Farmers in Lower Moshi Irrigation Scheme, Moshi District Kilimanjaro Region, have appealed to the relevant authorities of water management resources to step in and solve the water shortage; with the prevailing climate change that has hit hard various parts of Tanzania the country is battling a prolonged dry spell, which is affecting both animal and crop yields.

Speaking at a farmer’s meeting, the Head of Moshi district, the Pangani River Basin officer, and the National Irrigation Commission of the Kilimanjaro Region; explained that currently, the farmers who have rice fields and facing a shortage of irrigation water, are at risk of low harvest.

Mr. Ally Thabiti Mmbaga, who is the Chairman of Lomia farmer’s association, noted that the main water user of Lower Moshi, irrigation agriculture has provided the people with many benefits, including poverty alleviation, hunger, as well as being able to educate their children easily, but this current water shortage poses a great danger of erasing all of these benefits.

“This scheme has played a big part in the development of our villages, notably the villages surrounded by this scheme get development funds from the rice cultivation project,” said Mmbaga.

In addition, Mmbaga pointed out that the irrigation scheme of Lower Moshi is facing several challenges including the deterioration of its infrastructure as well as the canals being filled with mud, which leads to blockage of water from reaching farmers’ fields.

“As farmers of lower Moshi, we are asking for a good plan of irrigation shifts to be followed properly so that every farmer can get water, that is our request to the District Head together with the experts who accompanied them, we want to see that all 400 hectares have access to wate” asked Mmbaga

Initially giving instructions for the distribution of water to all users, the Director of the Pangani River Basin Water Board Segule Segule asked farmers to follow the procedures for the permits they requested, including taking care of the small water resources that are currently available so that every farmer can have water access to their farms’

“Every water user should have a permit to use water for five years and if it expires it should be renewed again, we are set to administer the law in the interest of all, so all the farmers in your groups make sure that you agree to use water so that we can discover other people who use water without permission and they are the ones who destroy the calculation of water availability” insisted Segule.

The National Irrigation Commission in the Kilimanjaro Region Said Ibrahim; explained that the problem of water shortage has been caused by the increase the number of farmers as well as the impact of climate change, “when this project started, only 100 hectares were being cultivated, but now it is more than 420, even then, water was not enough and now it is not enough even if we dig up some rivers due to people cultivating irrigation agriculture outside the set plan,” said Ibrahim

Due to these challenges, Ibrahim has explained that there are short-term and long-term strategies that will be used to help the farmer who is inside the project and outside the project, including all those who farm outside the project with water permits and those who do not have water permit to sign a contract that will prevent them from getting water at another time even if the water is sufficient so that the law of requesting permits is followed by everyone.

“We have found out that there are people who have crops that need to use the last water to be harvested and there are those who can wait for their seeds to be underground without being damaged, so we must give priority to those who are about to harvest to get water and then those who have seeds in the ground will be followed, also a long-term strategy is to reduce the number of farms so that everyone has access to water” Ibrahim.

Mr. Abbas Kayanda the Head of Moshi District, appealed to the farmers to follow the instructions of the experts in order to restore the good condition of water availability for every farmer.

“I have listened for a long time to your concerns about the lack of water, the truth is that you are the ones who use water, so you should set up your water distribution system properly, as the experts’ advice, the law must follow its course and we will not be afraid to take action against farmers who deliberately destroy the order.” Kayanda cautioned.

The Lower Moshi irrigation scheme was built by the Japanese government in collaboration with the Tanzanian government between 1984 to 1987, the scheme is currently 36 years old and provides services in five (5) villages including Mabogini Juu, Mabogini Chini, Rau- river, Chekereni and Oria.