CENSUS PLANNED FOR NGORONGORO RESERVE

Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) Board of Trustees chair Mwanaidi Maajar speaks at a past event. She announced at a a meeting with members of the Pastoralist Women Council last week that a new population census will be conducted in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) to establish the number of people in need of relief food. PHOTO|FILE 

By Mussa Juma,The Citizen Correspondent

Ngorongoro. A new population census will be conducted in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) in Ngororongoro District, Arusha Region, according to the authority’s Board of Trustees chair Mwanaidi Maajar.

The move is aimed at establishing the number of people who are in need of relief food. The district is prone to food shortages because of frequent droughts.

She revealed this during a meeting with members of the Pastoralist Women Council in the conservation area which also doubles as one of the three divisions in Ngorongoro District.

According to her, 87,000 people are known to live in the 8,900 square kilometre conservation area but not all are lined up for emergency food handouts. She could not elaborate.

Ambassador Maajar said the government has not made any decision on the request to allow residents of the area to cultivate food crops despite repeated pleas in the wake of recurrent droughts.

She said the law that established NCAA still prohibited any form of agriculture but allowed the livestock keepers to continue grazing their large herds of animals uninterrupted.

A representative of the Pastoralist Women Council Ms Manda Ngoitiko pleaded with NCAA to initiate change of the laws so that they can be allowed to cultivate food crops.

CREDIT SOURCE: THE CITIZEN