Browsing by Author "Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph"

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Agricultural sustainability and food security in agroecological zones of Tanzania
(Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2021) Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph
Agricultural sustainability is crucial for developing countries, including Tanzania whose economy and food security entirely depend on agriculture. Tanzania has seven agro-ecological zones with different potentials and challenges to attain agricultural sustainability. These agro-ecological zones are coastal, arid, semi-arid, plateau, southern and western highlands, northern highlands, and alluvial. To attain agricultural sustainability and food security in the country, it is essential to explore biophysical, economic and social dimensions. This chapter reviews the climatic situation, agricultural potentials and agronomic practices. Arid and semi-arid zones are more vulnerable to environmental stress, especially climate change, than plateau, alluvial, and northern and southern highlands. Efficient agricultural sustainability has increased peoples’ income and food security in resilient agro-ecological zones by 50%, and by 10% in vulnerable zones. This has eventually improved the livelihoods of the people in resilient agro-ecological zones, and has allowed cultivation of few crop varieties such as sorghum and millet in vulnerable zones. Areas with the best agronomic practices such as animal manure fertilization have increased crop yields from 0.75 to 1.95 tons ha −1 . As a result, this yield increment has improved the livelihoods of about 70% of Tanzanian farmers who entirely depend in agriculture.
Awareness and adaptations to climate change among the rural farmers in different agro-ecological zones of Tanzania
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2022-04-18) Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph
Purpose – This paper generally aimed to evaluate the knowledge of rural farmers towards climate change (CC) and their adaptation practices as a way of reducing the vulnerability in different agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Tanzania. This establishment is quite important because rural farmers are most vulnerable to impacts of CC. Therefore, there is a need to establish the actual knowledge on this aspect in order to meet the urgency for action on CC by using the endowed environmental resources. This knowledge will assist policy makers and CC practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – This study employed systematic and simple random sampling procedures in selecting the districts and villages as study sites. It used both quantitative and qualitative data sets derived from climatic records, questionnaires survey, interviews and discussion. The Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope, and theme content were used for data analyses. Findings – The results exhibited that most farmers have been greatly adapting to CC through numerous and well-known practices. However, there has been adoption of other new practices mainly influenced by new knowledge from extension services, environmental endowments and temporal environmental change. Although there has been varied perceptions on CC, the results indicate that most farmers (>70%) are aware of the changing climate and their knowledge corresponds to meteorological data. Originality/value – Most farmers perceived that prolonged drought and erratic rains are the main indicators of CC. These indicators were the base of copping and adaptation mechanisms. Despite this, there is a need for all climate practitioners to join hands in improving the existing adaptation practices that can limit climate impacts in local areas.
Robust variation in the potentials of Tanzanian soils under sisal plantation to stabilize organic carbon and nitrogen: a case of Handeni district
(Journal of Geography & Natural Disasters, 2023-03-21) Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph
Understanding the impacts of tillage erosion on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) and Nitrogen (N) fractions is essential for targeted soil conservation in cropland areas. SOC and N play significant role in the global Carbon (C) and N cycles. Establishing SOC and N stock is a good step towards implementing the “4 per 1000” (4p1000) initiative which was launched at the COP21 conference in Paris aiming to slow down the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Thus, it is essential to understand how much SOC and N are stored in the soil and if possible to determine how long these nutrients persist belowground. Previous studies indicate that the storage of SOC and N strongly affected the interaction of climate and minerals. However, most of these results have not consistently considered the cropland soils (sisal plantation) as specific ecosystem. In attempting this study, we sampled the sisal plantation of Handeni District because the area partly represents the grassland of Tanzania. Sixteen soil sampling points were established within ten hectares and they involved two soil depths (i.e. 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm) and two locations (lowland and upland). The results exhibit that there have been significant variations of SOC and N accumulations under the two soil depths and locations. In the lowland areas, SOC was 1.3 and 0.45 MgC ha −1 for the depths 0–20 cm and 20-40 cm, respectively. Besides, in upland areas, SOC was 0.60 and 0.34 MgC ha −1 for the depths 0–20 cm and 20-40 cm, respectively. Similarly, the total N was significantly higher 2.12 Mg (0-20cm) in lowland than in upland 1.80 Mg (0-20 cm). The same pattern happened in the depth (20-40 cm) where lowland had 1.40 Mg and upland had 1.16 Mg. These insights in cropland soils allow us to infer that the alterations of SOC and N are significantly influenced by climate change and minerals. Biologically, the microbial activity and microbial biomass correlate with SOC and N. This means, different agro-ecological zones of the country can have different SOC and N storages.
