Research Support Request: Policy and Institutional Arrangements Necessary for Providing Operational Agrometeorological Services and Information: A Case of Same District, Kilimanjaro – Tanzania

Issack Ernest Kitururu
Masters of Arts in Rural Development Candidate
Development Studies Institute, Sokoine University of Agriculture Morogoro, Tanzania

Livelihoods of the majority of the population in developing countries, Tanzania inclusive, depend on agriculture which is very sensitive to climate change and variability. Agrometeorological services and information are thus imperative to smallholder farmers to counterbalance risks (e.g. loss of planted seeds due to unfriendly weather), ease shocks (e.g. strong wind which destroy plantations, incident of drought or heavy rains) and meet contingencies (ensure household food security) (Nicol, 2000; Stigter, 2005; 2008). In Tanzania there are various sectoral policies (e.g. agriculture policy, environmental policy) and action points (e.g. Tanzania National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA)) that recognise the importance of agriculture in a changing climate. Justification for the opportunities of operational agrometeorological services and information to smallholder farmers should, therefore, be guided by these policies and strategies. Institutions, on the other hand, are the vehicles for policies and strategies implementation as well as the filters which determine the success or failure of livelihood strategies. In Tanzania, there are both formal and informal institutions and their frameworks are legal, regulatory as well as organizational (Tumbo et al., 2007). Their macro-micro linkages in fulfilling this mandate are of a paramount significance. >> More