Rural Planning Journal

Drivers of small-scale farmers' adoption of mobile phone technology for rice production and marketing in Dodoma region

2024-09-03T10:54:52+00:00

Despite the benefits of Mobile Phone Technology (MPT) in enhancing agricultural communication in Tanzania, a significant gap exists between the rise in mobile phone subscriptions and the actual adoption of MPT by farmers for agricultural production and marketing. This study utilised multinomial logistic regression to analyse factors influencing MPT adoption among 454 small-scale farmers in Bahi District, Dodoma Region. The findings indicated that 62 percent of the farmers adopted MPT, while 38 percent did not. Key factors influencing MPT adoption for rice production communication only included; having household members under 15 years, mobile phone ownership, time spent on using mobile phones, land size, use of hired labour, market distance and distance to all-weather roads. This study revealed that significant determinants for the adoption for rice marketing communication only were farmer’s sex, time spent on mobile phones and market distance. Further, the study showed that significant factors for the adoption for combined rice production and marketing communication were the farmer’s education level, mobile phone ownership, land size, use of family and hired labour, and market distance. Understanding these factors provides a foundation for developing interventions to increase MPT adoption among key stakeholders. Increased adoption of MPT will improve access to market information and agricultural practices in rural areas, thereby enhancing rice production and marketing and improving farmers’ livelihoods.

Factors affecting access to agricultural inputs among smallholder tobacco farmers in Kahama district, Tanzania

2024-09-03T11:14:13+00:00

Appropriate application of agricultural inputs plays a significant role in offsetting the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture including in tobacco production. Use of agricultural inputs has been reported to improve quantity, quality and market value of tobacco worldwide. In view of that, this study was undertaken to assess the factors affecting access to agricultural inputs among tobacco smallholder farmers in Kahama District. Additionally, the study determined the effects of inputs applications on tobacco production. The interview method using structured questionnaires was employed to collect primary data from a sample of 180 tobacco smallholder farmers obtained through random sampling. The data were analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that 77.2% of smallholder farmers had an access to agricultural inputs while 22.8% did not. Access to these agricultural inputs was through Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) (100.0 %), fellow farmers (68.3%), and agro-input dealers (48.2%). Furthermore, findings showed that price (p=0.029), AMCOS membership (p=0.000), awareness (p=0.045), frequency of usage (p=0.000), credit accessibility (p=0.012) and farm size (p=0.048) were the significant factors that influenced smallholder farmers to access agricultural inputs. Moreover, the effects of agricultural inputs applications on tobacco production were; increase of tobacco leaf size (100.0%), resilience to pests and disease (97.3%), quality of produced tobacco (91.3%) and amount of produce (80.6%). The study concludes that most farmers have access to agricultural inputs, and that access is influenced by a number of important factors. There are several ways that inputs impact tobacco production. The study strongly suggests that in order to improve accessibility and input usage, farmers should be encouraged to join AMCOS and get access to credit.

Challenges in integrating population variables into local government authorities’ development plans

2024-09-03T11:29:15+00:00

This paper examines the challenges in integrating population variables into Local Government Authorities (LGA)’ development plans in Chemba and Mpwapwa District Councils in Dodoma Region. The study intended to examine challenges faced by LGA in integrating population variables into short, medium, and long-term development plans. The target study population was LGA’s Development Planning Officers. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Univariate analysis was done to capture the distribution of respondents in frequencies and percentages. Cross-tabulation captured the association of variables at a 95% significance level. The findings revealed that LGAs face several challenges in integrating population variables into development plans. These challenges are institutional that includes scarcity of data, lack of political commitment, limited access to computing facilities, and inadequacy of statistical data sources. The resource-based challenges are the unclear relevance of the decision among development planners, limited understanding of population variables and insufficient expertise to prepare needed projection inputs. The planning process-based challenges are the bureaucratic structures in centralized planning offices, reliance on secondary data from outdated socioeconomic profiles and too many directives from the central government. The study concludes that institutional setup, resource constraints, and the nature of the planning process prevent LGA’s from devising comprehensive development plans. The findings require LGAs to exert more effort into timely reviewing and updating of reliable sources of data, improve understanding of planners on population variables and increase experts on projection inputs. Too many directives (central government priorities) order to create development plans which foster local economic growth and address the issue of youth rural-urban migration. The study recommends that LGAs improve updating all sources of data for planning purposes, and review the planning approach in an attempt to make it more equitable and egalitarian, instead of being a top-down regurgitation of central government policies. Besides, development planners need to be acquainted with methodologies for integrating population variables into development plans.

