The underway to pragmatic implementations of sustainable and intensive agricultural systems in Tanzania

Abstract

For the past five decades, Tanzanian has regarded agriculture as a lead sector to economic development. However, more than 70% of the agricultural production has been for subsistence due to weak economic and technological investments. This happens despite the establishment of numerous programs, plans and initiatives to limit the problem. Therefore, there is an increased need to assess some important aspects of agro-ecosystems such as climate, soil and crops as significant factors for determining yields potentials in Tanzania. This approach is particularly important in the fifth term of Tanzanian government (2015–2025) which devotes serious efforts to transform the country to a middle income economy by 2025, whereas, industrial sector will be the key engine to capture this objective. In doing so, crop and climate data were collected from the Ministry of Agriculture and Tanzania Meteorological Agency. Microsoft excel and Theme content were the major methods for data analyses. Although there has been a slight increase in land expansion for crop production, the results exhibit that the overall agricultural trend (tn/ha) has been fluctuating at a declining trend. This yield decline has been significantly caused by rainfall climate change and soil infertility. This scenario is evidenced by the fact that the maximum potential photosynthetic yields in the study area is around 3–5 Mg/ha while that of the developed countries is 160 Mg/ha (10 −6 Mg/g). Therefore, stoichiometric of fertilizer, rain water harvest or/and artificial rainfall, exploitation of ground water for irrigation, proper mapping or review of soil characteristics based on agro-ecological zones, proper breeding of various crops, intensive investments of finance and technology in agriculture should be adopted to maximize yields in the country. • The study revealed that agriculture is a backbone of Tanzanian economy. • Agriculture serves over 70% of the Tanzanian rural livelihoods. • Chemical fertilizer is lowly applied (i.e 9 kg/ha) in the country. • The yield per hectare is very low in Tanzania. • Significant efforts are required in order to rise yields in agricultural sector.