Tanzania covers an area of 945,087 square kilometres and is home to an estimated 55 million people. The mega-diverse tropical country hosts six out of the 25 recognized biodiversity hotpots in the world and 20% of the continents’ biodiversity, as well as the highest mountain in Africa- Mount Kilimanjaro. In addition, 55% of the country’s land is covered by forests, over 90% of which are woodlands. Agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries make up 65% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employ 80% of the population.

Over the years, deforestation due to charcoal production and expanding agriculture, poor farming practices, overgrazing and food insecurity have become some of the critical challenges facing the country. Tanzania’s Agroforestry Strategy of 2004, Forest Policy of 1998 (under review), Agriculture Climate Resilient Plan and the National REDD+ strategy acknowledges the critical role that agroforestry plays in enhancing production of tree products and services, restoring degraded landscapes and improving livelihoods.

Tanzania envisions that four million households would have adopted and benefit from agroforestry by 2025, and has committed to restore 5.2million hectares of degraded land by 2030. Agroforestry is one of the landscape restoration technologies envisioned in the country’s programs and projects to meet this target.

World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Tanzania

ICRAF has been working in Tanzania since the mid-1980’s, focusing on:

  • agroforestry options for climate change adaptation and mitigation,
  • improving food security and nutrition, bioenergy, land rehabilitation,
  • strengthening rural institutions for sustainable natural resources management.

The local office started out with a project to tackle massive deforestation of natural woodlands and rehabilitation of land for sustained agricultural productivity, livestock production and improved rural livelihoods in the Shinyanga Region, Northern Tanzania. By integrating traditional knowledge and engaging various stakeholders, among other interventions, ICRAF has supported the restoration of over 250,000 hectares of land.

Another notable success story work is the establishment of a domestication and value chain development programme for Allablanckia stuhlmanni through public-private partnerships. Previously, the indigenous tree was underutilized, yet its oil-rich seeds are in high demand by the food processing industry. Through this programme, seeds were collected from the wild. Then, desirable traits were selected for wider cultivation on farms and degraded lands, to increase production volumes and achieve commercial scale. Now, over 2500 farmers in Tanga and Morogoro regions grow and benefit from Allablanckia. This has spared the remaining wild populations from unsustainable harvesting and opened opportunities across the value chain.

ICRAF has also contributed towards the development of national strategies for Allanblanckia and Cocoa to guide in propagation, cultivation, market development and conservation in the country.

Through our work we have been able to build capacity of over 30 students at diploma and graduate (masters and PhD) levels and reach over 30,000 farmers with various agroforestry technologies (indigenous and modern) through training, on-farm research and adoption, produced and disseminated several information materials for various audiences including scientists, decision makers, extension agents and farmers.

More recently, ICRAF has been active in supporting development of Climate Smart Programme for Tanzania (2015-2025) and the associated Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) guideline to increase productivity and climate resilience in the agriculture sector. ICRAF is also among the founding members of the Tanzania Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance (TCSAA), a national platform for coordination and promotion of climate-smart agriculture in national programs in Tanzania