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Economic analysis of climate smart agriculture practices among smallholder farmers in Kilosa district
No full textMasters ThesisClimate Smart Agriculture practices are climate change impact adaptation options which
have been emphasized in REDD+ villages in Kilosa District, but the cost and benefits of
particular CSA practices are not well known by most of the farmers. The specific
objectives were to identify climate smart small scale agriculture practices in the study
area, to compare the profitability of different climate smart agriculture adopted by small
holder farmers, and lastly to identify factors influencing farmer's decision to adopt
climate smart agriculture practices. Questionnaire was administered to a total of 100
households. A large proportion (50.9%, 43.8% and 43.6%) of the households in Ulaya-
Kibaoni, Nyali and Dodoma-Isanga villages respectively reported crop rotation to be
practiced by majority of the households. Cover crops were practiced by 3.6%, 16.7% and
2.6% of the households in Ulaya-Kibaoni, Nyali and Dodoma-Isanga villages
respectively. Cost benefit analysis was used to compare profitability of the CSA practices.
All practices had positive NPV and BCR~ 1; this means that they were economically
profitable. Reduced tillage had NPV of TZS 2 024 585.4/= per hectare and high cost of
production but it had higher returns than crop rotation and cover crops practices.
Conventional farming was found to be less profitable with NPV TZS 940 569.92/=
per hectare. Factor analysis was used to identify factors which influence farmer's decision
in the adoption of CSA practices. The results show that economic factor have high
loading factor 0.893 to 0.688 implying that variables loaded to this factor have more
influence on the decision of farmers to adopt CSA practices, other factors include
information, social factors, and environmental concern. Most CSA practises has high
investment cost. Training to various CSA practices which are cost effective in terms of
implementation and suit their ecological conditions is important.Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (CCIAM) programme in Tanzani
Climate variability, gender relations and nutritional status of children and adults in Rudewa village, Tanzania
No full textMasters DissertationThe study was conducted to examine gender relations and nutritional status of children
and adults in Rudewa-Mbuyuni Village, Kilosa District as influenced by climate
variability. A face to face interview was conducted using questionnaires to obtain data
from 158 respondents. Three focus group discussions were held to supplement the
information captured through interviews. Anthropometric measurements of height,
weight and Mid Upper Arm Circumference were performed to assess the Body Mass
Index (BMI) of household members as a nutritional status indicator.The BMI of 124
children (52 boys and 72 girls) was assessed. The 24-hour dietary recall technique was
used to assess household food consumption. Data was analyzed using the IBM Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) software. About 73 %of the respondents were
male and 27% were female. Most respondents were within the age range of 20t060years
(73 %), 75% were married, about 86% owned a house and 93 %were farmers. Food
shortage was experienced by 82 % of households with 60% purchasing food for
consumption during the farming season. Most respondents (88 %) were aware of climate
change and linked it with changing rainfall and temperature regimes, and 74 % indicated
that climate variability had great impact on food production. The BMI for adult
respondents (70 %) was normal, 10 % were underweight, 20 % were either overweight or
obese. About 15% of the boys and 8 % of the girls were overweightand 12% of boys and
8% of girls were underweight.There is evidencethat the majority of households in
Rudewa-Mbuyuni do not meet their daily nutritional requirements due to food shortages
induced by erratic rainfall, linked to climate change; with differential impacts on nutrition
status across gender groups.The Eco-Health Projec
Human impact on the headwater environment in the Uporoto Highlands, Tanzania
No full textHeadwater catchments are often perceived to be remote and peripheral, and are
therefore neglected, least developed and economically backward. However,
changes in headwater regions have repercussions far beyond their borders. The
Uporoto highlands in Mbeya region form the headwater region for the Ruaha
River and Kiwira River drainage systems that are of great significance to
Tanzania. Village settlements development, population growth, and poor land
management along the water divide have contributed to gully erosion that is a
potential hazard. Using a case of Igoma, the largest village settlement in the
region, this paper establishes the link between settlement growth and
degradation of headwater catchments. It discusses the opportunities and
hazards of the gullies to the local communities. The paper further draws lessons
for rural settlement development, and gives recommendations for minimizing
the negative impacts of degradation of the headwater environment. Lastly, it
creates awareness on the apparently neglected potential environmental
hazards in the Uporoto Highlands
Advances in observation and estimation of land use impacts on climate changes: improved data, upgraded models, and case studies
No full textThis article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/748169Global land use and land cover pattern has greatly changed in the past 50 years, which exerts direct or indirect influence on the
climate change remarkably at both regional and global scales. Therefore, observing and estimating the land use impacts on surface
climate is essential and has been continuously promoted by researchers. This paper explores the advancement in the models, data,
and application for observing and estimating the land use impacts on surface climate and points out further research needs and
priorities, which hopefully will provide some references for related studies.The National
Key Programme for Developing Basic Science in China
(Grant no. 2010CB950900), the major research plan of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no.
