Browsing by Author "Isinika, Aida"

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Choice of tillage technologies and impact on paddy yield and food security in Kilombero valley, Tanzania
(IISTE, 2022-04-30) Mlay, Glead; Mdoe, Ntengua; Boniface, Gideon; Magomba, Christopher; Isinika, Aida
This paper analyses choice of alternative tillage technology options and their impact on paddy yield and food security in Kilombero valley of Morogoro Region, Tanzania. The results show that the choice of any tillage technology option combining hand hoe with animal traction and/or tractor is influenced by characteristics of household head (sex, age and education), access to extension, dependency ratio, land size and livestock assets. As hypothesized the three improved tillage technology options above the hand hoe enhance paddy yield and improve household food security. Factors other than tillage technology options that influence paddy yield and food security are characteristics of household head(sex, age and education), access to extension, use of fertilizer and herbicides, dependency ratio, farm size and livestock assets. The study recommends promotion of tillage technology options involving use of animal traction and yield enhancing inputs.
Climate variability and farm technology adoption decisions among smallholder farmers in Pangani River Basin
(Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 2016) Moshi, Arbogast; Hella, Joseph; Isinika, Aida
Climate change is currently a serious threat for agriculture development and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate outlook for the 21 st century, the future of maize production in Tanzania remains under threat due to more intense and frequent droughts, and more erratic rainfall patterns. Effective adaptation to these ongoing changes in climatic condition is key to securing food production and livelihoods for millions of poor people. This paper analyzes factors that facilitate or impede the probability and level of adoption of sustainable farm technologies and farm households in response to climate shocks. A multivariate probit model was applied to the model the adoption decisions by farm households facing multiple farm technologies which can be adopted in various combinations. The analysis shows that both the probability and the level of decisions to adopt farm technologies influenced by rainfall and plot-level disturbances, household wealth, institutional factors, distance to the farm plot and input market. The results further show that there were complementarities between farm technologies which are not yet sufficiently exploited. In the light of these findings, government policies, and strategic investment plans should ensure the provision of improved farmer education to generate greater awareness about the multiple benefits of sustainable agricultural practices in the fight against climate change and variability.
Does rice commercialisation in Mngeta, Kilombero, Tanzania impact livelihoods?
(Agricultural Policy Research in Africa, 2020) Isinika, Aida; Mdoe, Ntengua; Jeckonia, John; Magomba, Christopher; Mlay, Gilead; Kilave, Devotha
Rice is Tanzania’s third most important staple crop, after maize and cassava. It is produced by more than 1 million agricultural households and involves many more actors and service providers along the value chain. Tanzania is second after Madagascar for rice production in East, Central and Southern Africa and is the leading rice producer and consumer in East Africa (Kilimo Trust 2014). In all producing areas, rice serves as a food and cash crop for farming households. About 70 percent of the rice produced by small-scale farmers (SSF) is sold, hence the underlying importance of supporting inclusive commercialisation. Although rice production in Tanzania has increased in recent years (7.3 percent per year from 2001–2011), supply still falls short of demand; the deficit was projected to be 2.84 million tonnes by 2020 and is growing (Wilson and Lewis 2015). This supply gap presents a huge opportunity for rice commercialisation among rice value chain actors. Since 2009, the government of Tanzania has identified rice as a priority crop and has undertaken several national and regional initiatives to promote rice commercialisation.
Effect of choice of tillage technology on commercialisation and livelihood of smallholder farmers in Mngeta division, Kilombero district, Tanzania
(Agricultural Policy Research in Africa, 2020) Mdoe, Ntengua; Mlay, Gilead; Isinika, Aida; Boniface, Gideon; Magomba, Christopher
This paper examines the effect of choice of tillage technology options on rice, commercialisation, yield, and livelihood of smallholder rice farmers in Mngeta Division, Kilombero District, Tanzania. There are four options comprising: (i) the hand hoe (HH), a basic tillage implement traditionally widely used in Kilombero District and Tanzania as a whole; (ii) the hand hoe and ox plough (HHOP); (iii) the hand hoe and tractor (HHTR); and (iv) the hand hoe, ox plough, and tractor (HHOPTR). The ox plough (OP) was introduced into Kilombero Valley (KV) by agro-pastoral immigrants in 2000 while the tractor (TR) was introduced by large- scale farmers in the late 1980s. The introduction of ox ploughs and tractors widened the choice of tillage technology options that farmers could choose and use in rice production besides the hand hoe. It was expected that the use of any of the three tillage technology options (HHOP, HHTR, and HHOPTR) would have a higher level of effectiveness than the HH alone on rice commercialisation and rice yield as an intermediate outcome contributing to livelihood, household food security, (FS), minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W), and poverty level as measured in terms of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
Is rice and sunflower commercialisation in Tanzania inclusive for women and youth?
