Decision Support Tool for Climate Change Impacts in the Rufiji Basin, Tanzania
Introduction
Recent and projected future changes in Tanzanian climate and agriculture suggest that adaptation strategies will be increasingly necessary to meet crop production and water use requirements in the Rufiji River Basin and indeed throughout Tanzania. The Rufiji River Basin has great potential to produce large amounts of rice, maize and other crops, and to support livestock. However, climate change and rising demand for water is challenging the planned expansion of irrigated rice and other crops.
The objective of this Decision Support Tool (DST) is to provide information on how climate change is expected to impact crop productivity and water availability for irrigation, and how adaptation technologies and improved management can help to reduce negative climate change impacts. The DST provides information on:
- Climate: current and projected future temperature and precipitation
- Maize: impacts of climate change on productivity, and benefits of improved varieties, fertilizer and irrigation to reduce the negative effects of climate change.
- Rice: impacts of climate change on productivity of rice grown during the rainy season and under irrigation in the dry season, and benefits of improved varieties and fertilizer to reduce the negative effects of climate change.
- Water: impact of climate change on the availability of water for irrigation and other uses in the Basin, and effects of improved water management and expansion of rice production on downstream water flow.
The results presented in the DST are based on climate, crop, land use and hydrological modeling calibrated as much as possible with observed data from the Rufiji Basin region (see Methodology).
This Tool is part of a larger project, the Climate Resilience of Rice and Maize in the Rufiji Basin Project, funded by USAID-Tanzania.
Location of Rufiji Basin, Tanzania
