Sustainability impact assessment to improve food security of smallholders in Tanzania

Schindler, Jana; Graef, Frieder; König, Hannes; Mchau, Devotha; Saidia, Paul Sabas; Sieber, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2016.04.006

Cited by 34 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In Tanzania, for instance, irrigation is used on less than one percent of the total potential area for irrigation, which is 29.4 million ha [13]. The promotion of infield rainwater harvesting practices such as the use of tied ridges [9], pits [14] and basins [15], as well as the use of micro dams [16,17], is resulting in these practices receiving attention as alternatives for limited access to formal large-scale irrigation. In addition, cultivating drought-tolerant crops, such as pearl millet, and paying close attention to the timing of its planting, is crucial for attaining higher yields [18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Rainfed Pearl Millet Yield Sensitivity to Abiotic Stresses in Semi-Arid Central Tanzania, Eastern Africa

et al. 2019

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Drought and heat-tolerant crops, such as Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), are priority crops for fighting hunger in semi-arid regions. Assessing its performance under future climate scenarios is critical for determining its resilience and sustainability. Field experiments were conducted over two consecutive seasons (2015/2016 and 2016/2017) to determine the yield responses of the crop (pearl millet variety "Okoa") to microdose fertilizer application in a semi-arid region of Tanzania. Data from the experiment were used to calibrate and validate the DSSAT model (CERES Millet). Subsequently, the model evaluated synthetic climate change scenarios for temperature increments and precipitation changes based on historic observations (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018). Temperature increases of +0.5 to +3.0 • C (from baseline), under non-fertilized (NF) and fertilizer microdose (MD) conditions were used to evaluate nine planting dates of pearl millet from early (5 December) to late planting (25 February), based on increments of 10 days. The planting date with the highest yields was subjected to 49 synthetic scenarios of climate change for temperature increments and precipitation changes (of −30% up to +30% from baseline) to simulate yield responses. Results show that the model reproduced the phenology and yield, indicating a very good performance. Model simulations indicate that temperature increases negatively affected yields for all planting dates under NF and MD. Early and late planting windows were more negatively affected than the normal planting window, implying that temperature increases reduced the length of effective planting window for achieving high yields in both NF and MD. Farmers must adjust their planting timing, while the timely availability of seeds and fertilizer is critical. Precipitation increases had a positive effect on yields under all tested temperature increments, but Okoa cultivar only has steady yield increases up to a maximum of 1.5 • C, beyond which yields decline. This informs the need for further breeding or testing of other cultivars that are more heat tolerant. However, under MD, the temperature increments and precipitation change scenarios are higher than under NF, indicating a high potential of yield improvement under MD, especially with precipitation increases. Further investigation should focus on other cropping strategies such as the use of in-field rainwater harvesting and heat-tolerant cultivars to mitigate the effects of temperature increase and change in precipitation on pearl millet yield.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Rainfed Pearl Millet Yield Sensitivity to Abiotic Stresses in Semi-Arid Central Tanzania, Eastern Africa

et al. 2019

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“…FoPIA is a policy impact assessment tool for sustainable development that is regularly adapted to be applicable in specific local contexts including case study regions in countries of the Global South (König et al, 2010(König et al, , 2012(König et al, , 2013Morris et al, 2011;Purushothaman et al, 2013). Schindler et al, (2016a; refine the approach to be applicable at the community level when assessing agricultural strategies. For our research, this specific FoPIA approach is applied with the objective of assessing the sustainability of coping strategies in response to fuelwood scarcity.…”

Section: Framework For Participatory Impact Assessment (Fopia)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Via the application of this impact assessment methodology, the farmer's perspectives with respect to the positive and negative effects of adaptation measures and its trade-offs are identified. The applied FoPIA approach, based on Schindler et al (2016a), comprises three main parts: (1) selection of local coping strategies due to fuelwood scarcity; (2) identification of local sustainability criteria; and (3) the participatory impact assessment of coping strategies on sustainability criteria as well as the frequency assessment of the selected adaptation measures (Figure 2). The following methodological steps are applied as part of the impact assessment.…”

Section: Framework For Participatory Impact Assessment (Fopia)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A total of 23 adaptation measures were identified, differentiated into preventive and acute measures, then grouped into eight clusters, "offering a direct strategic pathway to select appropriate strategies" (Scheid et al, 2018, p 6) (see Table 1). Research by König et al (2010König et al ( , 2013 and Schindler et al (2016a) shows that stakeholders have difficulties distinguishing between indicators. In this study, two steps are used to select eight out of the 23 identified strategies.…”

