Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Mountains in East Africa region to incur ecological changes
Kilimanjaro and Meru mountains in Tanzania and Mount Kenya are reportedly turning into ecological Islands, according to scientists. “The East Africa’s mountains are a treasure trove of biodiversity...however, their ecosystems may be at a higher risk than previously realised,” reports Dr Andreas Hemp and Dr Claudia Hemp, adding Mount Kilimanjaro is turning into a green protrusion from a mostly brown background. The researchers claim that agriculture, irresponsible logging and human settlement establishment have eliminated the natural vegetation that used to serve as a bridge to the surrounding area, enabling the diversity of species to develop to its current levels. The mountain’s neighbouring regions are presumably being isolated from their surrounding areas. The researchers have published their study in the Global Change Biology journal. The 5,890-metre Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa, located less than 100 kilometres from Mount Meru, 4600 metres. Satellite images have shown how the strips of land between them have changed in 25 years, leading to the turn of the century. According to the scientists, areas that originally had dense vegetation have now been transformed into intensive agricultural land and human settlements, leaving the mountain almost completely surrounded by large areas characterised by encroachment of human civilisation.
Biologists from the Universityof Bayreuth and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt (BiK-F) also studied the environments of grasshoppers at 500 selected sites on Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru to find out if there were biological effects caused by human encroachment on the mountains. They concluded that the species have moved from their previous low ranges ascending slightly higher onto the mountains, indicating that the environment at the base of Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro were no longer conducive for the insects. “Several thousand years ago, it was considerably cooler and damper in the lower areas than it is today. Thus, grasshoppers that preferred these climatic conditions settled at the foot of the mountains, travelling by foot via the wooded land route. It was only later, as the temperatures rose and precipitation diminished that they made their way to higher areas” Dr Hemp explained. In another development, Kenya has launched efforts to protect Mount Kenya, the country’s main source of fresh water, after human activities started to gnaw its base. Donations from events and activities that kicked off this March are channeled into Mount Kenya Trust, which supports the project to protect and conserve the mountain. “Even though Mount Kenya is one of the five major water catchment areas in the country, it faces serious threats. They include wildlife poaching, illegal logging and encroachment,” said the Mount Kenya Trust Executive Director Susie Weeks
Tanzania to establish irrigation centre for EAC Member states
Irrigation is the most important activity
in farming as it helps to make agriculture grow despite low rainfall levels in
the country. In view of this, Tanzania government is planning to introduce the
first ever centre of excellence on irrigation training to serve East African
countries. The training centre to be established at Oljoro with exemplary farm
and man-made lake, is the brainchild of Arusha Technical College’s (ATC)
irrigation engineering department. It was established to devise modern ways of
farming that free farmers from extreme reliance on rains. Dr Richard Masika who
initiated the project during his tenure as ATC Rector, said the centre will
comprise of farms, classrooms, hostels and laboratories to make the facility
one of the learning centres of excellence in the East African region. The
irrigation training hub was made possible under the auspices of Japanese universities--
Kyushu, Scuba and Kobe. “Most of the irrigation projects in Tanzania and East
Africa as whole are executed in areas that already have water and receive rain
but to really make changes, irrigation should be operated in arid andsemi-arid
areas,” said Dr Masika. ATC acting Rector Dr Masoud Senzia revealed that Japan,
which supported the irrigation centre’s establishment has already completed the
eightyear contract, but will continue to assist ATC in improving and expanding
the facility to attain its goal. “Among the achievements is the training of ATC
teaching staff, who were dispatched to Japan for studies,” explained Dr Senzia.
