Effects of avocado farming on livelihoods and biodiversity: perspectives of smallholder farmers in Hai and Rungwe Districts, Tanzania
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Date
2023-11-30
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
Abstract
Agriculture production has long been regarded as an important sector for so-
cial and economic progress in most developing countries. However, it is also
increasingly viewed as posing threats to biodiversity and the environment at
large, hence the need for striking a balance between the two goals (economic
progress and biodiversity conservation) through the adoption of environ-
mentally friendly and healthy farming practices. In this paper, we use the case
of avocado production in the Hai and Rungwe districts of Tanzania to inves-
tigate the opinions of smallholder farmers about the effects of avocado pro-
duction on livelihoods and biodiversity. Specifically, we use the Likert’s scale
method to analyse and compare the opinions. The study findings show that
smallholder producers had positive perceptions about the effects of avocado
production on livelihoods and biodiversity. They viewed avocado farming as
the most profitable business compared to other agricultural commodities.
The effects of avocado on livelihoods were highly rated ranging from the
lowest mean rank of 4.008 for the livelihood and market supports, to the
highest of 4.3271, out of 5, for the livelihood protection threshold indicators.
There were significant inter-district differences in opinions about the effects
of avocado farming on biodiversity, especially for “water” (
p = 0.002) and
“fauna” indicators (
p = 0.001) in which the Rungwe district registered rela-
tively larger values than the Hai district. The paper underscores the need for
the government and other development partners to support smallholder far-
mers so that they are enabled to produce high-value, and environmentally
friendly avocados for the export market.
Description
Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2023, 11, 474-505
Keywords
Avocado Production, Exportation, Smallholder Livelihoods, Biodiversity Conservation, Perceptions