Browsing by Author "Kilawe, Charles J."

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Factors influencing smallholder Farmer’s willingness to adopt sustainable land management practices to control invasive plants in northern Tanzania
(Elsevier Inc, 2023) Malila, Barnabas P.; Kaaya, Omega E.; Lusambo, Leopold P.; Schaffner, Urs; Kilawe, Charles J.
Efforts to mitigate the effects of invasive plant species (IPS) have not produced the desired results due to poor adoption of land management practices developed by scientists and introduced to the community through a top- down approach. Little is known about adoption of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices that have been co-developed by a diverse group of local stakeholders through a participatory process. In this study, we assessed factors influencing the willingness of smallholder farmers to adopt SLM practices for the control of Lantana camara, Clidemia hirta, Pteridium acquilinum, and Prosopis juliflora in northern Tanzania. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from 240 heads of households from eight villages affected by the four IPS. Binary logistic regression was applied to model the probability of factors that influence smallholder farmers’ willingness to adopt the SLM practices. We found that farming experience, household income and conservation awareness were positively associated with the willingness for adoption of SLM practices. Surpris ingly, the invasive species cover was negatively associated with the willingness for adoption of SLM practices for control of the IPS. We recommend that the extension service providers to continue raising awareness and edu cation among farmers with low farming experience and income, and those with fields heavily infested with IPS.
Wildfires in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania: Burned areas, underlying causes and management challenges
(WILEY, 2020) Kilawe, Charles J.; Kaaya, Omega E.; Kolonel, Christian P.; Macrice, Samora A.; Mshama, Catherine P.; Lyimo, Paulo J.; Emily, Cosmas J.
The Eastern Arc Mountains are one of the most important ecosystems that conserve biodiversity in the world. These ecosystems are threatened by the increasing oc- currence of wildfires. Nevertheless, there is inadequate information useful for the development of effective strategies to prevent or respond to future fires. This paper analyses the current extent of dry season fires, underlying causes and the effective- ness of the fire management strategy being implemented in and around the Uluguru Nature Forest Reserve (UNFR) between 2016 and 2021. Differenced Normalised Burn Ratio derived from Landsat satellite images was applied to determine the extent of burned areas, and focus group discussions were held to determine the underly- ing causes of fires and the extent of implementation of fire management strategies. About 2% (472 ha) of reserved UNFR and 5% (2,854 ha) of unreserved forests were burned in 2017. Some of the fires impacted on 60% (370 ha) of the grassy Lukwangule plateau, which is home to a fire-sensitive endemic species. The underlying causes of fires varied spatially across the mountains but generally, fire escaping from farm preparation and hunting activities were found to be the most prevalent. On aver- age, survey participants perceived that fire management strategy objectives were achieved by only 29% mainly constrained by a shortage of financial and human re- sources. Our findings suggest that ignitions and fire spread in UNFR could be pre- vented or controlled through sustainable funding of fire management activities and the effective engagement of local communities in the management of the reserve.