Browsing by Author "Mbwambo, J. S."

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Adoption of climate-smart agriculture in small-scale farming in Africa: are the pillars for CSA accounted for?
(College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro-Tanzania, 2022-06-26) Mbwambo, J. S.
Studies have shown that climate change has a significant effect on the rural landscape and the equilibrium of the agrarian and forest ecosystems resulting in instability disintegration of agricultural-dependent livelihood systems in rural and peri-urban areas. To address these and related challenges, many countries have attempted Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). CSA has been proven to address the intertwined challenge of increasing agricultural productivity while at the same time maintaining sustainable levels of carbon emissions from agriculture. Despite its proven benefits, the adoption of CSA in Africa varies across the continent. In some countries the adoption of certain practices is as low as 10% and in others above 60%. Using scoping, narrative and descriptive approaches in the analysis of literature, this study has demonstrated that Climate-Smart Agriculture technologies have proved to be effective in delivering food security, climate change mitigation, and adaptation. However, while researchers working in these areas have attempted to work on the biophysical aspects of Climate-Smart Agriculture, there are gaps in the understanding of how the adoption of Climate-Smart Technologies has contributed to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The study further revealed that various factors such as household characteristics, land ownership and gender were considered in the introduction and adoption of CSA technology. The study recommends that more work is needed to enhance knowledge on mitigation and adaptation aspects of CSA technologies. The study recommends further that considerations be made on resources endowment during the recruitment of farmers to adopt CSA technologies.
Climate change and its variability on crop production in semiarid areas of Iramba and Meatu Districts, Tanzania
(African Developmen, 2016) Urassa, J. K.; Nombo, C. I.; Kabote, S. J.; Mamiro, D. P.; Mbwambo, J. S.; Mattee, A. Z.; Matata, L. M.; Synneåg, G.
Climate change and its variability are increasingly threatening livelihoods of Tanzania’s predominantly rural population and in particular those households with low incomes. Based on the above reality, a study was conducted in two semi-arid areas of central Tanzania. The overall objective was to determine how climate change and its variability have affected rural households’ crop production over time. Specifically, the paper aims at; assessing farmers’ preferred food and cash crops, determining the impact of rainfall variability on crop production in the semi-arid areas of central Tanzania and determining communities’ perception of climate change. The study on which the paper is based used a mixed method approach whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to complement each other thus improving quality of the results regarding the impact of climate change and its variability on rural households’ crop production. Primary data was collected using a pre-structured questionnaire and focus group discussions’ checklist. Whereas quantitative data was analyzed using the Statistical Software for Social Scientists, qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Findings generally show that climate change and climate variability have occurred in the study area and consequently crop production has adversely been affected leading to households’ vulnerability to food insecurity. In addition, food shortages have become frequent threatening households livelihood security. Based on the findings, rural households’ capacity to respond to the challenges of climate change and climate variability is a matter of urgency. Therefore, the government, in addition to the efforts already undertaken, should put in place institutional and policy framework to support rural households’ efforts to minimize the impacts of the phenomena.
The effect of climate variability and change to the farming systems in Iramba and Meatu Districts, Tanzania
(2014-06) Mamiro, D. P.; Kabote, S. J.; Crassa, J. K.; Masolwa, L. W.; Nombo, C. I.; Matte, A. Z.; Synnevag, G.; Mbwambo, J. S.
This study examined changes in farming systems in response to climate variability and change. Specifically, the study aimed to;(i) assess /armors' perceptions of climate variability and change and (ii) examine changes in the Jai-ming systems in response to climate variability and change. The study adopted qualitative (fOcus group discussions) and quantitative (household survey) techniques using a sample sire of 150 respondents for the survey. The results demonstrated that smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists perceived the occurrence of climate variability and change manifested through drought, rainfall variability and increased day time surface temperature. Awareness regarding climate variability and change were associated with the middle age group (18-45 years old), which perceived increased drought since the 2000s relative to other age groups. Frequent JOod shortage and increasing .shortage of pasture were on the increase. Contract. to their expectations, smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists were unable to adjust fully their .J arming systems to minimize the negative effects 01 climate variability and change. This means, they had little capacity to change their Jarming systems or simply, they -were vulnerable to the effects of climate variability and change. It is therefore recommended that, through integrated effort by the government and Nongovernmental Organi=ations (Ar(;0s) should support smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists to adjust their farming systems in response to climate variability and change so as to 1111171.111ire the negative effects.
