By Mboneko Munyaga
With the extreme temperatures from the current overhead sun continuing to bake soils across much of the northern zone, three wards in Lower Monduli, some 40 kilometres west of Arusha, appear to have been hit the hardest, with farmers saying they have no hope of harvesting any maize and beans this season as fields have been scorched to the ground by the boiling weather, sparking fears of food insecurity during the year.
Community elder Mr Parteo Mollel told The Arusha News that they have already started feeling the impact of the severe dry spell, with a sack of maize selling for Sh 90,000, compared to Sh 60,000 to Sh 70,000 in a similar period during good years.
Similarly, a 20-litre container of water now sells for Sh 500, up from Sh 100, equivalent to a fivefold increase. He added that water had seriously receded at the Nanja Dam due to evaporation and invasion by weeds.
“Fortunately, we had good downpours during the short rainfall season, which encouraged farmers to work hard on their fields, but the prolonged dry spell has reversed those gains,” said elder Mollel.
Monduli DC, Mr Festo Kiswaga
Because of the heavy early rains, there was good greenery left for pasture lands, but that too won’t last if the long rains won’t set in soon, he added.
All the three wards depend on the Nanja Dam for domestic water use and as a watering point for livestock.
The Maasai are sometimes said to value their cows more than themselves, which was partly reflected in elder Mollel’s concern for their animals.
“An adult cow drinks up to 60 litres of water a day, meaning spending Sh 1,500 on one cow only.
Now imagine you have 100 cows.
Could you afford to spend Sh 150,000 a day for water only on cows?” asked elder Mollel.
His views were echoed by Engaruka Ward Councillor, Mr Onesmo Ismail Naikoyo, who said they too did not expect a good maize harvest this season as all the crop has been scorched by the sun to the ground.
But if it became extremely dry, herders will drive their cattle to the Ngorongoro hills, where it is usually evergreen, or even cross over into neighbouring Kenya to save their animals, sources said.
Kenyans too often cross with their cattle into Tanzania when conditions get too dry on their side.
Engaruka is especially notorious for harsher arid conditions that usually leave people struggling to maintain livelihoods.
Lake Natron, which is located in the area and famous as the home of pink flamingos, also gets threatened at times with total dry-up, as it happened once recently, causing the flamingos to migrate.
However, Mr Naikoyo said residents living in valleys were likely to at least get something, as the soil was still wet.
Monduli District Commissioner (DC), Mr Festo Kiswaga, told The Arusha News by phone that his area was well known for its dry conditions, but that the government was making every effort to ensure the people lived comfortably.
Currently, he said, there was a Sh 20.3 billion project to supply water to 13 villages and help to solve the shortage of the essential commodity.
Also, he said, there were intervention programmes to ensure people got a steady supply of potable water.
For example, he said, the government had last December released about Sh 300 million for intervention measures to keep people supplied with water, referencing also the role played by Nanja Dam.
Also, he acknowledged the role played by Good Samaritans, whom he did not name though.
“My brother, let me tell you. Monduli has a bimodal rainfall pattern, with short rains starting in October to December and the long rains starting from mid-February to May.
However, due to climate change, that pattern has been seriously disrupted, leading to the adverse impacts that we sometimes experience,” said Mr Kiswaga.
When he was appointed the DC for Monduli about two years ago, he said he advised farmers to switch to growing green grams (choroko in Kiswahili).
The small peas take two months only from planting to harvesting, but change is usually slow to come, he said.
Otherwise, Monduli remains one of Tanzania’s most scenic places, with Monduli Juu especially, the birthplace of Tanzania’s iconic Prime Minister, the late Edward Moringe Sokoine, offering near-heavenly experiences in April/May when it gets foggy, and it rains cats and dogs with clouds descending from above to touch the ground, making the area unbelievably cool.
