From theory to reality: Evaluating smallholder farmers’ attitudes toward nature in Tanzania

Abstract

This paper contributes to the understanding of the value base of smallholder farmers' relationships with their environment. It aims to identify and analyze Tanzanian smallholder farmers’ attitudes toward nature.The field was approached with a combined method, a content analysis of a body of literature and a qualitative study consisting of questionnaires and interviews with smallholder farmers as well as their representatives. The literature analysis revealed three different types of evaluative attitudes toward nature in texts representing smallholder farmers’ opinions and values, and the issues affecting them. These include the Human benefit type, the Sustainable society type, and the Harmony type.The results show that there is a discrepancy among the literature analysis, the answers of smallholder farmers, and those of their representatives. The Harmony type is not mentioned in the answers of the smallholder farmers themselves and is only marginally in those of their representatives but is present in the literature.This finding is discussed from the perspective of the rights of nature as an entry point. Additionally, possible reasons for Tanzanian NGOs to include ‘foreign’ ideas, such as the Harmony type, in their agendas are discussed. Since Tanzanian smallholder farmers' evaluative attitudes toward nature are best represented by the Sustainable society type, policy strategies that support agroecology could be used to give them the mental and physical space of opportunity they need.