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5,000 face starvation in Dodoma
2006-01-07 09:27:38
By Selemani Mpochi, Dodoma
An estimated 5,000 people face starvation in Dodoma Rural district in the next few months following prolonged drought that has resulted in poor crop yields.
Despite being blessed with a multi-million shillings community irrigation project that was initiated by retired president Benjamin Mkapa, 95 per cent of the crop failed in the area due to severe drought and subsequent drop in water levels in Buigiri Dam.
The dam was meant to act as a reservoir for irrigation water during the drought spell.
More than 5,000 residents of Chinangali, Kikombo and Mulebe villages in Dodoma face famine when the limited food reserves run out.
It is not only human beings who are facing starvation, their livestock are also on the verge of death because the area has run out of pasture for their large herds of cattle.
All watering points constructed to provide drinking water for animals have also dried up.
At the same time, the less drought resistant crops such as maize and vegetables have too succumbed to the drought.
Commenting on the grave food situation in the region, community project supervisor, Stanley Mbalai regretted that the situation had been made worse by the fact that unlike in the past, 95 per cent of the crops had withered owing to drought and the drop in the water levels at Buigiri Dam.
The dam, which was constructed to be a safety valve during such extreme weather conditions, has not contributed much as the water levels had dwindled to the barest minimum.
He said that construction work of the Buigiri Dam, which was jointly funded by the Treasury and the Tanzania and Japan Joint Fund had revived the hopes of the residents as a means of poverty alleviation but all this had now gone up in smoke.
The dam which cost a total of 240m/- has the capacity to carry 600 million litres of water for irrigation of more than 100 acres of agricultural land. The development scheme draws its membership from farmers, fishermen and livestock keepers.
’We all celebrated the establishment of the project hoping that we would be able to fight poverty effectively.
But the outcome this year has been devastating. Little rains received complicated everything,’ lamented Mbalai.
The weather condition, Mbalai added, had been unfavourable from the onset of the season as the crops dried up at germination stage.
He warned that the situation in the area was so serious because thousands of people face starvation as less than five per cent of the expected harvest had been realised.
Mbalai said that bean, maize and vegetable farmers harvested little, while their counterparts who grew cowpeas were luckier as the yield was fair.
Mbalai said that, at present, farmers had opted to concentrate on growing tomatoes as they wait for the onset of the rainy season in March.
Efforts by The Guardian to reach the district commissioner provide futile.
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