Usage of Climate Smart Agriculture Practices: An Analysis of Farm Households' Decisions in Southern Highlands of Tanzania

Abstract

Developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are facing challenges in agriculture development due to change in market conditions, food demand and climate. Climate change causes a major threat to agricultural production and food security in Tanzania, and Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA) is crucial in addressing the potential impacts. The study used cross-sectional data from 1443 farm households in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania to analyse factors that determine probability of using multiple combinations of Climate-smart Agriculture practices (CSA-practices) (i.e., crop rotation, crop residue retention and intercropping). The multinomial logit model was applied to examine the determinants of using multiple combinations of CSA-practices. The analysis of factors that influence farm households’ decision to use CSA-practices revealed that production diversification, gender and livestock ownership were found to have a positive and significantly influence on the usage of combination of crop residue retention and intercropping (C0R1I1). In addition, education level and gender of the household head had positive significance in the usage of combination of crop rotation, crop residue retention and intercropping (C1R1I1). This comprehensive study is significant for a finer understanding of the synergistic effect of interrelated CSA-practices. The study calls for policy makers to enact policies and plans that promote CSApractices as a combination, including other interrelated practices to upscale CSA-practices usage while harnessing the synergies between them.

Keywords: CSA-practices; usage; crop rotation; crop residue retention; intercropping