Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

3 MethodMbeya was selected as a case study area because it had been involved in researchingand promoting conservation tillage and cover crop technology for many years. ARIUyole in Mbeya is the only MAFS research institute with a complete agriculturalengineering research section. The high variation in altitude, 400–3000 m, calls fordistinct research and intervention experience in temperate cover crops and farmingsystems, some with frost.The Mbeya case study began with forming a team with research scientists fromARI Uyole, the agricultural extension field officer of Wanging’ombe Ward, and animplement manufacturer, SEAZ Agricultural Equipment Ltd.The study was conducted in six villages: three villages (Wanging’ombe, Kanamalengaand Mayale) of Wanging’ombe Ward, Njombe District, Iringa Region, and threevillages (Muvwa, Njelenje and Mapogoro) of Mshewe Ward, Mbeya District,Mbeya Region (figs. 1, 2). Choice of the villages was based on how much theyhad been exposed to different conservation agriculture packages and if they hadpromoted them. The team discussed the case study tasks, including work plans anda conservation agriculture framework. It identified institutions in the two wardsthat offered conservation agriculture services. It developed a work schedule andassigned members duties.Preceding the field survey, key informant farmers were categorized as those who practisedconservation agriculture; those who had the exposure and opportunity to practise butdid not; and former practitioners who abandoned it (appendix 1). Other approachesto collect information included focus group discussions with farmer groups, workshopsand key informant interviews of extension staff and the implement manufacturer.Field sites were selected to capture the range of conservation agricultureinterventions, such as ripping, cover crops, tied ridges, agroforestry, intercroppingand rotating crops. Information was collected through discussions and fieldobservations. Photographs were taken to help illustrate written information. Theinformation was coded and analysed using the SPSS computer software program,synthesized and compiled as a zero draft report.4 Biophysical, socio-economic andinstitutional environmentGeography of Wanging’ombe and Mshewe WardsWanging’ombe Ward is in the north of Njombe District, Iringa Region, on themain road from Mbeya to Dar es Salaam. Wanging’ombe is 150 km east of Mbeya(fig. 1). The ward lies within the main agroecological zone, AEZ 3, also known asthe Mufindi–Kidugala plateau.Mshewe Ward, comprising Muvwa, Njelenje and Mapogoro in Mbeya District, is 50km north of Mbeya city along the Mbeya–Mbalizi-Mkwajuni road (fig. 2). The ward,classified as AEZ 4f, is better known as the Songwe Msangano Itumba trough.Characteristics of both ward are detailed in table 1.Mbeya District 113