been
confirmed
The Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries (MLDF) reported recently that
presence of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in the northern districts of Tanzania
bordering Kenya has been confirmed. A total of 1,544 samples of blood were collected
from goats and sheep end of last year and sent to the OIE PPR reference laboratory
(CIRAD) in France for testing, of which 44 percent proved positive. The ministry
estimated that the goats and sheep population at risk in the northern Tanzania districts
are 4,362,838 and 2,079,151 respectively. However, if not controlled, the disease is
reportedly continuing spreading southward into neighbouring countries such as Zambia,
Malawi and Mozambique.
The MLDF has estimated potential annual losses attributed to a PPR incursion in Tanzania
to be around Tshs 9.7 billion, primarily based on loss of 28,000 tonnes of meat, 700
tonnes of edible offal, and 2,482 tonnes of hides and skins. Continuous spread of the
disease will result in an acute red meat shortage thus pushing the meat consumer prices
up. The food security implications would be enormous. In Tanzania. MLDF has indicated
that USD 1,863,209 are required to contain the disease and has requested the UN
through FAO to assist in mobilizing resources for control and preventing further spread
of the disease.
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