View/Open - Sokoine University of Agriculture

The types of crops produced seemed to vary in terms of different climatic conditionsbetween the villages. Maize were cultivated in all villages and used as both cash cropand for subsistence purposes. There were however some differences between. FromTable 29 we see that both Nyali and Masugu had more or less the same type ofproduction, with maize, sim sim, and cassava being the main crops, with some fewdifferences. Since Nyali is a part of the plateau zone, it enjoys more rain thanMasugu, which lies in the floodplain zone (which were more dependent on seasonalrains). Due to this, Nyali could grow more vegetables and as seen, even rice.Lunenzi on the other hand, were located in the highlands, and were in contrast withthe two others, cultivating beans and bananas on a large scale, both as a cash crop andfor subsistence purposes. While households in Masugu and Nyali were involved inmany different types of crops, e.g. 15 different ones in Masugu, in Lunenzi, thevariation were not as large, and maize and beans for example, were produced byalmost all households. This indicates that Lunenzi were more specialized in terms ofproduction than the two others, and can indicate that the village were less affected byshortfalls. However, due to several droughts and floods in Kilosa during recent yearsmany households had experienced frequent crop failure. In addition only a few couldafford to use fertilizer, and even though many commented on the negative effects firehad on the fertility of their land, the practice of burning the fields before cultivationwas widespread.76 % of the households had additional livestock. The most common livestock waspoultry (59%). Slightly more people kept poultry in Lunenzi than in the other twovillages (66%). 23% of the respondents also kept goats and a few pigs. Only onehousehold kept cattle and were located in Masugu. However, due to the fairly highpresence of Maasai pastoralists in Mausgu, it appears that the conditions were goodfor grazing. One respondent mentioned that he did not dare to keep any largelivestock, as then the Maasai would steal them.By looking at agricultural activities we see that interestingly enough, what types andvariety of crops which is cultivated, are by large determined by location and climate,thereby reflecting differences in terms of livelihood strategies and adaptation. One187