The Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT) in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will install automatic weather stations in all tea growing regions of Tanzania.

Benjamin Mtaki, crop water management programme leader at TRIT, said, “The automatic weather stations are able to give different information like weather forecasting, outbreak of pest and diseases as well as soil water deficit for the purpose of irrigation.”

Mtaki added that the automatic weather stations can also determine the planting season and the yielding period as well.

“Currently we have installed the gadgets in three stations — one in Mufindi at Ngwazi Tea Research Station, another in Rungwe at Wakulima Tea Company Limited-Watco and another one at Marikitanda Tea Research Station in Muheza, Amani,” revealed Mtaki.

The TRIT has rolled out new technology in Tanzania because the station uploads meteorological information directly to the website and anyone can access it from anywhere with any device that can access the Internet, noted Mtaki.

The crop water management programme leader said that the automatic weather stations technology is also used in other countries including Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Botswana and Egypt.