Comparative advantage and trade performance of food products among selected east african community partner states: implications for policy formulation

2024-09-03T11:38:01+00:00

Despite the potential benefits of regional trade, economic disparities among East African Community (EAC) member states persist. This study investigated the relationship between trade openness, comparative advantage in food trade, and economic performance within the EAC, focusing on Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. The study adopted export data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database, the World Bank, and the International Trade Centre, as well as GDP data from the Bank of Tanzania and the National Bureau of Statistics. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics, causality analysis, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), and vector autoregressive model. Findings reveal a positive impact of trade openness on Tanzania’s economy but negative impacts on Kenya and Uganda, suggesting Tanzania benefits from EAC integration while Kenya and Uganda face trade challenges. The causality analysis shows that Tanzania’s economic performance drives food exports, trade openness impacts Kenya’s economic performance significantly, and Uganda sees a reciprocal link between economic growth and food exports; however, trade openness does not significantly affect Ugandan economic growth. The analysis of the Balassa index indicates Kenya’s food export advantage, a decline in Uganda’s export advantage since 1996, and Tanzania’s lack of export advantage with potential for improvement. The study recommends cautiously implementing trade openness policies within the EAC to prevent trade distortions and currency devaluation.

The influence of expectations regarding performance on the acceptance of mobile phone banking services by smallholder farmers: a case of smallholder grape farmers in Dodoma region, Tanzania

2024-09-03T11:46:23+00:00

This study uses a cross-sectional survey design to examine the influence of expectations regarding performance on the acceptance of mobile phone banking services by smallholder farmers in Dodoma Region, Tanzania. A total of 360 smallholder farmers were selected randomly for the study. The collected data was analysed using multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between expectations regarding performance and acceptance of mobile phone banking services. The study’s findings showed that expectations regarding performance measures (job fit, perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, and outcome expectations) have good predictive potential in explaining smallholder farmers' adoption of mobile phone banking services. The findings suggest that smallholder farmers have trust (i.e. perceived usefulness), in using a mobile phone banking system to improve agricultural commercialization. The findings also emphasize that smallholder farmers believe (i.e. job fit) that using mobile phone banking technology is beneficial to them. Furthermore, smallholder farmers believe that people who engage in farming activities are likely to achieve the desired results if rewards and/or incentives are given (i.e. extrinsic motivation). The study draws attention to mobile phone banking service providers to fulfil the expectations of smallholder farmers by providing services that address smallholder farmers’ needs. Finally, policy attention should focus on the expected performance of mobile phone banking services used by smallholder farmers in rural areas.

Factors affecting borehole water project sustainability in Dodoma, Tanzania: A case of Nghong'onha ward

2024-09-03T11:52:27+00:00

Access to a clean, safe, and affordable water supply for domestic use is a fundamental human right. However, in many urban areas in sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania, not all people have access to water due to the operation, maintenance, and sustainability challenges of the built infrastructure. This study assessed factors affecting the sustainability of the Borehole water project in Dodoma Region, taking a case of Nghong'onha ward in the City Council of Dodoma. Specifically, the study focused on household water use practices and examined the factors affecting the sustainability of borehole water projects. The study used both primary and secondary data of a quantitative and qualitative nature collected through interviews, observations, and a documentary review. This study employed probability and non-probability sampling techniques to select a sample of respondents and key informants. The collected data were analysed for descriptive statistics such as frequencies and means and binary logistic regression analysis, whereas qualitative data were analysed using the qualitative content analysis technique. The study found that, on average, households consumed 82.27 litres of water daily, and 47.5% of respondents had to wait for 31–45 minutes to fetch water at the water point. Furthermore, findings revealed that community meetings (0.000), distance to water points (0.000), water facility spare parts availability (0.054), payment modality (0.023), and annual maintenance (0.011) significantly affected borehole water project sustainability. The study recommends that interventions to improve access to domestic water supply in the study area should focus on improving water supply infrastructure and the built infrastructure's operation, maintenance, and sustainability.

