Browsing by Author "Mwamfupe, Davis"

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Climate information services and crop Production enhancement among sorghum and Maize farmers in Kondoa and Kiteto districts, Tanzania
(2022) Khatibu, S; Ngowi, E. E; Mwamfupe, Davis
In recent years growing attention has been given to the use of climate information services (CSI) in improving farming decision making under uncertainty associated with climate variability. In Tanzania, this is generally important to tackle low agricultural productivity amongst farmers and to foster their adoption of CSI to meet the food needs of ever-increasing populations. However, common approaches, such as the use of radio and television for CSI knowledge exchange and dissemination have limitations in rural areas of Tanzania. Consequently, understanding the link between CIS usage and crop production enhancement has become increasingly important, particularly in semi-arid areas where drought is common. Hence, this article investigated the contribution of CIS to crop production enhancement among sorghum and maize farmers in the Kondoa and Kiteto districts, purposively selected, as part of the Global Framework for Climate Services Adoption Program in Africa (GFCS-APA) initiative implemented in four villages. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design using a Difference-in-Difference (DID) linear mixed model with pre-and post-period data samples of farmers exposed to GFCS-APA multi-agency program (treatment) and non-exposed (control group). As such, this study conducted a farmers’ household survey for a total sample of 360 farmers who were part of the multi-agency program by GFCS-APA, of which, 151 farmers were directly involved with GFCS-APA (treatment group) and 209 farmers were set aside as non-beneficiaries (control group). Generally, the findings show that farmers are endogenously treated to improve maize yields rather than sorghum yields when they are exposed to CIS. It is concluded that the usage of CIS boosts maize yields dramatically as opposed to sorghum, and this is statistical significance. Therefore, it is recommended that the pathways for increasing the use of CIS should take into account the adoption hurdles that are inherent to farmers’ traits and livelihood plans.
Making ICTs work for agro-pastoral livelihood: using the telecentre as learning tool for agro-pastoralists communities in Tanzania
(Journal of Sustainable Development, 2015) Ngowi, Edwin; Mwakalobo, Adam; Mwamfupe, Davis
Traditional agricultural extension services intended to serve agro-pastoralists in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa at large have failed to make significant impacts, due partly to the lack of knowledge-sharing practices to disseminate timely agricultural and livestock-keeping information. A key problem has been inadequate access to information due to weak linkages and interactions between agricultural and livestock research institutions; including, the lack of knowledge and information articulating best practices; and deficiency of relevant research information presented in easy to understand ways and localized to the needs of agro-pastoralists. However, in recent years, there has been growing attention devoted to the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture and livestock-keeping development. The growing ubiquity of mobile phones presents an excellent opportunity to put timely agricultural and livestock-keeping information into the hands of agro-pastoralists through direct linkages with the telecentres services in rural areas. The evidence has linked ICTs to an increase in gross domestic product; it has prompted dedication to the research of the socio-economic benefits and policy implications of ICTs consumption in Africa. Consisting of field case studies and implementation frameworks for telecentres, this paper provides a Tanzanian rural perspective and understanding of the developments in ICTs services for sustainable agro-pastoral livelihood. Therefore, the field results indicates that, the extent of the interaction between the telecentre services and agro-pastoralists in terms of ICTs access as a learning tool shows that more than half, 43.7% (178) and 23.6% (96) out of 407 respondents were interacting; whereby agro-pastoralists access the services provided by the telecentres to improve agro-pastoral livelihood. We conclude that the interaction between the telecentre services and agro-pastoralists has to be transformed; since the potential of ICTs services in rural areas as yet remains untapped and urgent measures are required to derive maximum benefits for sustainable agro-pastoral livelihood.