The irrigation project under 150 acres is being established under ATC, with
funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Tanzania is
rolling out modern farming initiatives to achieve the national target of
ensuring one million hectares of arable land are under irrigation schemes by
2020. The Acting Director of National Irrigation Commission (NiRC), Engineer
Seth Luswema, pointed out that the only way to combat effects of climate change
and deal with natural disasters like floods is to invest heavily in irrigation
schemes. “Because we can intercept flood water before it can cause disasters,
tapping the flows and channel the currents into irrigation schemes to water
crops or replenish reservoir dams,” stated Engineer Luswema. The acting NiRC
Director said the National Irrigation Master plan 2018 will soon be launched to
help the nation transform agricultural activities from rain fed crop
cultivation, into allseason irrigation farming. “It (master plan) aims at
expanding farming areas under irrigation and also overhauling the existing
schemes that still operate through outdated traditional irrigation structures,”
he said. It is reported that nearly 465,000 hectares are under irrigation,
accounting for a mere five per cent of the country’s total estimated 29.4
million hectares suitable for cultivation. Engineer Luswema said that despite
the limited area of irrigated land, over 24 per cent of the total food
production in the country came from farms under irrigation scheme
Magufuli issues seven day ultimatum to his ministers
President Dr. John Magufuli on Monday this
week issued a seven-day ultimatum to all ministers to work on critical
challenges haunting the business community in the country. He particularly
directed the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango (pictured) and
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Commissioner General Charles Kichere to meet
and deliberate on the best strategy to reduce the burden of backlog taxes to
traders. Speaking at the 11th Tanzania National Business Council’s (TNBC)
meeting at State House in Dar es Salaam, the business community raised concern
over the outstanding debts that were accumulated over many years. Responding,
Dr Magufuli ordered the ministry and TRA to meet with businesspeople and
renegotiate on the outstanding amount that can fairly be paid to ease the tax
burden that threatens many businesses in the country. “We should have a human
face and avoid being too rigid because the government relies on the business
community to raise revenue,’’ said the president, arguing that if for instance
the businessperson owes TRA money that was accumulated in 10 years, the taxman
can forego five years and collect the amount accumulated for five years. Winding
up the day-long meeting, President Magufuli directed all ministers whose
dockets traders blamed during the discussions to address the raised issues
within one week, with the view of improving the country’s business environment.
The business hurdles that traders complained of include nuisance taxes that
affect trade and investment in the country, bureaucracy within the government
institutions and indiscriminate imports that flood the domestic market,
rendering the home manufactured goods uncompetitive, as well as outdated laws. President
Magufuli tasked the ministers to prepare answers and solutions to all the
raised challenges and submit the document to Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa
within one week for the government to devise appropriate measures to improve
the business environment.
Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) Chairman
Reginald Mengi assured that the private sector will continue investing in
modern industrial plants and maintaining tax compliance. He commended the
government for proper supervision of the economy, proper investment environment
and adequate access to business loans. “Next month, we expect to have another
conference that will create awareness to industrialists and the private sector
to invest more in the industrial economy,” he said. On projects being executed
by foreign contractors, Mr Mengi said there is need to amend the laws to compel
foreign contractors to team up with their local counterparts to transfer skills
that will help the local contractors to execute similar projects in future. The
TPSF chairman further proposed that in the 2018/2019 budget, the government
should think of reducing taxes that frustrate businesspeople, singling out Skills
and Development Levy (SDL). He said TPSF receives many complaints from
businesspeople over TRA’s unfair calculations of various taxes. “In our
previous meeting, we proposed areas that should be looked at to improve the
business environment and we commend the government that many of them have been
fully addressed,’’ he said. Mr Mengi said there was political will among the
political class and that TPSF was happy with the manner the government has
managed to intensify the war against graft. In his remarks, Prime Minister
Kassim Majaliwa promised to address all the issues that were raised by the
businesspeople during an open discussion. He asked the business community to
grab various opportunities in the ongoing major projects in the country,
including the Hoima-Tanga crude oil pipeline, Stiegler’s Gorge, Standard Gauge
Railway (SGR) and Lindi based Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). “So far, over 39
local companies have started to grab opportunities in these projects and our
intention is to create the best business environment in the country to benefit
all parties,’’ he said
Come across a woman who has lived longer
Living
a long life is a dream that many people wish and pray for, but fail to attain.