Stakeholders’ engagement in the process of adapting to climate change impacts: a case of central Tanzania
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2022-02-13) Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph
Purpose – It is imperative to intensively engage stakeholders in the process of adapting to climate change impacts because stakeholders are important components in adaptation process and policy formulation. However, there is slight empirical evidence that has been established to indicate whether the stakeholders are significantly involved in developing various adaptations plans. Design/methodology/approach – As a way of bridging that gap, this study adopted both primary and secondary data and assumed various techniques. In-depth, semi-structured interview was the major approach and most interviews were conducted between June and August 2020. Here, 20 stakeholders were involved in this kind of participatory process. To make results more rigorous, the data from interviews were enriched with data from documentary reviews. Generally, the data were analyzed through theme content analysis. Findings – The results exhibit that there has been little engagement of stakeholders in undertaking various researches especially in marginalized areas. In some instances, several stakeholders have been included; however, the most important ones have been excluded in the process, thus affecting the provision of data. The inconsistences affect the whole adaptation process and bring numerous controversies with the existing realities which recognize stakeholders as important entity in the adaptation process. Subsequently, this has widely affected even the set ups of decision-making organs and the policy formulation processes at large. Originality/value – Explicitly, the results of this study are essential to climate scientists and practitioners, as the results reveal the real situation in the field. Similarly, the results inform how various sustainable projects, plans and policies related to climate change adaptations can be developed. Conclusions are therefore drawn to strengthen sustainable adaptation to climate change impacts through increased stakeholder involvement.
Sustainable management of wetlands in East Africa: a case of Akagera wetland in the north-western Tanzania
(Elsevier, 2022-10-25) Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph
Although numerous studies have established some pertinent approaches for sustainable management of wetlands in Tanzania, it has been difficult to succeed. Akagera is among the most potential trans-boundary wetland ecosystems in east Africa. However, the wetland is exposed to vast challenges that hinder its sustainability. This study aims to establish the reasons for why it has been difficult to achieve sustainable management of natural resources. This establishment is quite important because wetlands serve the community livelihoods and envi ronmental conservation. To execute such objective, important resources found in the area, their socio-economic potentials, current management situation, and challenges hampering their sustainability have been adequately established. Key informant interviews (especially from elders and experts), and theme content analysis were the major methods for data collection and analysis, respectively. The study exhibits that the Akagera wetland has various biophysical resources such as rivers, national parks, fertile soils and forests, just to mention a few, and these resources are major sources of livelihoods. Despite of that, financial constraint, poaching, deforestation, climate change impacts, encroachment to wetland and national parks, cultural barriers, political instability, and uncoordinated wildlife policies among the east African countries are some of the serious challenges that impede the sustainability of the wetland. Most of these challenges bring tensions and debates on how to intervene issues surrounding wetland management in east Africa and African continent at large. Therefore, it is important to address these challenges to ensure sustainable management of available environmental resources. This study proposes a management approach that is multi-stakeholder and involves communities as applied in China, North America, South Africa, and other Mediterranean countries where the management of wetlands has been more pronounced and proactive.
The underway to pragmatic implementations of sustainable and intensive agricultural systems in Tanzania
(Elsevier, 2021-05-06) Mkonda, Msafiri Yusuph
For the past five decades, Tanzanian has regarded agriculture as a lead sector to economic development. However, more than 70% of the agricultural production has been for subsistence due to weak economic and technological investments. This happens despite the establishment of numerous programs, plans and initiatives to limit the problem. Therefore, there is an increased need to assess some important aspects of agro-ecosystems such as climate, soil and crops as significant factors for determining yields potentials in Tanzania. This approach is particularly important in the fifth term of Tanzanian government (2015–2025) which devotes serious efforts to transform the country to a middle income economy by 2025, whereas, industrial sector will be the key engine to capture this objective. In doing so, crop and climate data were collected from the Ministry of Agriculture and Tanzania Meteorological Agency. Microsoft excel and Theme content were the major methods for data analyses. Although there has been a slight increase in land expansion for crop production, the results exhibit that the overall agricultural trend (tn/ha) has been fluctuating at a declining trend. This yield decline has been significantly caused by rainfall climate change and soil infertility. This scenario is evidenced by the fact that the maximum potential photosynthetic yields in the study area is around 3–5 Mg/ha while that of the developed countries is 160 Mg/ha (10 − 6 Mg/g). Therefore, stoichiometric of fertilizer, rain water harvest or/and artificial rainfall, exploitation of ground water for irrigation, proper mapping or review of soil characteristics based on agro-ecological zones, proper breeding of various crops, intensive investments of finance and technology in agriculture should be adopted to maximize yields in the country.