The Tanzanian case study in MACSUR II

Abstract

The objective of the Tanzanian case study region is to provide MACSUR II a platform to concentrate climate research to a focal region in Morogoro and Dodoma in Tanzania. Hence, synergies among a number of other research projects will be used, which all focus on food security related to climate change.

Within the case study region the projects aim at improving the food situation for the most-vulnerable rural poor population in Tanzania. They are designed to identify successful food securing upgrading strategies and innovations along local and regional food value chains, test and adjust them to site-specific, sustainable settings and tailor these concepts to be disseminated for national outreach. After the project lifetime, the results can be implemented at different levels of policy, extension and research.

The basic concept applies the following steps in an iterative and partly recurrent procedure: (1) A stakeholder involvement process will be set up from the beginning as an integral part of most analytical steps; (2) case study sites within the focal regions Morogoro and Dodoma will be selected, set up and typologies of food value chains developed; (3) success stories of secure food production and/or good practice along the food value chains will be screened and inventoried; (4) an integrated in-depth analyses of food value chain components, their costs, benefits and impacts will be carried out; (5) a few of the most promising good practices with regard to positive impacts and implementation will be participatively discussed and identified for subsequent in-depth testing; (6) an in-depth participative field testing and/or analysis of selected, most promising technologies will be conducted for all food value chain components and requirements for implementation identified; (7) transferability and implementation capability will be assessed for different scenarios and for future condition simulations (model analysis); (8) a meta-model analysis including risk analysis and final proofing will identify hot spots of most sensitive, fragile regions and the potentials for alleviating food insecurity. Hence, the research concept`s main focuses on local and regional food security related to climate change, but the research design implies a national outreach for Tanzania as a whole.

The research activities will be embedded into local and regional strategies to assess potential impacts and trade-offs and to be able to up-scale lessons learnt in a generic manner to regions with specific bio-physical, socio-cultural and economic conditions.

Spatial Design: Conducting a literature research on relevant characteristic a considering the spatial design:

• two focal regions in Tanzania (Morogoro, Dodoma),
• each region with two case study sites (CSS) consisting of at least one local marketplace and surrounding 2-3 villages,
• the two CSS among the target regions are selected to differ in factors such as market and capital access for investments, remoteness, population density, land availability, soil types, infrastructure, facilities, and others,
• create sufficiently diverse environmental and socio-economic conditions for investigating food securing technologies along FVC and allowing for testing the transfer of results to other Tanzanian regions.
• Main selection criteria for regions: two climates types:
• semi-arid Dodoma (350-500mm),
• semi-humid Morogoro region (600-800mm)
• clear distinction between the regions.
• other criteria within the regions:
• rather similar climate (must) +-80mm,
• weak and good market access (must) (=market and capital access for investments),
• rainfed crop–livestock systems oriented, not too strongly paddy rice oriented (< 20% rice) (must),
• village size: approx. 800-1500 households (must)
• Stunting cases, logistics and infrastructure, different wards, land availability, facilities, capital, soil types, and population density etc.