Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

to connect experiences from different areas and witness to different stakeholders aboutthe effectiveness of conservation agriculture as a labour-saving technology that improvessoil fertility, controls soil erosion, and so on. Success stories he has told indicate that unlikemany other soil and water conservation practices, conservation agriculture has beenproven to have direct links with high yields, labour reduction, relatively low cost of cropproduction, and sustainable production under adverse weather conditions.A study on the effect of reduced tillage practices in combination with theintroduction of soil cover and cover crops on the effect on labour demand andthe suitability of these technologies for vulnerable households was conducted fromOctober 2002 to July 2003 in Karatu. The study was funded by IFAD and executedby FAO Rome in close collaboration with SARI and with one Brazilian no-tillageexpert as a study team member. The study results have further strengthened thedata pool and provided evidence that conservation agriculture techniques havepotential for saving labour and resources (see Bishop-Sombrook et al. 2004).Political will—policies and bylaws supporting conservation agriculture—can actas a driving force. There are national polices and local government bylaws thataddress environmental issues. Currently there is no national policy specificallyaddressing conservation agriculture. What is required is policy on natural resourcemanagement and sustainable land management (SLM); then conservationagriculture can be mentioned as a way to achieve SLM. There are bylaws againstroaming animals, free-range grazing and uncontrolled wildfires, which, althoughnot established to support conservation agriculture, can do so. Most laws andpolicies that can and have supported conservation agriculture are indirect, like thisone on animal roaming. Communities can propose bylaws they think are useful inprotecting their environment. However, there is a need to enforce environmentalbylaws. Deliberate efforts are required to foster community ownership of them.Experience shows that if the bylaws are breached, a fine of about TZS 5000 (USD5) is payable. If the offender fails to pay the fine, the village extension officer assessesthe amount of damage. If the offender refuses to make this payment, the case isforwarded to the police and on to a court of law, and the offender can be sent to jail.The rationale for infringement may be that the amount of the fine is less than the valueof one animal in the flock or herd; hence it is better to let the animals feed and pay thefine than lose the whole flock or herd to hunger (Bishop-Sambrook et al. 2004). Thisimplies that some bylaws are too weak to support conservation agriculture in someareas, because uncontrolled grazing would adversely affect people trying to practiseits technologies. The government is encouraging village communities to establishand enforce bylaws that will conserve and protect the environment. Under villagegovernment leadership, there is an environmental committee, which is intendedto deal with all environmental issues of the village. However, the committees lackmotivation and capacity to implement their obligation.Land tenure is another hindering or driving force in conservation agricultureadoption. When population density was low, land was abundant and everyonecould have access to as much land as they could cultivate. Under the traditionalsystem of inheritance in the Iraqw tribe, the entire farm was handed over to theyoungest son. Other children would be assisted in clearing new land for agricultural82 Ringo et al.