Browsing by Author "Permin, A."

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Incentives for low-quality water irrigation of food crops in Morogoro, Tanzania
(Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2016-12-19) Samson, S.; Mdegela, R.H.; Permin, A.; Mahonge, C.; Mlangwa, J.
This article highlights the link between low-quality water and food crops irrigation. A cross-sectional research was conducted to assess factors motivating farmers to use low-quality water from the waste stabilisation ponds for food crops irrigation in urban and peri-urban areas in Morogoro Urban and Mvomero, in Morogoro Region, Tanzania, from October 2013 to March 2015. Data were collected through farmers’ survey (n = 80), in-depth interviews with key informants (n = 7) and focus group discussions (n = 4). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in results presentation. The ﬁndings indicated alternative way of earning income during dry seasons, lack of alternative sources of irrigation water, alternative source of employment, the need to produce food, land availability near the low-quality water, plant nutrients in the water and limited awareness of the health problems associated with low-quality water irrigation as incentives for farmers to irrigate food crops using low-quality water. The results further showed that farming using low-quality water has been their livelihood strategy; farmers meet their family needs such as school fees, health and food by using the income generated from the sale of vegetables and paddy. Regardless of all these beneﬁts, the existing use of lowquality water in farming activities is informal. Besides, there are no regulations guiding its use with no declaration to whether the resource is suitable for food crops irrigation. However, banning the practice on the ground of health risks might be devastating to farmers. This practice should therefore be regulated in such a way that low-quality water disposed from the ponds is considered as a potential source of water for food crops irrigation.
Obstacles to low quality water irrigation of food crops in Morogoro, Tanzania
(Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2017-03-02) Samson, S.; Mdegela, R. H.; Permin, A.; Mlangwa, J.; Mahonge, C. P.
Knowledge on users’ and regulators’ views regarding obstacles on the use of low quality water forms the basis for the improvement of water reuse in food crops irrigation. A qualitative study was conducted to assess the obstacles to the use of low quality water for irrigation of food crops in urban and peri-urban areas in Tanzania. The study considered Morogoro urban and peri-urban areas as a case study due to the existence of paddy and vegetable production using the effluent from the waste stabilisation ponds. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected through in-depth interviews with 22 key informants, and 4 focus group discussions with farmers. Content analysis was used in this study. Findings show that domestic wastewater was poorly disposed, waste stabilisation ponds as treatment facilities had limited management, and quality monitoring of effluent from the waste stabilisation ponds was limited to permit safe use of the effluent in food crops irrigation. The government officials were of the view that the effluent from the waste stabilisation ponds should not be used for leafy vegetables irrigation while farmers viewed vegetables farming as a quick source of income and livelihood strategy for many years. The study therefore suggests that the relevant agencies should improve the treatment of wastewater and quality monitoring of the effluent for safe use of low quality water for food crops irrigation in urban and peri-urban areas.