John Kanyika is a primary school teacher who is about to retire. Apart from teaching, Kanyika grows banana in Nduruma village located 25 kilometers from Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha.
With his one-acre farm of banana, Kanyika used to get reasonable amount of money from banana sells. But, now he is not getting that much as the production has declined due to prolonged drought which continues to bite this northern part of Tanzania.
Bananas are grown on fertile and well-drained soils. Nduruma and other areas of Arusha have such similar soil, but in recent years it is being overwhelmed with changing of weather patterns.
"In those good days, production of banana was high as I used to harvest 50 bunches of bananas per month in this farm, but now I am getting less than ten," Kanyika says.He however says that banana is performing well in the market as of now one bunch of bananas fetches 15,000 to 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (8-11 U.S. dollars).
"And this is just a farm-gate price.
"And if I take it to the city of Arusha I can get more than that.
"So, it was a good source of income for many banana growers," he says, "I use the money for paying school fees for my five children but now production has extremely down.
"I am getting very little from my farm."
The 60-year-old primary school teacher says rainfall is not reliable as it was before, even rivers, flowing into this area are drying up because of drought.
Apart from heaping blames on climate change, banana growers also pointed fingers on the increasing number of investors in the flower farming a few kilometers from the village’s farms, which tap excessive amount of water from Nduruma River.
The river is located in the upper parts of the Pangani River Basin, originates in a protected forest reserve near the summit of Mount Meru and is fed by small tributaries.
"This makes many of farmers fail to irrigate their banana farms as water are not flowing in the river as it was before," another farmer, Alex Nnko says, who own an acre of banana farm in the area.
He says banana farming is on the verge of extinction in the area because of severe drought and limited sources of water.
"In this area, rains were no longer a serious challenge.
"Rainfall in this area was bimodal with short rains from November to January and long rains from March to June. But, now things are different. It is unpredictable," he says.
Elisifa Pareso is one of the banana buyers at the Arusha Central Market, who complains on the high prices of banana—one of the most important staple crops in Tanzania.
"In recent years, price of banana has gone up and even the quality is questionable.
"Banana bunches are smaller than it was before.
"I don’t know what is happening in the farms.," she says.
According to Pareso, the price of one bunch of bananas at the central market ranges from 25,000 to 30,000 Tanzanian shillings (14-17 U.S. dollars).
"To me I see changing of weather patterns as contributing factors to the declining of banana production in this part of Tanzania and skyrocketing of prices in the market outlets," she suggests.
Other banana consumers attribute high demand of banana in northern Tanzania to the introduction of banana processing plants, whereby banana fruit has widespread use in the production of beverages.
Poor production of bananas ruins Tanzania’s dream of exporting the crop for foreign exchange as quality and volumes have decreased.
"Climate change is a very serious challenge in this northern part of Tanzania, that’s why we are encouraging farmers to embark into the effective use of the rainwater harvesting technology to produce banana and other crops," says Dominick Ringo who is an expert in agriculture.
Ringo who is also the executive director of Research Community and Organizational Development Associates (RECODA) says through Rockwool Initiative for Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania (RIPAT), they have managed to bridge the technological gap amongst farmers by improving their livelihoods.
"We have empowered more than 500 farmers in eight villages of Arumeru district with such cost-effective technology," the expert says.
He says farmers in the area were trained on how to trap rain water from the hills and use it for growing bananas and other crops.
Climate change expert Ladislaus Chang’a implores the need for farmers in northern Tanzania to diversify their day-to-day farming activities.
"This would help them to cope with increasingly severe droughts brought about by climate change," says Chang’a, who works with Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA).
He however blames low level of awareness among farmers, saying it has contributed to poor yields and food insecurity.
"Many farmers have concentrated into traditional farming, which proved failure at this time when the world is grappling with climate change," he says, adding that many farmers rely on rain- fed agriculture and poor farming methods which end them into vicious cycle of poverty.
He also suggests on the need for farmers to embrace agro- forestry as one of the climate change mitigation measures.
"In the face of climate change, farmers across the globe will increasingly need to diversify their production, such as through planting a range of crops," he says.
Banana is the staple food and a source of incomes for millions of inhabitants in the tropics.
Tanzania is the second banana producer in Africa after Uganda and seventh in the world. Majority of the 70 different varieties of bananas found in the highlands of Eastern Africa grow only in this part of the world.