91325302), and the National Natural Science Funds of China
for Distinguished Young Scholar (Grant no. 71225005)
Impacts of climate change on maize and beans production and compatibility of adaptation strategies in Pangani River Basin, Tanzania
No full textAvailable in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Reducing Climate Change Challenges through Forestry and Other Land Use Practices, 2014Climate change present new development challenges particularly in Sub-Saharan countries where the majority of the population depend on climate-sensitive activities such as rain-fed agriculture. Africa's vulnerability to climate change impacts is underscored by the severe droughts experienced recently in the Sahel in 2012 and the Horn of Africa in 2011. All these bring into focus the serious impacts of climate change and compatibility of adaptation as a way of providing sustainable solutions to reduce the vulnerability of the majority of poor Africans. This study employed Ricardian approach to assess the impacts of temperature and rainfall variability on the net revenue from two main food crops (maize and beans) from Pangani River Basin produced primarily under rain fed agriculture. The study also employed the gross margin to assess the compatibility of irrigation adaptation strategy. The results indicate that increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall has decreased the net revenue from maize and beans production and raised rent for irrigated farms particularly in the middle and low altitudes of the basin. Increase in temperature has increased the net revenue from maize and beans production in the upper altitudes of basin. The results clearly demonstrate that climate change have affected the livelihood of the majority of the poor small scale farmers found in the middle and lower altitudes and improved that of farmers living in the upper. They also demonstrate that irrigation is a significant technique for adaptation to climate change in the basin.Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (CCIAM) Programme funded through the Norwegian embassy in Tanzani
Population, development and deforestation in Songea district, Tanzania
No full textDeforestation is a phenomenon that forms part of environmental degradation. The fact that deforestation is both a source and contributor to global warming, as it reduces the carbon sinks, cannot be contested [1]. A case study research was carried out in Songea Tanzania aimed at establishing whether there was differential participation of people of different demographic characteristics in those activities that lead into tree cover decline. The study revealed that people of different age group and, sex categories played different roles in activities that lead to de-forestation such as felling trees for firewood and felling trees for establishing and/or for expanding farms. It was observed that age group and sex categories influenced one’s involvement or participation in deforestation thus contributing differently by both activity and degree of forest cover reduction. This literally means that people of different demographic characteristics of age and sex contributed differently to the ailing deforestation process. From this end, it is logical and implicit arguing that the identification of actors in deforestation-related activities confirms the disaggregated manner by which population acts on the environment. Development of blanket con-servation packages that are not focused on age group and sex categories of members the population in question remains too general and in-effective. To be precise, the planning and implementation of effective conservation initiatives has to take into account demographic characteristics of the population in question. The observed real-ity is that the population engages with the environment not as a unit but in its disaggregated manner, i.e. based on its demographic sub-categories [2]. The theory behind a successful conservation initiative is based on unveil-ing the mechanism by which population acts when resulting to deforestation
Effectiveness of climate change coping strategies on household vulnerability to food insecurity in Lushoto district
No full textMasters ThesisTn different parts of the world, farming households have evolved different climate change
coping strategies (CCCS) to improve their livelihood. This study focuses on the
effectiveness of CCCS that deal with household food insecurity (HFS). A cross sectional
survey was performed on a random sample of 150 households in Lushoto District using
structured questionnaire. Focus group discussions were conducted through which the
commonly practised strategies were identified. Community perceptions on the
effectiveness of the strategies were assessed using a Likert type scale. Data on HFS were
collected using Household Dietary Diversity (1100) and Household food Insecurity
Access Scale (HFIAS) which were also used to determine the incidence or rood
insecurity. Multiple regression models were used to establish the relationships between
HDDI, HFIAS and CCCS. The commonly practised coping strategies were irrigation, the
use of short-term crop varieties, sale of family labour, early planting, late planting, crop
diversification, involvement in petty business, sale of livestock and poultry, tree planting
and land intensification, purchase food on credits, borrowing food from friends or
relatives, cultivation in wet areas and sending children to eat at neighbour houses.