Section: Phase 1: Selection Of Coping Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adapting to Fuelwood Scarcity: The Farmers' Perspective

Scheid

Hafner

Hoffmann

et al. 2019

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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About 3 billion people worldwide depend on fuelwood to meet their domestic energy needs. Almost 90% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa use fuelwood-based forms of energy. However, its use is often unsustainable and is one driver of environmental degradation. In Tanzania, the majority of rural residents depend on fuelwood as their major source of cooking energy. The adaptation measures applied by small-scale farmers in response to fuelwood scarcity are typically unsustainable with regard to socioeconomic , environmental, and food security dimensions. This study applies a methodological framework that assesses the personally experienced impact of coping strategies by local stakeholders on sustainability criteria. This framework comprises (1) the selection of appropriate adaptation measures; (2) the identification of local sustainability criteria; and (3) the participatory impact and frequency assessments at two case study sites in the semi-arid region of Dodoma in central Tanzania. Overall, eight coping strategies from 23 measures applied in the region were selected and four sustainability criteria defined by local key informants were identified. The participatory impact and frequency assessment show that the strategies of "on-farm tree planting" and "use of improved cooking stoves" are rated as positive across all four sustainability criteria and are regularly applied by the farmers. Two of the eight strategies are clearly negative: "eat fewer meals" and "increase in walking distance to collect fuelwood." These measures are regularly and widely used by farmers, thus amplifying the negative rating. Overall, the experiences of farmers suggest that applied coping strategies have the greatest negative effect on the environmental condition and, on average, a rather positive effect on economic conditions. The results offer an approach for developing a reliable monitoring of how adaptation measures are applied in response to fuelwood scarcity and to achieve distinct values for benchmarking.

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“…Various factors interfere with food security in this region, including climate change (Müller et al 2011, Kangalawe andLyimo 2013), changing economic systems through trade liberalization and globalization (von Braun 2007), population growth, governance factors (Riisgaard et al 2010, Gerland et al 2014, and decreasing natural production resources (Shemdoe 2011). Within the scope of food security, knowledge of the local and regional environmental and socio-economic systems is required in order to foster long-term decision-making regarding the conservation of natural resources-a knowledge also needed to create and use appropriate technologies and strategies for the changing conditions in Tanzania (Graef et al 2014, König et al 2012, Schindler et al 2016. To cope with these challenges, many development and research approaches are under discussion, if not already implemented, including participatory adaptive research (Maru et al 2016, Sutherland et al 1999, Kimenye and Bombom 2009, Coulter and Onumah 2002, Graef et al 2014.…”

Section: Food Security and Innovative Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmer innovation driven by needs and understanding: building the capacities of farmer groups for improved cooking stove construction and continued adaptation

Uckert

Hafner

Graef

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Enhancing food security is one of the main goals of subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigates the implementation of improved loam-made cooking stoves and its contribution to coping and livelihood strategies. Controlled combustion, air as well as smoke flue, and heat insulation facilitate the more efficient fuel consumption of improved cooking stoves compared to traditional stoves-namely three stone fires. Although the majority of small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on the free public good of firewood, the increasing time needed for collecting firewood implies high opportunity costs for productive members of the family. The primary outcomes for users of improved stoves are reduced fuel consumption, greater safety, saved time, and reduced smoke in the kitchen.The paper illustrates part of the output, outcome, and impact of a participatory action research approach for implementing improved cooking stoves. Special emphasis was put on enabling the villagers to construct their stoves without external support, hence having locally manufactured stoves made of mud, bricks, and dried grass. The impact pathway of improved cooking stoves followed the training-of-trainers concept, where members of the initially established farmer groups were trained to construct stoves on their own. Special focus was given to knowledge exchange and knowledge transfer in order to increase firewood efficiency and overall satisfaction of users of improved cook stoves. Encouraging the members to further adapt the stoves enabled them to scale-up the construction of improved cooked stoves into a business model and increase dissemination while creating income. Although many important benefits, like time and knowledge gain, were identified by the farmers after adoption of the new technology, we found adoption rates differed significantly between regions.

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Sustainability impact assessment to improve food security of smallholders in Tanzania

Cited by 34 publications

References 41 publications

Modelling Rainfed Pearl Millet Yield Sensitivity to Abiotic Stresses in Semi-Arid Central Tanzania, Eastern Africa

Modelling Rainfed Pearl Millet Yield Sensitivity to Abiotic Stresses in Semi-Arid Central Tanzania, Eastern Africa

Adapting to Fuelwood Scarcity: The Farmers' Perspective

Farmer innovation driven by needs and understanding: building the capacities of farmer groups for improved cooking stove construction and continued adaptation

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