It simply disappears into thin air like mist. And though many people believe
that living across generations is a result of fate, others are of the view that
it is God granted, while some pin their hopes on a better lifestyle. In search
for answers, the ‘Sunday News’ crew drove all the way to Mbezi Temboni, in the
outskirts of Dar es Salaam City centre where they landed at the door of one
Miriam Kapinga. Upon knocking at the door and while expecting to be greeted by
someone who has what the Swahili say, “has eaten a lot of salt,” the team was
greeted by an averagely aged woman, who is dark in complexion. A brief moment
of silence gripped the place before the smiling woman, the crew later
identified as the 69 year-old Miriam, said, ‘Karibu’ while motioning for the
‘Sunday News’ team to get in. After removing shoes as is the tradition in most
homes in Dar es Salaam, the team entered the neatly arranged and decorated
sitting room. In that room, was an old lady who was peacefully seated on one of
the sofas and upon seeing her, optimism gripped the team as evidence of the
existence of long life in humans was right in front of them. What baffled the
crew’s minds was that the lady was holding a litre of drinking water; she was
slowly sipping to show that she had all the time in the world. Ms Miriam,
however, since she knew the crew’s purpose of the visit, quickly introduces the
lady to TSN staff saying, “This is my mom, she is called Antonia Komba. ” After
brief introductions, the seemingly jovial Antonia smiled, some- thing that made
some wrinkles on her face to temporarily disappear. Though the wrinkles are a
clear evidence of her age, she is still fit and her eyes are perfect to
the extent that she does not use spectacles. It did not take long before the
‘Sunday News’ learnt that Ms Komba had, last week, celebrated 100 years of
baptism. Her daughter, Miriam, elaborates that though Bibi Antonio’s actual age
is not known, since there was no official document that indicates her birthday,
she is definitely above 100 years old as the family estimated her age basing on
the time she was baptised at Matembo in Mbinga District of Ruvuma Region, when
she was a girl of not less than 10 years old. As if to confirm it, Bibi Antonia
insists, “This is not my birthday. I have celebrated 100 years since I was
baptised. And I was baptised while I was a girl,” she said. According to a
Roman Church document in their possession, the widowed Bibi Antonio was
baptised on the 12th of March, 1918, hence on Monday, last week, she celebrated
a century of Christian life, at Mavurunza Catholic Church in Dar es Salaam. But
her face suddenly changed when she recalled that she misses her beloved husband,
Galus Kapinga who passed away in 1981, at the age of 89.
The list also includes
her relatives and friends who died some years ago and the mother of nine
including Miriam says, “For real this is God’s love to me. I trust him from the
time I was baptised. I can tell you that if you want to live longer, just be
faithful to your God.” She is what she eats Besides pointing out the spiritual
factor as a contributing factor to her long life, the grandmother of more than
30 grandchildren attributed it to the kind of foods she eats. “I don’t drink
soda or any other industrial made drinks. Also, I don’t eat red meat; I take
only fish and chicken and I make sure that I drink not less than three litres
of water every day,” the woman says. Furthermore, Bibi Antonio says, she don’t
drink tea in the morning and instead, she takes porridge while her favourite
food is ‘ugali’ and vegetables. She said when she got pregnant for the first
time, she was a regular sickling and headaches were a major problem to her and
the reasons behind the sicknesses were never established since health services
during the colonial era were poor. “I didn’t think that I would attain this
age. After a long time of suffering, it was later diagnosed that I had high
blood pressure,” she added. From there onwards, she narrates, I didn’t take red
meat and industrial drinks and her family grew in that manner. She advises
married couples to avoid adulterous lives since it is a factor that brings
various diseases into the family, causing death to young people in the country.
Miriam, 69, a retired teacher, described her mother as a disciplined and
hardworking woman, who managed to raise her family even after the demise of her
husband, nearly 40 years ago. Despite her age, Bibi Antonia’s daughter adds,
“She wakes up at 6am and pray to God, before taking a bath and sometimes
prepare her porridge. She also cleans environment and can walk to church. She
is really active,” Miriam says. Explaining Antonia’s life, the Dar es Salaam’s
Roman Catholic Mavurunza Parish Priest, Fr Xavery Kassage, said that the old
lady is a committed Christian who adheres to God’s commandments, a factor that
has contributed to her happier life. Nyerere loved us Antonia’s husband worked
with the Germany and British governments, but later turned to be first
President of the then Tanganyika, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s friend due to his
hardworking, explains the old woman. She says her family coffee farm in Mbinga
was a role model to other farmers, something that pushed Mwalimu to visit the family
twice
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