Welfare Effects of Farming Household' Usage of Combination of Climate Smart Agriculture Practises in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

Abstract

Climate change is a growing challenge to food security, especially for the developing countries which depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is the approach proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to improve agricultural productivity and income, climate change adaptation capacity and mitigation of greenhouse gases hence improving food security. Despite the promotion of CSA-practices in Tanzania, its impact on household food security is not well documented. The study used a Multinomial Endogenous Switching Regression Model (MESR) to evaluate the impact of CSA-practises on food security in Mbeya and Songwe regions in Tanzania. Multistage sampling was conducted in which a total of 1443 farming households were interviewed. The study found that the usage of CSA-practises can increase or decrease Food Variety Score per adult equivalent unit when used either in isolation or in combination. Intercropping has the best payoff among the CSA-practices considered in this study. A combination of crop rotation and residue retention and a combination of crop rotation, intercropping and residue retention showed a positive impact on Food Variety Score per adult equivalent unit but lower magnitude compared with practises used in isolation. The study found that the usage of all three CSA-practices does not necessarily result in better returns compared to other practices. The study recommended that regardless of unobserved and observed effects, using crop rotation, residue retention and intercropping in isolation results into the highest food variety score per adult equivalent among all possible combinations.