After sitting with experts, stakeholders, village leaders, elders, men, women and children of Mweka Village, Moshi Rural District, Kilimanjaro Region, the time has come to exchange views and ideas about Mweka’s Environment. This research asked: How has the environment changed? How has the economy changed? What capacity and expertise exists to improve the environmental and economic conditions in Mweka Village?

Mweka Environment 2010

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In the history of Mweka, the elders explain that at the time of Independence in 1961, there were few households, people were making handsome profits from coffee, there was space to farm and graze livestock in the forest and after Ujamaa people had access to land in Chibo Estate as well. Droughts and food shortage occurred about once every ten years. Starting around the time period of the 1978 Kagera War, conditions changed. The world market price of coffee dropped, economic and agricultural policies changed to remove subsidies and loans, and costs of agriculture increased, especially of fungicide for coffee. Management laws for Kilimanjaro Forest restricted use of forest resources until it was absorbed by Kilimanjaro National Park due to continuing environmental degradation.Mweka’s farmers tore out their coffee and planted maize, and since maize does not grow well in shade, they also felled most trees in their farms. Compare an aerial photograph of 1962 (page 2) and a WorldView satellite image of 2008 (page 3). These pictures show damage to the environment within

Environmental Change:

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Mweka Village 1962

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Mweka Village 2008

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Kibosho Mission 1967-

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Kibosho Mission Rainfall

Long Rains: Jan-July

Short Rains: Aug-Dec

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Kilimanjaro Forest, areas near the forest boundary, river valleys, water sources, and coffee estates.A large percentage of farmers have complained that harvests have declined because of a lack of rain, heat and sun, and soil degradation. Rainfall data from Kibosho Mission show that from 1920, total annual rainfall has fallen 39 percent, equal to 986 mm per year. If you compare the average rainfall from 1967 to 1974 with average rainfall from 2002 to 2009, total annual rainfall has fallen 10 percent, equal to 195 mm per year. The reduction is greatest from July to September, when most farmers in Mweka have just planted their maize at the end of the long rains.

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Kibosho Rainfall Totals

Kibosho 1967-1974

Kibosho 2002-2009

First, many people have already given up on coffee cultivation and very few people can cultivate enough banana, maize and beans in their own farm. Outside the farm, it is difficult to find salaried work or informal day work. In drought it becomes even more difficult to find work while the prices of food go up. In total the costs of education, health and energy have increased. At the same time the availability of natural resources like firewood, lumber, water and fodder is becoming a problem due to changing laws and degradation of Kilimanjaro Forest. People are cultivating without access to irrigation and the sizes of farms is reducing because of

the increase in total population. Therefore a major cause of natural resource and land scarcity and economic struggles is the increasing population.

In drought, people who buy seeds and

rent farms in the low altitudes or who pay laborers to farm suffer great losses because of their costs of agriculture. Food prices increase while availability of work decreases. Furthermore people who had losses because of drought or family emergencies can fail to rent a farm in the lowlands in subsequent years.Different from maize, in drought people who have avocado trees still sell avocado, people who irrigate farms can still harvest bananas and vegetables, and people with potatoes, yams, cassava and taro still harvest. Finally, if someone has endeavored to keep shade trees, irrigate, and fertilize with manure and compost, they can still get profit from their coffee harvest in drought years.

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Kilimanjaro Population Growth

Economic Change:

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First, some farmers have already seen the profit in planting trees in their farms, using new methods to grow banana and coffee and planting new coffee. It’s true that those farmers cannot harvest much maize, but harvests and profit from banana, coffee and potatoes are better than maize. Also, agroforestry helps protect mixed crops much more than open fields of maize from the effects of damaging sun, drought and wind. Land farmed with maize dries out quickly and has nothing to protect it from wind. Compare the photographs

of agroforest farms and maize fields. On the left side trees were planted on the farm boundaries (shown in red lines), providing shade, mulch, wind break, and soil conservation in the stream valley. On the right side, maize and bananas are dried out and damaged by wind.

Economically, the history of a family can cause poverty even if an individual is intelligent and works hard. For example, if elderly life with grandchildren while their parents work in town, the household fails to farm well. Also if a mother is the head of household by herself, it is very difficult for her to get time to work, farm a second plot away from home, or get involved in developments and groups in the village. If the village gets any development projects or seminars it is essential to visit households of elderly and women to give them full information and updates.

Capacity to improve Environment & Economy:

Trees surround and protect the farm The farm has no protection from sun & wind

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These photographs were taken in the areas shown on page 6. On the left, coffee and bananas grow

well under the protection of Grevillea trees. On the right, maize and banana are exposed to damage from

strong wind and sun.

Second, Tanzanians have started to learn how to improve harvests and value of coffee, especially to use organic farming methods and natural compost and manure without any chemical fertilizer, fungicide or pesticide. The Orera Goods Community has already planted new coffee and organized themselves to process and sell higher quality coffee at a better price. First, you try to increase harvests by planting new coffee, pruning, and improving compost and mulching.

