Abstract
The transition of farming systems to higher levels of productivity without overusing natural resources is of rising interest especially in African countries, where population growth has often been larger than past productivity increases. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on whether environmentally friendly agricultural practices are compatible with economic interests. In the context of small-scale farm households in Tanzania, the analysis focuses on Conservation Agriculture (CA) at different levels of agricultural output, as CA is a promising toolbox for sustainable intensification. The results are based on a household survey conducted in 2014 with 900 randomly selected small-scale farmers in rural Tanzania, i.e., in semi-arid Dodoma and in semi-humid Morogoro region. We find that mulching is most frequently applied, followed by crop rotation, fallowing, intercropping and tree planting. Logit regressions show that CA adoption is influenced by socio-economic factors, farm characteristics and the regional context. Quantile regressions explain different levels of agricultural output through variables related to the extent of using CA. They indicate that marginalized farmers have the strongest crop income effect from an increased use of mulching. With increasing levels of agricultural output, the use of mulching remains beneficial for farmers, but the effect appears less pronounced.
Highlights
Most rural people in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) work in the agricultural sector and feed their families through their own production and additional income via sale of produce
In the context of small-scale farm households in rural Tanzania, the analysis focuses on measures of Conservation Agriculture (CA) at different levels of intensification
Descriptives discover which soil fertility or agro-ecological diversity enhancing measures are being used by the farmers in the two study regions (Table 4)
Summary
Most rural people in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) work in the agricultural sector and feed their families through their own production and additional income via sale of produce. Land use change in favor of agricultural use, grazing lands and settlement areas results in nutrient mining, soil erosion and soil degradation [4]. Another reason for increased soil erosion is related to Tanzania’s Ujamaa “villagization” campaign of 1973–1976, which successfully aimed at the relocation of about five million rural peasants into concentrated settlements. Their former homesteads were widely dispersed, but facilitated long and regular fallow periods to replenish nutrients taken up by crops. Losses between 2001 and 2009 due to land degradation based on the change of land towards agricultural use Resources 2017, 6, 47; doi:10.3390/resources6030047 www.mdpi.com/journal/resources
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