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.

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.

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.

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.

19 May 2021 (GLOBAL) — The Land Portal and Open Data Charter are launching the Open Up Guide on Land Governance, the latest addition to a lauded series of practical guides for governments to address key policy changes. This launch comes as part of the Open Gov Week (OGW), an annual call-to-action to transform the way governments serve their citizens. 

Current estimates of land-use change may be capturing only one-quarter of its true extent across the world, new research shows.

Early this year the world commemorated the International Day of Forests, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) joining Uganda to reiterate their commitment to restoring forests and degraded lands, as well as calling for action to reduce deforestation.

Background
The call for forest restoration and better management of the ecosystem was made during a high level national dialogue organised jointly by FAO, the European Union, Sweden and the Ministry of Water and Environment.

A mineral water company Hema Beverages has run to court in a case in which it seeks to recover Shs216m from a real estate cum land seller.

Hema Beverages claims it was defrauded in a land deal after it later discovered that the land they had paid for had already been sold.  

On April 26, 2021, the Decree amending several provisions of Mexico’s General Law of Sustainable Forestry Development was published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF). The Decree is effective as of April 27.

In relevant part, the Decree’s amendments include the following:

• Changes to land use of forest land will be subject to analysis of carbon storage capacity, in addition to the existing requirements set forth in the current law.

SOME famers from Mbeya Region have lost an appeal case, seeking to invalidate the High Court's decision on demand over 1bn/- as compensation and damages against Kapunga Rice Project, which was accused of maliciously damaging their rice.

This follows the decision of the Court of Appeal to "strike out" for being time barred the appeal lodged by five farmers, the appellants, who had sued, by way of representative suit, the Kapunga Rice Project, the respondent, before the High Court at Mbeya.