Extreme Weather Events and Their Impact on Urban Crop Production in Kinondoni, Tanzania | InformativeBD

Asnath Alberto Malekela, and Pius Yanda, from the different institute of  Tanzania.. wrote a Research Article about, Extreme Weather Events and Their Impact on Urban Crop Production in Kinondoni, Tanzania. Entitled, Extreme weather events and their impact on urban crop production: A case of Kinondoni District, Tanzania. This research paper published by the International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR). an open access scholarly research journal on Agronomy. under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences| INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.

Abstract

Extreme weather events are anticipated to increase the existing challenges and generate new combination of vulnerabilities, especially in developing countries. Agricultural sector is the most vulnerable due to overreliance on unpredictable rainfall. This study examined the impact of extreme weather events on urban crop production and its adaptation strategies applied by the farmers. Secondary data were collected through literature survey and primary data were collected using structured interviews, observations and focus group discussions. A total of 108 crop farmers were interviewed in two wards of Kinondoni District. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyze the data and Pearson Chi-square was used to test the statistical significance between variables. The study observed that, farmers perceived extreme weather events including floods (39%), extreme temperatures (36%), and drought (25%). These extreme weather events affected negatively crop production leading damaging of crops and low yields (38%), outbreak of crop pests and disease (38%), drying of water sources (20%), and loss of soil fertility (4%). Crop farmers used various adaptation strategies such as crop diversification (28%), the use of pesticides (23%), changing of cropping patterns and planting calendar (16%), irrigation practices (18%) and replanting (10%). The study recommends for adoption of new farming systems such as vertical farming systems for better output with the use of limited water and land resources.

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Introduction

Extreme weather events are having considerable impact on urban crop production which is the major basis of food and income to a large section of the urban population. The growing occurrence and severity of droughts, floods, increased temperatures and other extreme weather events rigorously affect the crop producers in various areas. Diverse types of weather extremes are anticipated to increase and become further recurrent in a number of regions worldwide due to climate change (IPCC, 2012). There is a correlation between extreme weather events (EWE) and climate change as since 1950’s, there has been increased temperatures. Climate change is affecting the intensity, frequency, and spatialtemporal extent of EWE (IPCC 2012). An increase of extreme and uncertain events is a characteristic of the most recent climate scenarios (Smith 2011; Fischer 2013). The extent of regions affected by droughts has also increased as precipitation over the land has slightly decreased while evaporation has increased due to warmer conditions. Also the numbers of profound daily precipitation events that lead to flooding have augmented. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events (EWE) related to climate change (CC) represents a severe threat to crop production (Motha, 2011; IPCC, 2007). Studies on climate modeling in diverse scenarios at both global and local scales points to a rise in the regularity of extreme weather events (Swaminathan & Rengalakshmi 2016; Solomon et al. (2007). 

Rapid urbanization in developed and developing regions has led to increased food insecurity. One response to food insecurity is the establishment of urban crop production. In these regions, urban farming plays an important role in diversifying urban diets and providing environmental services by greening the cities and making productive reuse of urban wastes and thus making cities a desirable areas to live (Oyedipe, 2009; Mlozi et al., 2014). Cities occupy a small percentage (4%) of the land globally but now are habitats for over half the global population (Potts, 2012; Seto et al., 2011). It has been estimated that by the year 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow to 9.7 billion people, while, about 6.4 billion people (64%) will be living in cities and thus, feeding it will be a huge challenge (UN, 2019). The increasing demand for food and the high rate of unemployment has further worsened the city situation. Traders, civil servants and artisans are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the high cost of living due to the stagnant income in the urban areas; all these have promoted crop production within the vicinity of the city (Olayioye, 2012). 

Extreme weather events associated with climate change create significant challenges for crop production in urban areas (Mlozi et al., 2014). Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) data shows for decrease in rainfall and increase in temperature in Dar es Salaam region over the past 30 years. It has been reported that, the total annual rainfall in 1986 was 1430.9mm, this had decreased to 782.9mm in 2016, while the minimum and maximum temperatures have increased steadily from an average monthly minimum temperature of 20.7°C in 1986 to 23.2°C in 2016 (TMA, 2017). These variations in temperature and rainfall affect crop production negatively. 

The general effects of the extreme weather events on crop production are complex predicaments that require an urgent effort to ascertain efficient and sustainable managing systems (Cogato et al., 2019). In the current decades, the attention of the scientific community on climate change and its impacts on various sectors has considerably augmented. The IPCC (2014) has reported for the increase in number of publications dealing with the impact of climate change on agriculture, its vulnerability and the best adaptation strategies has more than doubled between 2005 and 2010 and this increasing trend has sustained in succeeding years. The rising interest on the impact of climate change on agriculture is due to its importance in the global economy, especially in developing countries, provided that the majority of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. However, the global climate change impact requires a continuous perfection to forecast and adapt to extreme weather events.

Urban farming despite of its contribution to food security; the sector has been given less attention as some scholars discourage urban farming by referring to as a ruralization of urban settings. Most studies on extreme weather events and climate change impacts on agriculture have focused on rural farming. Herefore this study tintended investigate the impact of extreme weather events on urban crop production and its adaptation strategies.

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