Indigenous knowledge values for marine conservation in Unguja Island, Zanzibar
(Research Gate, 2018) Omar, Ramla T.; Mbwambo, J. S.; Mchenga, Islam S. S.
A growing number of studies on the value of indigenous knowledge has underscored the importance of integrating local knowledge and practices into management and conservation programme. A study was conducted to assess indigenous knowledge system responsible for conservation of marine resources in Zanzibar. A survey was carried out in four fishing villages within Menai Bay conservation area. The presented study revealed the existence of indigenous knowledge system within the area as indicated by most of the respondents (>60%). Our findings showed that indigenous knowledge is responsible for identification of fishery regimes, fishing stocks and seasonality on fishing. The findings further revealed formal and informal tradition institutions were useful in biodiversity conservation as they managed access and control of resources along the Menai bay area. We concludes that indigenous knowledge and Institution are important in the conservation of Menai Bay and that the existing knowledge and Institutional systems needs to be protected and inherited for sustainable conservation and management of fisheries resources along the Menai Bay area.
Perceived and measured climate variability and change in semi-arid environments in Tanzania: experiences from Iramba and Meatu Districts
(Inderscience Enterprises Ltd., 2017) Kabote, S. J.; Mamiro, D. P.; Synnevåg, G.; Urassa, J. K.; Mattee, A. Z.; Mbwambo, J. S.; Nombo, C. I.; Chingonikaya, E. E.; Masolwa, L.
This paper combines farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and change and meteorological data trends to generate empirical evidence to broaden an understanding of the phenomena. The results show an agreement on changing rainfall patterns. Bad years described by drought frequencies, temperature, and dry spell have increased since the 1970s. Crop growing period has decreased by one month in Meatu and by more than a month in Iramba. As hypothesised, the Mann-Whitney U test shows similar men and women’s perceptions at 5% level of significance (P value = 0.701). Similarly, the Kruskal-Wallis H test indicates that the poor, not so poor and the rich have the same perceptions (P value = 0.281). These results have implications on crop and livestock production systems and on livelihoods more generally. We conclude that climate variability and change manifestations overlap, making it a complex phenomena perceived equally by men, women, the poor and non-poor. This is understood holistically by combining farmers’ perceptions and meteorological data trends to inform adaptation strategies related decision making
Perceptions on resilience to climate change variability among farmers in Meatu and Iramba districts, Tanzania
(IOSR, 2016-11) Nyangas, J. A.; Chingonikaya, E. E.; Urassa, J. K; Mbwambo, J. S.
Though knowledge on climate change has increased over time, previous studies showed that knowledge on farmers’ perception on resilience to climate change and its variability was lacking. This study examined farmers’ perceptions on resilience to climate change and its variability in Meatu and Iramba districts, Tanzania. A cross-sectional research design was used whereby, information was collected from 183 randomly selected households using a questionnaire. In addition, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse quantitative data. In addition qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis. Over 73% of household heads perceived to be highly resilient. Among the socio-economic factors for perceived household resilience, household head’s income levels (χ²=30.16; df=6; p=0.000), marital status (χ²=27.78; df=2; p=0.000) and land ownership (p=0.000) were statistically significant. Based on the results it can be concluded that most important socio-economic factors of perceived household resilience were, income levels, marital status and land ownership of the household heads. This study therefore, recommended that there is need for provision of training which would enable household members to engage on various non-farm economic activities, provision of access to agricultural extension to the households.