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| ZERO EMISSIONS RESEARCH INITIATIVE (ZERI) | |
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TANZANIA
ZERI Activities in Tanzania Tanzania has relatively fertile soils and has a wide range of climatic regimes. This allows the cultivation of a wide variety of agricultural crops. The country's leading food crop is maize. Other important food crops include rice, banana, millet, sorghum, wheat and cassava. Of its export crops, the most important are coffee, cotton, tea, cashewnuts, sisal, tobacco, and sugar from sugar cane. Four crops, namely cotton, tea, coffee and cashewnuts provide well over 50% of Tanzania's agriculture export earnings. There is a lot of water hyacinth, wild grass, and sawdust. Thus, Tanzania has great potential towards, becoming a major mushroom producer and exporter. Currently there are a number of mushroom farming initiative like the growing of Pleurotus Osteatus mushrooms, which are fairly were advanced. The promotion regarding the cultivation and use of Ganoderma mashrooms as dietary food supplements is envisaged. A National Committee on Zero Emission Research Initiative (ZERI has been set to undertake various ZERI Activities. The University of Dar es Salaam; Sokoine University of Agriculture and Tanzania Industrial Research and Development Organisation (TIRDO), are the key institutions promoting ZERI Concepts in Tanzania. The Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) of the University of Dar es Salaam, situated in Zanzibar has the potential of serving as one of the research collaborators in ZERI seaweed value-addition projects. UNDP Tanzania has supported the implementation of the ZERI vision in Tanzania, and had, during 1999, provided some catalytic funds to the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), to undertake a pilot venture on mushroom farming activity, based at Ukiriguru Agricultural Research station in Mwanza, Tanzania, based on the rich abundance of locally available mushroom farming substrates, namely: Cotton waste, and water hyacinth biomass. Tanzania had participated in the First Mushroom Farming Training Workshop in 2001. Since then, very impressive developments have been witnessed regarding project activity implementation. For example: with the seed funding support provided by the Regional Project, TIRDO has established a functional mushroom farming infrastructure: a neat mushroom house. A mushroom culture bank for eleven mushroom species has also been established at TIRDO so far, of whom 56% are women. Since starting to supply mushroom spawn to farmers in September 2001, TIRDO has supplied 310 kg of spawn to mushroom producers. Their current target is to produce 150 kg of spawn per month. Mushroom production business enterprises are also increasingly being established; and mushroom consumption practices in the country (with their associated health benefits) are on the increase. The mushroom farmers have organized themselves into a Mushroom Growers Association: which facilitates the sharing of information and experience. With additional funding inputs, Tanzania will generate a tangible mushroom production impact in a relatively short time; and the promising achievements seen in Dar es Salaam will soon be extended to rural Tanzania: alleviating poverty amongst rural women, and improving human health. The initial focus towards project implementation was on edible mushrooms. TIRDO has since also embarked on R&D work on medicinal mushrooms (especially on Ganoderma lucidum and lentinula edodes). The results are very gratifying (Fig. 25). Two scientists and a technician have been recruited by TIRDO, working full time on project implementation. TIRDO scientists have also commenced R&D work on mushroom value-addition, in collaboration with the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC). One of the promising value-addition activities is the production of iodized mushrooms for goitre control, and for the production of high quality baby food formulae. The anticipated breakthrough innovations on this aspect of the project are likely to be of great benefit to other regions in Africa, whose population segments are also afflicted by iodine deficiency, and other micronutrient deficiency disorders. The impressive developments demonstrated are attributable to strong commitment and dynamic leadership of both the scientists and the top TIRDO management. General Information about Tanzania |
