SUMMARY
The roundtable meeting was organised through a collaboration between Vi Agroforestry Tanzania and the Civic Social Protection Foundation (CSP)-Tanzania.
DODOMA: As the impacts of climate change increasingly threaten agricultural production, soil fertility and livelihoods, agroforestry stakeholders have launched a national platform aimed at bringing together key players to coordinate interventions, scale up innovations and strengthen the sector’s contribution to Tanzania’s economic development.
The newly established Tanzania Agroforestry Stakeholder Platform (TASP) is expected to serve as a national coordination mechanism, linking the government, private sector, civil society organisations, farmers, extension officers, researchers and financial institutions in efforts to promote wider adoption and investment in agroforestry.
The platform was officially launched in Dodoma recently during a roundtable meeting that brought together key agroforestry stakeholders from various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), institutions, individuals and the Ministry of Agriculture.
The meeting sought to agree on the platform’s objectives, operational arrangements, membership, structure and strategic areas of focus, with stakeholders stressing the need for stronger coordination to ensure that agroforestry research, innovations and policies translate into tangible benefits for farmers and the environment.
The roundtable meeting was organised through a collaboration between Vi Agroforestry Tanzania and the Civic Social Protection Foundation (CSP)-Tanzania.
The objective of the meeting was to bring together agroforestry stakeholders to discuss and agree on the objectives, operational arrangements, membership, structure, and strategic areas that the established Platform will focus on.
The round table meeting was a brainchild of Vi Agroforestry Tanzania in collaboration with the Civic Social Protection Foundation (CSP) – Tanzania.
Speaking on the sideline of the meeting, Mr Nemence Iriya, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Civic Social Protection Foundation, expressed that despite the growing number of agroforestry development initiatives and efforts, as well as the existence of enabling policy and institutional frameworks, Tanzania still there need to have a broad, sustainable and inclusive mechanism that brings together diverse agroforestry stakeholders.
“This is a platform where exchange of knowledge and experiences will happen, identify shared priorities, strengthen Agroforestry coordination, and undertake collective action to promote agroforestry development and investment in Tanzania,” he expressed.
He added, the launching of the Platform has surfaced at a proper time as it seeks to address at least four key challenges, among others.
“Tanzania is currently facing severe challenges of climate change impacts, and there are no effective coordination of stakeholders engaging onto agroforestry, we need to address these through the Platfom were going to form today,” he said.
Moreover, he said most of key researches and innovations on agroforestry are not benefiting the targeted farmers because they’re often remain in shelves, or stuck somewhere unutilised.
“Through this national platform the target is to ensure outcomes and innovations of the sector are meeting the country’s decision and policy makers in order to be translates into meaningful results,” he added.
In his remarks, the event’s chief guest, Mr Nickson Kimario, the Environmental Specialist from the Ministry of Agriculture (Environmental Management Unit) said the incepted platform should work to unite the government, private sector, civil.socierty organizations, extentional officers, the farmers and financial institutions, should it to bear the much- needed outcomes.
He insisted, the agroforest was a core sector for the flourishing of several key sectors in Tanzania, called the participants to ensure the established platform operates to bring about the anticipated outcomes.
“Agroforest allows farmers to practices intercropping, a necessary practice for the retention of water and soil fertility, which means it supports farmers and livestock keepers to increase production and productivity” he said.
As the world is grappling with the severe effects of climate change, Kimario observed that agroforest, if adopted and practiced professionally and widely, can assist Tanzania to battle with effects of climate change while increasing food production.
“In the implementation of the 2050 Development Vision, the government has outlined several strategies against climate change, thus agroforestry reflects the current government economic visions,” he added.
