Drought-hit Tanzania orders herders off catchments

DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 2 (Reuters) Tanzania has ordered farmers and herders who have encroached on water catchment areas and game reserves to leave in a drive to protect the drought-weakened environment, Vice-President Ali Muhammed Shein said.

The east African country is emerging from its worst drought in years, which has led to food shortages, and to power cuts due to a drop in hydroelectric power output.

''This environmental destruction is the cause of drought and the drying up of water catchment areas in the country,'' Shein said in a speech broadcast on a state-run radio station late yesterday. ''On average, 91,300 hectares of forest is lost every year.'' Shein said the government had given arable farmers and herders until June to leave, adding that the order would be enforced by regional commissioners.

The government has also banned the movement of livestock into Tanzania from neighbouring countries for pasture and dwindling supplies of water.

A World Bank official on Wednesday urged the government to take water management more seriously as supplies come under pressure from increased urban demand and occupation of river catchment areas.

Francis Ato Brown, a senior sanitation engineer for the World Bank in Tanzania, said scarcity could cut as much as 2 percentage points off annual economic growth.

Shein blamed the over-use of water catchment areas for a sharp drop in water levels at hydroelectric dams, which has forced the country to ration power and rely on costly diesel generators.

He said the eviction order also applied to small-scale miners who had moved into catchment areas.

Shein also announced a ban on plastic shopping bags used to pack fruit and vegetables as part of the government's strategy to stem environmental degradation.

The bags are blamed for harming livestock, blocking drainage systems and lowering soil fertility.

Shein said the government planned to double the tax on thicker, industrial plastic bags.

REUTERS CH BST1746