News on Land

The launch of the 600 MW Karuma Hydropower Dam has been delayed again. 
The Uganda Electricity Generation Company (UEGCL)  has announced they will now commission the hydro-electric power dam in June next year.
The dam, which was built by Sino-hydro Corporation, and whose commissioning has been extended more than twice, is planned for launch on June 22,  2022. 

THE Forestry and Value Chains Development Programme (FORVAC) has brought in positive results in
Namtumbo District, Ruvuma Region as villagers are no longer engaging in illegal logging as it was in the past.

Reports have it that villagers are now aware of the dangers that comes with illegal logging and
deforestation and in turn they collectively conserve the nearby forests so as to earn cash that
makes them to execute different village development projects.

Main photo: A man crosses a canal on a fallen tree following Cyclone Yaas in Digha, Purba Medinipur district in the eastern state of West Bengal, India, May 27, 2021. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

More than 96,000 hectares (237,221 acres) of agricultural land has been inundated in parts of an eastern Indian state hit by a powerful storm this week, officials said on Friday, a year after the coastal region was ravaged by a super cyclone.

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world and around half of its land territory is forest-covered. Deforestation is one of the biggest worldwide threats not only for biodiversity but also for climate. In fact, removing trees by burning them or then letting them decompose in their entire life cycle, leads to massive carbon dioxide release currently reaching up to 10-15% of all the human greenhouse gases emissions.

Two people have been sentenced to six months in prison for encroaching on Mount Kei Central Forest Reserve on the border between South Sudan,  Koboko and Yumbe districts.

Thirty-one others were charged with carrying out prohibited activities in the forest and remanded until June 24.

Writing in the Daily Maverick Citizen Tatenda Mazurura reports on the finding of the Hunger Hotspots report highlighting that in parts of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, many people are experiencing a 

THE government is losing billions in uncollected revenues due to slow pace in planning, surveying and leasing land, the House heard yesterday

Debating the 2021/22 budget estimates for the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development in Dodoma, the lawmakers said land is the only resource that if well managed, can earn the government fortune.

Jerry Silaa—Ukonga (CCM) argued that the government is losing big time by not putting enough
resources in planning, surveying and leasing of land.

A lot of serious thought appears to have gone into the agriculture budget for 2021/22 as tabled in Parliament on Monday by Prof Adolf Mkenda, the minister in charge of the docket.

The budget covers most of the areas that need to worked on so as to genuinely revolutionalise the way Tanzania’s agriculture is conducted.

The fresh drive in the sector seeks to prioritise several areas, including seed development; improving extension services, and increasing the size of land for irrigation farming.

Longonjo — The agricultural project "AGROLIVE" is investing 100 million Kwanzas (Akz) in mechanization and promotion of maize and bean crops in the municipality of Lépi, Longonjo (Huambo).

The information was given this Monday to the press by the director general of AGROLIVE, Inocêncio Katiavala, pointing out that 62 direct jobs are expected to be created in the agricultural year 2020/21.

With this, he explained, a production of 500 tons of maize and 100 tons of beans is expected.

The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) has given about  3,000 mechanics in Jinja City a six-month ultimatum to  vacate land on which they are operating to pave way for revamping of the railway.

This is contained in a letter from URC to the mechanics under their association, Jinja City Mechanics and Artisan Association Cooperative Saving and Credit Society Ltd.

Dodoma. The ministry of Agriculture yesterday outlined seven areas the government will prioritise in the 2021/22 financial year to boost growth of the key economic sector.

They include research, seed development and extension services. Others are increasing the size of land for irrigation farming, strengthening markets for agricultural crops, improving access to inexpensive loans for funding agricultural, and improving preparedness against invasion of pests and crop diseases.

A cyclone, known as Jobo, made landfall near Dar es Salaam in late April. By this point it had weakened to a tropical depression and impacts were, thankfully, minimal.

Land-falling tropical cyclones are rare in Tanzania so past events are outside the memory of most. It had even been suggested that Cyclone Kenneth, which occurred in 2019, was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Tanzania. The largest impacts of cyclone Kenneth were felt further south where at least 38 lives were lost and almost 35,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.