Browsing by Author "Msuya, E"

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The role of conservation agriculture in bridging gender gaps in Tanzania: the case of sustainable agriculture Tanzania
(TAJAS, 2021) Msuya, E; Mhanga, M; Massawe, F.A
Despite agriculture’s great potential to Tanzania agricultural development, the sector faces diverse challenges. For example, existence of gender gaps in accessing agricultural production resources and benefits obtained from the same impede the sector’s growth. Therefore, adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) has been seen as one of the measures to address the sector limited productivity. Nonetheless, there is limited knowledge on how CA has managed to reduce gender inequalities in accessing both reproductive resources and benefits accrued from agriculture. This paper examines gender gaps in conservation agriculture programme implemented by Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania (SAT), by specifically analyzing gender participation and relations in CA in Morogoro municipality and Morogoro district. This study adopted a mixed method approach whereby both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from four sites where SAT implements its activities. Findings show that CA has significantly reduced gander gaps in accessing production resources and services as well as raising women’s participation in decision making with regards to production and use of income obtained from sales of produce. Farmers regardless of the gender can access extension services, and credit, and are involved in various initiatives collectively. Despite the economic benefits, findings show that CA is laborious and takes much of farmers’ time, women being more affected. Therefore, it is recommended that the central and local governments and various stakeholders should promote the spread of conservation agriculture technologies since it reduces the biasness in agriculture and empowering women. Ensuring access to advanced cheap technologies to farmers. Nonetheless, there is need to ensure that female farmers are not overburdened in the process.
Youths' participation in agricultural intesification in Tanzania
(AIMS, 2020) Lindsjö, K; Djurfeldt, A A; Isinika, A C; Msuya, E
Agricultural intensification is necessary in Tanzania to meet the demands of a rapid growing population, and to avoid dependence on agricultural imports. An overwhelming share of the Tanzanian population is young, and the issue of employment among youth is increasingly debated. Agriculture is perceived to play a key role in creating employment opportunities in Sub-Sahara African as urban employment possibilities are limited, and domestic demand for food is growing. Based on a mixed methods approach this article aims to agricultural take a contextual approach to near and distant opportunity spaces for the young rural Tanzanians. Our findings suggest that youth are excluded in agricultural intensification in maize production, but play a central role in the more labour intensive rice production. Contrasting to previous research, a majority of the interviewed youth said they prefer to stay in the rural areas, and a combination of farming and business was aspired to by many respondents. Tools and machinery, capital for agricultural investment, and infrastructure and access to markets were identified by the youth as some of the main obstacles to intensify farming, limiting their opportunity space.