PROVISION FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO UNDERTAKE A RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY OF AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE USANGU FLATS, SOUTHERN TANZANIA

The Government of Tanzania (GoT) is preparing a Resilient Natural Resource Management for Growth Project (REGROW) to improve management and development of priority tourism assets in Southern Tanzania to facilitate sustainable tourism development. One of the priority national parks included in the project is the Ruaha National Park which lies downstream of irrigated rice development in the Usangu Flats and upstream of the Mtera dam hydropower reservoir. Inflows into the Ruaha National Park and the Mtera reservoir have been significantly reduced over the past two decades and biodiversity values and related tourism income in the park are now threatened.

In order to prepare interventions under the proposed natural resource management component for the project, a reconnaissance survey and baseline report/diagnostic for natural resource management in the Usangu Flats  needs to be undertaken upstream of the outlet to the Ruaha at Ngiriama step/threshold to the Mountain ranges of Mpanga/Kipengere and Poroto. This reconnaissance survey will establish the pattern and intensity of water use in the Ruaha sub-basin, the main styles of irrigation management and the current capacity of water regulation, irrigation operation and management by the relevant basin and local government agencies and the irrigation beneficiaries themselves. The objective is to obtain an understanding of the current level of flow management and drainage across the Ruaha National Park boundary and assess the level of intervention needed to mitigate further impacts on the Ihefu Wetland and downstream flows to the Ruaha National Park.