Women in Orera clean coffee parchment Orera Central Pulping Unit

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Third, learn from livestock experts how to raise various types of livestock. It could help if people join livestock groups to help divide costs, share ideas, access better fodder and medicine, access markets, and apply for small loans to start livestock income-generating projects. There are appropriate types of livestock according to the ability of every household, including rabbit, chicken, duck, sheep, milk goats, pig, and milk cattle.

Fourth, Take care of water sources by planting indigenous trees and grasses to prevent soil erosion, keep pollution from entering the water, and prevent springs from drying up. Be sure that everyone can irrigate their farm. Anyone who had their irrigation furrow cut off by development like a road, anyone who was given land far from a furrow, and anyone with a furrow that has fallen out of use should make sure that they get water by repairing furrows or sharing watering hoses and

Many people depend on Kichao Springs but the area is not well

protected or cared for

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pumps. It would also help if people revive storage reservoirs in the irrigation system.

Anyone keeping fish ponds is getting profit from them, but because of droughts and reduced water flow, very few people have succeed in raising fish. It is advisable if furrow

members help each other to make a fish pond and raise fish, they should share the profits.

Fifth, plant trees as savings and investments. If you need to pay school fees, pay hospital fees, or buy food in

a drought year, you will be able to sell a tree instead of selling chickens and missing eggs, or selling livestock and missing milk, meat and fertilizer. You can mix quick-growing trees like grevillea with high-value hardwood trees like teak and mahogany. Although you will need a permit to sell a mahogany tree, the customer purchasing the tree is the one to pay the permit fee. The price of mahogany in the world market is increasing because it is no longer legal to sell South American mahogany. The boards to build a single mahogany guitar are sold for $150 in the U.S. and the price of a foot of mahogany boards in local Moshi markets never goes below 1,000 Tanzanian shillings.

Indigenous reservoir for storing irrigation water is out of use

Mahogany Wood for Guitar

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Sixth, do not agree to sell resources or harvests for cheap prices here in the village. Instead, research the markets by communicating with friends and relatives in Moshi, Arusha and Dar es Salaam before you sell anything. If businessmen come to your place to purchase avocado, lumber, coffee or any other thing, it means they are getting a higher profit. Ask yourselves, if so many of you are selling avocado, why not harvest together, arrange to send to the market and keep the profit yourselves instead of giving profit to a businessman from elsewhere?

Seventh, There is a new program to cultivate vanilla in Kilimanjaro started by Tanzania Indigenous Poverty Eradication Initiatives (TIPEI). Worldwide, vanilla is

indigenous to Mexico and is mostly grown in Madagascar, Uganda and Indonesia. Here in Tanzania it is grown in Zanzibar, Kagera and Kilimanjaro. Vanilla is a vine which grows best on Jatrofa trees. It doesn’t need pesticides but it does need shade, natural fertilizer (especially manure), well-drained soil and plenty of water. Farmers can expect their first harvest two to three years after planting and then the vines will continue to produce for fifteen years. It is possible to harvest a

kilogram of dried vanilla from each vine, for which the price of a kilogram has never dropped below $5 and can go above $30.

Vanilla grown in Zanzibar

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Eighth, Roots and Shoots worldwide is an open and free community and ideology. Anyone can become a member if they have the motivation and passion to follow and implement the ideas and philosophy of Roots and Shoots started by Dr. Jane Goodall and Tanzanian secondary school students in the year 1991 in Dar es Salaam. The philosophy is:

1. To foster respect and compassion for all living things2. To promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs3. To inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment.

It means that every one is welcome in Roots and Shoots to exchange ideas and volunteer to improve the world. Along these lines, a group of twelve people from Canada, the United States, and Tanzania formed the Kilimanjaro Conservation Site Task Force the 11th of November, 2010. All of us are students and adults who endeavor to learn and volunteer.

We have the mission to improve environmental conservation on Mount Kilimanjaro by cooperation with community members in order to create programs for conservation, education for development, environmental education, and economic improvement as a whole.

Founding members of the Conservation Education Site Task Force

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Thank You:

This booklet was made possible by the support and cooperation of the State University of New York at Buffalo, the leaders and members of Mweka Village, the Jane Goodall Institute, the Kilimanjaro Conservation Site Task Force, Orera Community Group, Tanzania Commission of Science and Technology (COSTECH), Pangani Water Board, Mweka College of African Wildlife Management, GeoEye Foundation, National Science Foundation, Mark Diamond Research Fund, and Hugh Grant Applied GIS Award. People who have volunteered their advice and assistance include Pius Kimario, Joseph Mallya, Abubakari Sekievu, Thadeus Mrema, Dr. Makundi, Gumbo Mhandeni, Japhet Mwanang’ombe Philip Jacob na Elana Daniels.

Thank You, Joseph Holler

Dr Jane Goodall with Roots and Shoots members opened the Roots and Shoots Conservation Site Library to celebrate 50 years of research and conservation of

Chimpanzees and their habitat in Gombe Stream.