Tanzanian farmers look to science - and tradition - to resist drought

As Tanzania struggles with increasingly extreme weather, the farmer, from Mbarali in Tanzania’s Mbeya region, has seen his maize production decline. “Our major challenge here is drought. We face a critical shortage of water, rains are not reliable (and) we harvest very little,” Veremund Mfuse said.

AlertNet reports that some farmers in the Southern Highlands are more likely to use traditional maize varieties, which they say are better adapted to local conditions. This is a measure that could turn to be effective, according to recent findings by the International Institute for Environment and Development. It is suggested that traditional knowledge could be good to adapt agriculture to climate change.