The study revealed that all the strategies were perceived effective in ensuring HFS with
exception of the last two. Results of multiple regressions showed that HFS measured by
HFIAS was significant and positively related to land intensification (beta = 0.34,
P < 0.05) and early planting (beta = 0.20, P < 0.05). Also, HFS measured by HDD was
significant and positively related to crop diversification (beta = 0.39, P < 0.05). Although
majority of the strategies were perceived effective in ensuring HFS, only the above three
were effective. Therefore, these strategies could be strengthened, advocated and
integrated in different local and national developmental interventions to improve
community members' resilience towards climate change and vulnerability to food
insecurity.Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (CCIAM) programme in Tanzani
Climate scenario and location substitution approach in analyzing the impacts of climate change in smallholder farming systems: case study of Pangani River Basin and Pemba, Tanzania
No full textMost studies analyzing the impacts of climate change are centered on the use of sophisticated data manipulation and complicated models not easily understood by smallholder farmers and planners in developing countries. This study use meteorological data collected from three climate phenomenon; high, medium and low rainfall locations and farm level data collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGD) in the corresponding 11 villages in Pangani river basin (PRB) and Pemba in Tanzania to explain the cost effective methodology for analyzing the impacts of climate change. Using mult-criteria method and substitution approach that switches
across locations, this method can be used to establish the most likely situation in smallholder farming communities the case of climate changes. The paper conclude that although the model cannot be used to generalize the outcomes across wide planning horizons but its simplicity make it ideal to planners and smallholder farmers in developing countries
Contribution of climate based adaptive practices to household food security in Utengule Usongwe, Mbeya rural district, Tanzania
No full textMasters ThesisMbeya District is vulnerable to climate change which affects food production and its
security. Rain fed agricultural production has subjected the area to food shortage and its
security in years with low rainfall. Although different development agenda have been
planned by the government toward improving living standard of the people, climate
change is among the major constraints against the realization of those agenda. The main
objective of this study was to examine the contribution of subsistence farmers' adaptive
practices in sustaining household food security under climate change stress. Specific
objective included identifying local farmer's perception on climate change and food
security; determining the nature of production under climate change; as well as examining
adaptive practices applied by farmers to reduce food system vulnerability to climate
change. A Cross Section Research Design was used. Data were collected from a sample
of 120 respondents. Structured questionnaire and FGDs were employed in data collection.
Five independent variables were modelled against dependent variables using linear
regression model. The findings show that, copied and adopted practices by farmers
include applying agricultural fertilizers, eating less preferred food, cultivating along
wetland areas, as well as crop rotation. This study recommends that emphasis should be
put on environmental protection through tree planting and provision of agricultural input
during the adverse climate change.Non
Local Knowledge on the Influence of Land Use/Cover Changes and Conservation Threats on Avian Community in the Kilombero Wetlands, Tanzania
No full textLocal knowledge of the history and ecology of wetland ecosystems is very useful in wetland resources management, especially when other historical ecological information is not available and can be integrated with scientific knowledge to introduce better management of resources. The aims of this paper were to assess existing local knowledge on land use/cover changes in the Kilombero wetlands, thereafter investigate local knowledge on its effect on avian population in the wetland and identify factors influencing local knowledge on such changes in the study area. Random sampling was used to obtain representative sample population for this study. Structured questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to extract information from local people in six villages. Study results from multi-response analysis showed that natural forests had been converted into cropland and bushed grassland, grassland to crop land, grassland to grazed land, forest to settlement and grassland to settlement. Land use change was singled out as primary cause of decrease in avian community in the wetland. Threats to the conservation of avian species were identified as livestock grazing, drought, use of poison, traps and bush meat hunting for food. Age and education level were seen as determinants of household’s knowledge on the ecological changes. This pool of existing knowledge is important among wetland users and stakeholders in order to generate conservation strategies of the wetland ecosystem.This study was sponsored by the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU) program through the project NUFU-TZ 2007/10229, Integrating Livelihoods and Multiple Biodiversity Values in Wetlands Management in Tanzania. Sokoine University of Agriculture is thanked for providing research permit and field logistics. Thanks go to all people in the study area especially households whom without tireless used their time during interview and focus group discussions to provide valuable information for this study