Abstract
Declining crop productivity is a great challenge facing smallholder farmers in Tanzania. Agro-ecological practices can improve crop productivity in a sustainable way and produce healthy food among smallholder farmers. Initiation of “Farmer-Led Research of Agro-Ecological Practices” (FLRAG) may enhance farmers’ capacities for innovation and co-develop suitable agro-ecological practices. This study aimed at identifying factors influencing smallholder farmers to participate in FLRAG. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 90 smallholder farmers in Mvomero, Bagamoyo and Masasi districts in Tanzania. Data were also collected from key informants who were extension officers. The study identified that experience in farming, easiness in accessing agro-ecological inputs, interest in doing experiments and farm size ownership are the factors that substantially influence smallholder farmers to participate in FLRAG. Therefore, researchers are advised to select participants of FLRAG by considering the mentioned factors. Furthermore, farmers selected to participate in FLRAG are advised to the use of ugunduzi app” that was developed purposefully to enhance agro-ecological research in order to test and understand its potential on smoothing agro-ecological research activities. Key word: Smallholder farmers, crop productivity, sustainable farming, farmer-led research, agro-ecological practices, Ugunduzi App.
Highlights
IntroductionAgriculture has remained the mainstay of economies of many developing countries (Africa Development Bank (ADB), 2018)
Over the past decades, agriculture has remained the mainstay of economies of many developing countries (Africa Development Bank (ADB), 2018)
Concerning production costs, 42.2% of the respondents perceived that producing using agro-ecological approaches production costs is low, but the rest 57.8% said that production cost could be high especially on accessing inputs such as farmyard manure
Summary
Agriculture has remained the mainstay of economies of many developing countries (Africa Development Bank (ADB), 2018). Soil fertility degradation is one of the key factors contributing to poor productivity performance among smallholder farmers (ASDP II, 2017). Global climate change crisis and poor use of agro-chemicals in agricultural production have been reported to increase severe loss of fertile soil nutrients in the country (Nonga et al, 2011; Adedeji et al, 2014; Lahr et al, 2016; International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and World Bank, 2017; Mkonda and He, 2018). There is a need to have alternative measures for sustainable land management to protect soil quality which may improve crop productivity among smallholder farmers
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