(Agricultural Policy Research in Africa, 2022-04) Mdoe, Ntengua; Isinika, Aida; Mlay, Gilead; Boniface, Gideon; Magomba, Christopher; Jeckoniah, John; Mosha, Devotha
Rice is Tanzania’s third most important staple crop after maize and cassava, and produced by more than 1 million households who are mostly small- scale farmers. Meanwhile sunflower is the most important edible oil crop in Tanzania, also grown mostly by small-scale farmers. Over the last two decades, rice and sunflower have increasingly become important sources of income. This can be attributed to efforts by the government, in collaboration with development agencies, to commercialise rice and sunflower production to improve livelihoods and reduce poverty among actors in both value chains. There have also been efforts aimed at ensuring sustainable commercialisation and involvement of women and youth in the commercialisation process (URT, 2016; URT, 2019). Despite these initiatives, women and youth involvement in the rice and sunflower commercialisation process is likely to be constrained by their limited access to land and financial capital. Land access problems among women and youth in Tanzania are largely the result of cultural restrictions on the ownership of ancestral land by women and youth (USAID, 2019). Although the Village Land Act of 1999 recognises the right of every woman to acquire, control, and use land to the same extent as any man, it does not have provisions on the rights of women and youth to inherit ancestral land (URT, 1999). Women and young people also often face limited access to financial capital. Collateral requirements of commercial banks are a significant stumbling block as asset ownership is often low for women and youth (Mbuga, 2019). To overcome these constraints, the government has established the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) to provide a guarantee to small-scale farmers who lack collateral but are trying to access credit from commercial banks. The guarantee scheme is reported to be successful. Apart from TADB, which has been reported to be successful (The Citizen, 2021), there are other guarantee schemes involving commercial banks, millers (guarantors) and members of famers’ groups. A notable example is the tripartite agreement involving the National Microfinance Bank (NMB), a rice processor (guarantor), and members of Minepa Farmers Association in Malinyi District, Morogoro, Tanzania (Aga Khan Foundation, 2020). The agreement requires farmers to sell rice to the processor, which then repays the loan to the bank on behalf of the farmer.
Livestock, crop commercialization and poverty reduction in crop-livestock farming systems in Singida region, Tanzania
(IISTE, 2022) Mdoe, Ntengua; Mlay, Glead; Isinika, Aida; Boniface, Gideon; Magomba, Christopher
Livestock is an important component of crop-livestock farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialization and poverty reduction among smallholder farmers in crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region, Tanzania. It was hypothesized that livestock enhances crop commercialization and reduce poverty among smallholder farmers in the Region. Data for the analysis were extracted from the Agricultural Policy Research for Africa (APRA) data set of 600 households selected randomly from random samples of eight and seven villages in Iramba and Mkalama districts respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to compare ownership of livestock, use of ox-plough and livestock manure, crop productivity, crop commercialization and poverty levels across different categories of farmers. Econometric analyses were used to determine if livestock had a significant effect on crop commercialization and poverty levels, controlling for other variables that might have an effect. The results of descriptive analyses show differences in ownership of livestock, use of ox-plough and livestock manure, crop productivity, crop commercialization and poverty levels across different categories of farmers while the results of econometric analysis show that livestock enhanced crop commercialization. Apart from livestock, a range of other factors have worked together with livestock to drive the crop commercialization process. Regarding the impact of commercialization, the findings show that farmers have gained higher productivity (yield), signifying the potential of crop commercialization to reduce poverty. In general, evidence from the results show decline in poverty as crop commercialization increases from zero to medium level. Although crop commercialization has positively impacted on crop productivity (yields) and poverty, the results show existence of socio-economic disparities. Male-headed households (MHH) and households headed by medium-scale farmers (MSF), young farmers and livestock keepers were less poor than their counterpart female-headed households (FHH) and households headed by small-scale farmers (SSFs), older farmers and non-livestock keepers. These social differences are consequences of differences in the use of ox-plough, livestock manure and other productivity enhancing inputs. Exploiting the synergy between crop and livestock in crop-livestock farming systems needs to be recognized and exploited in efforts geared towards enhancing crop commercialization and reducing poverty among smallholder farmers in crop-livestock farming systems in Tanzania and elsewhere in SSA.
