Browsing by Author "Nsenga, J. V."

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Indigenous soil-water management practices and food security: the case of the matengo pits farming system in Mbinga District, Tanzania.
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2012) Nsenga, J. V.
This study presents an analysis of the dynamics of indigenous soil-water management practices, namely the Matengo pits farming system and their implications on household food security in Mbinga District, Tanzania. The study aimed at establishing the current changes of Matengo pits system, including emerging new practices and their driving forces and their effects on household food security. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to obtain the data which were analysed using the statistical package for social science computer programme (SPSS). The findings indicated that some modifications have started taking place within and outside Matengo pits system. A total of 28.8% of interviewed farmers reckoned ploughing grasses under the soil after less than a week which was un-traditional because of having few grasses and timing of activities. About 14% of farmers have modified the grass alignment pattern into parallel lines down slope to simplify the work. However, about 50% of farmers claimed digging shallow pits mainly because of relying on communal or hired labour. Meanwhile, 75% of farmers acknowledged constructing medium sized Matengo pits for more space for crop planting. Around 17% of women were reported to have assumed full responsibility of slashing and organising grasses in their fields like men. Likewise, adult males had gone against their norms and traditions by taking part in digging Matengo pits. Social networks for sharing labour among the Matengo people were noted to have assumed new forms. Chama remained practised at family level, meanwhile the ngokela is currently organised through cash instead of sharing food. Penetration of the western culture and money economy into Matengo highlands propelled by globalization has contributed to these social changes. Institutional changes and agro-ecological variability have similarly played a pivotal role in changing the Matengo pits system. As for implication to food security, 62.9% of households were food insecure mainly because of poor crop yields. However, changes in Matengo pits farming system had no statistical significant relationship to household food security status. The findings call for further research on the effects of climatic change towards Matengo pits system, and its mitigation potential to enhance its sustainability.
Linking livelihood improvement and environmental conservation: Case of east Uluguru mountains in Tanzania
(International Journal of Environmental Science, Management and Engineering Research, 2013) Mattee, A. Z.; Mahonge, C. P. I.; Nsenga, J. V.; Kayeye, H.
Livelihoods improvement and environmental management need to be linked. In order to attain sustainable livelihoods and environmental management, it is important to empower natural resource users with skills on the interdependencies between livelihoods and natural environment. Among the strategies to achieve this is through an action research wherein various resource use options are tested and the interplay among the tested options is determined. In this paper, we present and analyse results obtained from an action research that focused on participatory improvement of farming practices and rehabilitation of watershed through tree nursery management and tree planting in Nyachilo village situated in the East Uluguru Mountains. In the farming trial, we tested conventional ridges, ngolo, contour, and traditional slash and burn flat cultivation (the control) technologies on the basis of their potential to improve yields and control soil erosion. The findings indicated that ngolo ranked the first whereas conventional slash and burn technology ranked the last; farmers showed a desire to learn about useful technologies to improve their traditional farming system. As for tree planting, there existed internal heterogeneities as reflected in the heterogeneous participation of local people in tree nursery management implying that in order to thoroughly understand the community, it is necessary to unpack it and analyze its constituent parts. We concluded that a though analysis of the dispersion of a given community is imperative as such scrutiny may lead to an accurate determination of the practical mix of the community strata for effecting the desired ends.
Utilization of medicinal plants by waluguru people in east uluguru mountains Tanzania
(2006) Mahonge, C. P. I.; Nsenga, J. V.; Mtengeti, E. J.; Mattee, A.Z.
A study was done to assess utilization of medicinal plants in Nyachilo village situated in eastern Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered and informal discussions conducted to traditional healers and midwives. The respondents were selected from Changa, Mselelo, Tanana, Mitamba, Kimeza, Mandani and Kibundi subvillages. Within the subvillages random sampling was used to determine the number of respondents to be interviewed. The study found that plant medicines utilized in the area can be categorized into groups for treating convulsion, pain killers, rituals and casting evil spirits, treating diseases, relieving respiratory complications, and treating skin eruptions. Many medicinal plants are collected from the forests (37.3%) and farms (37.3%). However, 16.4 % of the medicinal plants are not easily accessible. The community perceives modern medical system far advanced in comparison with traditional healing system. Both systems however, are useful in their sights. The study also revealed that in most medicinal plants, leaves are used as medicines (31.7%), followed by roots (29.6%), then barks (20.7%). The community proposed that in order to sustain conservation of medicinal plants, the traditional healers should be trained on appropriate harvesting and utilization techniques of the medicines. It is recommended that appropriate agronomic techniques that will ensure cultivation of medicinal plants should be taught to the community so as to guarantee sustainable utilization in future