Tanzania Agriculture Climate Resilience Plan

Subsequent to the National Climate Change Strategy (2012), the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Co-operatives (MAFC) sought to outline a sector specific response to climate change impacts. This plan aims to provide the crop-agriculture sub-sector of Tanzania with a risk-based analysis and, subsequently, a plan for meeting the most urgent challenges posed by climate change.


Following from a risk assessment detailed in the Plan, three priority risks are identified: (i) amplified water stress; (ii) decreased crop yield, and (iii) increased vulnerability of smallholder farmers. Following from the risk analysis, the plan outlines four 'priority resilience actions:' (i) improving agricultural land and water management, (ii) accelerating uptake of climate smart agriculture (CSA), (iii) improving risk management to reduce climate-related shocks, (iv) strengthening knowledge and systems to target climate action. Specific policy highlights aimed at addressing the former include: the establishment of pest, disease, and early warning systems; the development of policy briefs and financial incentives to assist with mainstreaming CSA into agricultural programmes; the updating of irrigation master plans to consider availability and climate; incentivising the development of water management technologies.


The plan estimates the cost of implementation is USD25m/year over 5 years, 80% of which will need to come from outside the government of Tanzania. The plan further commits the MAFC to establishing a climate change monitoring framework with reporting procedures, targets and milestones, reporting plans, and defined indicators.