Rice commercialisation effects in Mngeta, Kilombero district, Tanzania: identifying the underlying factors
(Agricultural Policy Research in Africa, 2021-08) Isinika, Aida; Mlay, Gilead; Mdoe, Ntengua; Boniface, Gideon; Magomba, Christopher; Kilave, Devotha
Rice production is the most dominant farming system in Kilombero valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, accounting for more than 80 per cent of cultivated land within the valley. This paper examines changes in rice commercialisation and livelihood outcomes for different categories of farmers in the Mngeta division, Kilombero District, Tanzania. Understanding the trajectory of agricultural commercialisation processes is an important step because it has a direct bearing on livelihood outcomes: income from commercialisation finances livelihood improving expenditures within households. Understanding the underlying factors of agricultural commercialisation therefore enables policy makers to ensure that policy interventions promote inclusive and equitable involvement of all farmers and other value chain actors, especially women and youths, who have been excluded from most development initiatives in the past.The paper is based on the premise that not everybody gains from agricultural commercialisation processes. Pathways of different farmer categories and other value chain actors differ due to variation in resource endowment and the choices they make in using available opportunity spaces. The paper uses data that was collected in two waves (2017 and 2019) from over 500 farmers in 10 villages within 30km of Kilombero Plantation Limited (KPL), a large-scale rice farm within Mngeta Division in Kilombero District. The study’s conceptual framework was set to test the assertion, promoted by the Southern Growth Corridor of Tanzania, that a large-scale investor, such as KPL would have positive technological spill over and market linkage effects to small-scale farmers (SSFs) and medium-scale farmers (MSFs) around them. Farmers’ commercialisation levels and corresponding livelihood outcomes were compared against the backdrop of village electrification as well as other public infrastructural investments (road, railway, communication infrastructure), which were found to have a positive influence on rice commercialisation. The rice commercialisation index (RCI) in turn, together with some household characteristics such as sex of the household head, age, educational level, household size and the area of the land holding among others influenced variation in farmers’ livelihood indicators including the multi-poverty index (MPI), food security and the minimum dietary diversity for women of child bearing age (MDD). During the first wave (2017), the analysis clearly showed that rice commercialisation was positively influenced by production intensification and area expansion (extensification). The same factors accounted for rice commercialisation variation among farmer categories during the second wave (2019). Although the interval between the two cross sections is too short to discern any trends in key variables, comparison between the two cross sections shows that rice commercialisation is not yet on a steady increasing trajectory. Across different farmer categories there is a general decline in the area under rice as well as in the use of some productivity increasing inputs, in particular purchased seed and organic fertiliser. There was also only a marginal increase in the use of some inputs and services (inorganic fertiliser, hired labour and tillage services and mobile money). However, there was a significant increase in the proportion of farmers using herbicides (+11.2 per cent) and a significant increase in the median volume of herbicides used per hectare (+22.4 per cent) as farmers substituted away from more expensive labour in rice production, especially for land clearing and weeding. There was also a significant increase (+5.6 per cent) in the proportion of farmers using tillage services, representing rice commercialisation by area expansion. All these changes were not gender or age neutral. While the mean proportion of farmers using various inputs remained lower for female-headed households (FHHs) relative to male-headed households (MHHs), the improvement made between the two waves was higher for FHHs compared to MHHs, an indication of the former catching up with the latter. This is encouraging, pointing to the need to continue pursuing polices that promote inclusive agricultural commercialisation for FHHs to accommodate the specific need of women and young farmers who tend to face more resource constraints. The combined effect of changes in the use of inputs and services resulted in a marginal decline in yield, volume of paddy harvested and RCI. The decline in RCI was particularly pronounced for sustainable rice intensification (SRI) members, which was attributed to termination of credit and advisory services from KPL since 2018, following closure of KPL’s farming activities in the study area. The decline in RCI is also reflected in the regression analysis where the coefficient for year of data collection is negative and very highly significant.Meanwhile, comparison of the MPI showed significant livelihood improvement across all farmer categories. The proportion of MPI poor households also declined significantly, especially among MHHs, MSFs and SRI members. Since there was a marginal decline in yield, paddy production and the volume of paddy sold, the improvement in livelihood indicators (MPI, food security and MDD) is explained by increased household income coming from the sale of other crops and non-income sources. Similar livelihood improvement was also observed in relation to food security and MDD. The decline in MPI has been associated with improvement in sanitation, improved quality of flooring in houses, reduced mortality among children under the age of five years and reduced deprivation in education for school age children.All these findings can be summed up into two key points. First, rice commercialisation in the study area has not yet reached a steady increasing trajectory. The RCI is still susceptible to productivity and production changes due to weather variations including those induced by climate change. For instance, excessive rain and drought have both been experienced in the region. Additional changes include changes in input use and market factors. Second, it is important that farmers have a diversified portfolio, such that income from rice production is complemented by income from other crops as well as livestock and non-farm sources such that household food security is assured while embracing environmental sustainability. In such a pursuit, inclusive commercialisation must remain central so that FHHs and younger farmers are facilitated to catch up as everybody faces an upward mobility trend in livelihood improvement. Women account for approximately 43 per cent of the world’s agricultural labour force. In Tanzania, women represent approximately 54 per cent of the agricultural labour force (Mmasa, n.d.), and a greater proportion of women than men (69.8 vs 64 per cent) work in agriculture (Idris, 2018). Moreover, studies have indicated that in agriculture women work up to 13 hours per week longer than men. Hence, if the world’s women farmers had the same access to resources as men, 150 million people could be lifted out of poverty (FAO, 2021). Different interventions are necessary to sustain rice commercialisation among FHHs and younger farmers. These include ensuring access to capital through various ways such as government loan guarantees and the Local Government Authority (LGA) revenue allocated to the Women and Youth Development Fund as well as other funding sources and services targeting women and youth.