Factors Influencing the Adoption of Water Conservation Technologies by Smallholder Farmer Households in Tanzania

Jha, Srijna; Kaechele, Harald; Sieber, Stefan

doi:10.3390/w11122640

Cited by 29 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Morogoro is a semi-humid region with 350-500 mm yearly rainfall, highlands, lowlands, and dry alluvial valleys. The main crops are maize, rice, legumes and sorghum [35]. In years with high rainfall, Morogoro experiences flooding in the southern part of the region [36].…”

Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

et al. 2020

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The low agricultural productivity of key crops and food insecurity continue to be key issues in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Tanzania. The growing population, depleting resources, and changing climate further amplify these issues. Globally, many agricultural technologies (AgTs) are available as pathways for improved agricultural productivity and food security, however, they have had relatively little success in SSA and Tanzania. This is because the uptake of AgTs is a complex process, which is highly localized, involving multiple actors, stages, and spatial and time dimensions. Smallholder farmers often experience issues of sustainability, constraints for adoption, and scaling-up throughout the uptake process of AgTs, all of which vary by region. This indicates a need for a systematic and simultaneous understanding of sustainability, constraints for adoption, and scaling-up of AgTs to better guide agricultural strategy and policy interventions in SSA and Tanzania. Moreover, in order to understand the local settings better, a consideration of the perceptions of the farmers themselves, who are the primary actors in the uptake process of AgTs, is key. Acknowledging this, the study takes on a case study approach, using the scaling-up assessment (ScalA) method and three focus group discussions with a total of 44 smallholder farmers to systematically and simultaneously assess the sustainability, constraints for adoption, and scaling-up of three AgTs (use of fertilizers, improved seeds, and small-scale irrigation) in Tanzania. The study finds that the farmers perceive all three AgTs to be sustainable for the study region. Adoption rates are perceived to be medium for use of fertilizers, high for improved seeds, and low for small-scale irrigation. The most significant constraints for adoption experienced by the farmers are lack of technical physical inputs, marketing facilities, and know-how. Scaling-up is perceived to be well fulfilled for use of fertilizers and improved seeds, but only partially fulfilled for small-scale irrigation, which is the most limited of the three AgTs. The most significant constraints for scaling-up experienced by farmers are a lack of confidence in the added value of the AgTs beyond project activities, marketing facilities, and technical physical inputs. The overall success potential is high for the use of fertilizers and improved seeds, and the average for small-scale irrigation. The farmers’ perceptions partially indicate why the bundle of AgTs is lacking in the study region and provide a basis for discussing targeted agricultural and policy interventions in Tanzania.

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Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main crops are sorghum and millet. In years with low or uncertain rainfall the region experiences both extended and seasonal dry spells [35]. In Fulwe, Mlali, and Msowero drought, deforestation, maize yield decline, and limited profitability from agriculture are initially stated as issues of agricultural productivity.…”

Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

et al. 2020

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“…We also perform a variety of robustness checks that increase the confidence of our treatment effects [28]. To identify explanatory variables, we draw on literatures (See Table 1) that emphasizes the importance of productive resources and social capitals as determinants of technology adoption decisions [7,[11][12][13][14][19][20][21][22][23]. Quantitative data analyses were carried out using Stata software version 14.…”

Section: Analytical Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoption of Road Water Harvesting Practices and Their Impacts: Evidence from a Semi-Arid Region of Ethiopia

Gebru

Woldearegay

Steenbergen³

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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In the drylands of Ethiopia, several road water harvesting practices (RWHP) have been used to supplement rain-fed agriculture. However, factors affecting adoption of RWHP and their impacts were not studied systematically. Understanding the factors influencing the adoption of RWHP for sustainable agricultural intensification and climate resilience is critical to promoting such technologies. This paper investigates the impacts of using rural roads to harvest rainwater runoff and the factors causing farmers to adopt the practice. Road water harvesting is considered a possible mechanism for transformative climate change adaptation. By systematically capturing rainfall with rural road infrastructure, rain-related road damage is reduced, erosion and landscape degradation due to road development is lessened, and farm incomes increase due to the beneficial use of harvested water, resulting in an increased climate change resilience. This paper uses a binary probit model and propensity score matching methods based on a household survey of 159 households and 603 plots. The results of the probit model show that the education level of the household, family labor, access to markets, and distance of the farming plot from the farmer’s dwelling are statistically significant in explaining farmers’ adoption of RWHP in the study area. The casual impact estimation from the propensity score matching suggests that RWHP has positive and significant impacts on input uses (farmyard manure and fertilizer), crop yield, and farm income among the sample households.

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“…can encourage farmers to use these methods. It is worth mentioning that although previous research has addressed the role of economic factors in the adoption of water conservation technologies [49], none of these studies has considered the role of the economic factor in WCBs, which is one of the limitations of the previous behavioral models. This limitation was tackled by using the present exploratory model.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Wcbs Using Regression Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting Wheat Producers’ Water Conservation Behavior: Evidence from Iran

Momenpour

Choobchian

Sadighi

et al. 2021

Water

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The present research aimed to identify and analyze the factors influencing water conservation behaviors (WCBs) and determine the most important ones. The research adopted a causal-relational method with a questionnaire compiled for data collection. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire based on the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha for different sections were between 0.71 and 0.95. The statistical population included 5473 wheat farmers in Bukan Township, Iran. Krejcie and Morgan tables were used to calculate the sample size of 357 people. All these farmers have key information about the effects of climate change (e.g., drought) and are pioneers in using adaptation and water conservation strategies in wheat production. In this study, the sample size was determined using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The questionnaire validity was approved by the validity expert board. According to the findings of the exploratory factor analysis, the most important factors influencing WCBs of wheat producers included “institutional”, “economic”, “natural”, “extensional”, “social”, “attitudinal”, and “self-identity” ones. These seven factors together accounted for 47.498% of the variance in WCBs of wheat producers. The relationship between independent variables and wheat growers’ WCBs was determined by Pearson correlation coefficients. According to the results, economic, institutional, natural, attitudinal, social, and self-identity factors had a significant relationship with WBC at 1% error level. The regression results also showed that among the studied variables, economic and extensional factors had the greatest impact on wheat growers’ WCBs. The results can help managers and planners determine policies that focus more on economic and extensional factors that have been neglected in previous studies.

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Factors Influencing the Adoption of Water Conservation Technologies by Smallholder Farmer Households in Tanzania

Cited by 29 publications

References 79 publications

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania

Adoption of Road Water Harvesting Practices and Their Impacts: Evidence from a Semi-Arid Region of Ethiopia

Factors Affecting Wheat Producers’ Water Conservation Behavior: Evidence from Iran

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