Factors affecting health infrastructure conditions for service delivery in city council of Dodoma, Tanzania

2024-09-03T11:58:20+00:00

The study was conducted in the City Council of Dodoma and involved six primary public health centres, with the aim of assessing the factors affecting the conditions of health infrastructure for service delivery. It adopted a descriptive survey design while simple random sampling was used to obtain suitable respondents. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the collected data. The findings revealed that 62.5% of respondents argued that infrastructure conditions were good while 37.5% said they were bad. Also, 95.8% of respondents disclosed that the effect of improved health infrastructures was an increase in the number of patients being served, improved access to safe and affordable health services (83.3%), and adequate supply and access to essential equipment and drugs (81.9%). Furthermore, the findings indicated that six variables had significant and positive effects on the condition of health infrastructure. The variables are users’ competence (p=0.002), infrastructure overuse (p=0.004), non- compliance with terms of use (p=0.009), management quality (p=0.001), technological adoption (p=0.004) and maintenance cost (p=0.000). Nevertheless, the findings show that 75.0% of respondents cited that, among the challenges were unnecessary referrals, underperformance (69.4%), shortage of basic health equipment (63.8%), longer waiting time for the patient (44.4%), overwork and burnout among health workers (40.2%), and the large number of patients over existing health staff and equipment (30.5%). Various factors significantly influence the conditions of health infrastructure in primary health centres, which hinders the smooth delivery of health services. The government, through the Ministry of Health, and in-charge of centres should provide guidance on infrastructure use and instil maintenance behaviour among users

Access to secondary school education among girls from pastoral communities: a case of the Barbaig in Hanang district, Manyara Region of Tanzania

2024-09-03T12:02:59+00:00

Access to education for girls in many societies faces significant challenges, often leading to girls being viewed as inferior to boys. However, little is known about the unique challenges facing girls from pastoral societies and their access to schooling. Therefore, this paper sheds light on girls' access to secondary school education in the Barbaig pastoral community in the Hanang District, Manyara Region of Tanzania. Specifically, it examines the challenges girls face in accessing secondary education in their area. The study uses a cross-sectional research design and involved 210 girls from Dirma, Chief Gejaru, and Mwahu secondary schools. Proportional sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to obtain respondents for this study. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary reviews. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in data analysis. The results revealed that a shortage of girls’ facilities and services in schools, families' low socio-economic status, and harmful gender norms, traditions, and practices were among the challenges. Other challenges include early pregnancies and early marriage, parents’ desire for wealth, nomadic lifestyle, large family size, and long distance from home to school. It is recommended that the Education Department in Hanang District implement educational policies that ensure students in every school have sufficient resources. Furthermore, community leaders should insist on the importance of girls’ education. This will only be possible if local authorities actively collaborate with relevant stakeholders to solve the educational challenges facing the girls from the Barbaig tribe.

Socio-economic factors associated with desired number of antenatal care visits in Tanzania

2024-09-03T12:08:22+00:00

This study analyses socioeconomic factors associated with the desired number of Antenatal Care (ANC) visits in Tanzania. The data are extracted from the Tanzania Demographic Health Survey and Malaria Indicator. The study employed Multilevel Logistic Regression analysis using TDHS-MIS 2022. The findings show that more than two-thirds of women attended at least 4 visits (desirable), while one-third of women attended less than 4 visits (undesirable). Over half of women attained primary education, while the majority had health insurance. About half of women were aged between 25 and 34 years, and 41.2% were economically classified as poor. Furthermore, the study revealed that the place of residence, educational level, distance to the health facility, access to health insurance, marital status, husband/partner's education level, birth order, women’s age, wealth index, work status, and family size indicated associations with the number of ANC visits. The study findings recommend that policymaking should focus on formulating policies and programmes that address factors reducing maternal and infant morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and birth. There is a need to carry out a qualitative survey to assess how and why social, cultural, and community factors influence desired number of ANC visits among women.