Policy brief climate change and livestock production in Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania ranks third in terms of number of livestock in Africa, and the sector has a good contribution to the national economy. It is estimated to have about 19.2 million cattle, 13.7 million goats, 3.6 million sheep, 1.9 million pigs and 36 million local chickens and 23 million improved chickens (URT, 2010). The livestock industry contributed 4.6 % of the National Gross Domestic product in 2012. Given the large number of livestock and the abundant land and forage resources the country is endowed with, the contribution of the livestock sector to the growth of the national economy, food security and poverty reduction can be substantial. Climate Change is change in the state of the climate that can be identified (i.e. by statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period typically decades or longer Approximately 95% of ruminant livestock in Tanzania are kept under traditional production systems depending mostly on pastures and crop residues as the main feed sources. Therefore, at the household level, livestock keeping is an important and integral part of agriculture based livelihoods for a significant proportion of the Tanzania population. Tanzania, like other countries of which many economic sectors are climate dependent, has been impacted significantly by climate change. In this regard, efforts must be done to address adapt to the impacts associated by climate change in pastoral and agro-pastoral lands