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European Union awards Heifer Nederland and

Heifer International Tanzania 1.6 Million euros to
support farmers adaptation to effects of Climate in
Igunga
The project will provide assistance to 72,000 beneficiaries
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (June 17, 2015) The European Union (EU) awarded Heifer
Nederland and Heifer International Tanzania a grant of euro 1,600,000 to fund the Igunga Eco
village Project in Tanzania, which will help the vulnerable community to cope with the impact
of climate change.
This grant is one of the 5 grant contracts under the second phase of the EU global Climate
Change alliance in Tanzania, which were signed During the EU Climate Diplomacy Day
celebrating EUs work of Climate change Mitigation and adaptation towards a climate resilient
world and economy. The Global Climate Change alliance provides a platform for dialogue and
financial support to adopt to adverse effects of climate change and works through Eco village
integrated approach.
In the Igunga Eco Village; Heifer Nederland, Heifer Tanzania, Aqua for All , the Igunga District
Council, and ICIPE will work together with local communities in nine villages to increase their
resilience towards adverse effects of climate change and will target 6,000 direct families, 6,000
indirect families which in total is 72,000 beneficiaries in the communities.
During the grant signing a, the Heifer Tanzania Country Director Dr. Henry Njakoi said We
will work with communities to support natural resource management, strengthen socio
economic situations and increase the agricultural productivity in the villages. Heifer will also
work with the Igunga district council to build the capacity of their technical departments. The
capacity building will enable the Igunga district council to access, plan and implement climate
change practices within their policies and programs and share lessons learnt and experiences
with others added Dr. Njakoi.
The Eco village approach in phase one covered three eco village areas; the semi-arid Eco village
which was the Chololo semi-arid area in Dodoma; Ocean -Eco village through the Replicable
solutions to climate change project in Pemba and Mountains Eco village in the Uluguru
Mountains. Phase two will scale up the successful innovations of the eco village approach to a
tune of 8 million euros (Tanzania shillings 18 billion) in the second phase compared to the 2.2

million euros in phase one.

Climate change is affecting the eco system by climate induced and more frequent droughts,
increased numbers of forest degradation, deforestation, water scarcity and reduced crop yields.
According to Dr. Gharib Bilal ; the Vice president of Tanzania ; the world average temperature
of 0.85 degrees centigrade will lead to catastrophic consequences in Africa. The decrease in
Temperature has triggered big impacts in agriculture. Sub shara Africa may see a decrease of
90% in Maize yields, 68% in beans yields and a decrease in coffee yields by 18% for southern
Africa and 22 % across all sub Saharan Africa. : Africa braces losing more than 300 million US
dollars in the regional economy from agriculture. With Disease induced by extreme flooding is
likely to impact a good number of African countries by 2020 alluded Dr. Bilal.
The project in Igunga aims at increasing the adaptation of climate change strategies and
increasing the yield of farmers by 40 % through the introduction of climate smart technologies.
Farmer field school approach will be used, where the farmers will be trained on a wide range of
proven climate adaptation technologies including integrated pest control, tree planting and
renewable energy sources. Innovative techniques to Recharge, Retain and Re- use water will be
tested and scaled up to make efficient use of available water sources. Heifer will distribute and
train the beneficiaries on passing on the Gift where Chicken, Fish , Push Pull technology
knowledge and seeds will be passed on to members of the community.

Speaking during the EU Climate Diplomacy day celebrations held only 200 days before COP21
Climate change conference in Paris, Her Excellency Ambassador Malika Berak Ambassador
of France to Tanzania called for all countries in the world to preserve the climate c for the
global good and urged participation of the Tanzania Government, Civil Society organizations
and private sector to attend the conference. The COP21 Paris Conference is the beginning of
Zero Carbon. Zero Poverty world said Ambassador Malika Berak

ABOUT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

Heifers mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. For more than 70
years, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural
training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income.
Heifer is currently working in more than 30 countries, including the United States, to help
families and communities become more self-reliant. For information, visit www.heifer.org,
read our blog, follow us on Facebook, on Twitter@Heifer or call 888.5HUNGER
(888.548.6437).