The role of an agricultural university in small farmer development : a case of Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania is among several countries in Africa, committed to bringing about rural development. To do so the government of Tanzania has relied among other things on its agricultural institutions such as the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and Research Institution. The university role in rural development in Tanzania was examined through a comparative study of h\>o villages: one close to the university, and another remote. The objectives of this study were to examine (a) the influence of SUA on rural development, and (b) how SUA has facilitated adoption of recommended agricultural practices among the small farmers. The Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS) was used as the conceptual framework for this study. This study was also guided by the general hypothesis that the nearer farmers were to SUA, the more their adoption behaviour would be influenced by SUA. Primary data were collected by interviewing 130 farmers from two villages, academics from SUA, village extension workers from the district of study, as well as heads of parastatals in the same district. Secondary data were also collected from government records, research reports, policy papers, and library archives. The results clearly indicate that SUA has focussed on its major role of training and teaching the human resour ces. Its graduates are employed by many research and training institutions in Tanzania. SUA has continued to contribute to Tanzanian rural development. For instance, betvi>een 1988-1992 SUA also provided short courses to 604 village extension workers and about 956 farmers, and their wives. SUA has also trained the human resources which has been employed by the other sector of the economy, such as banks. The study also shows that SUA had to surmount many obstacles in order to perform its task well. Some of these problems were financial. The results also show that SUA has led rural change in Tanzania by taking part in several specific projects such as the Dairy Project (Arusha) and the Goat project (Mgeta). The results also show differential patterns of adoption of recommended agricultural practices between the close and remote villages. As predicted, the farmers in the villages closer to SUA, were more likely to report adopted recommended practices than farmers in the remote villages. Differences between the two villages were alsofound in their preferences and use of various information sources, with SU A playing more of an indirect role, than a direct role in influencing adoption in each village. Factors associated with adoption of specific recommended practices, however, were practice and village specific. That is, reasons for adopting any one practice were not identical with those associated with other practices nor were they generalisable across villages. A major determinant of the variability appears to be situation relevant behavioural recommendations of the local village extension worker. While SU A had vety little direct impact on the village, it had an indirect impact that it was the institution which provided training to most of the extension workers and in some cases to the farmers and staff of agencies providing assistance. This important but indirect influence that SUA exerts, also suggests that we examine the efficiency and effectiveness of its linkages and alliances with other agencies and its graduates. The presence of different factors influencing adoption in close and remote villages suggests that specific programs were developed to deal with specific issues. There is a need for strategic alliances in linking research, higher education, and extension, either through structure linkage, or improving the net working mechanism. There is also need toforge links among the agricultural knowledge system institutions in order to maximise their synergistic effect on Tanzania rural development. Finally, the difference in adoption between the remote and close villages draws special attention of the need for providing differential strategies in order to accelerate development in remote rural areas.