Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

MarketsThe urban centres are Kikatiti, Kilimanjaro International Airport, Kisongo, Majiya Chai, Ngaramtoni, Oldonyosambu, Tengeru and Usa River. Most of the foodcrops are sold at weekly open markets in urban centres within the district. Coffee,flowers and vegetables from large farms are marketed and sold through privatebuyers or cooperatives. The marketing system is heavily driven by informal networksand establishments. Tanganyika Farmers Association is a public organization.Input traders are agents, retailers and distributors dealing with seeds, fertilizers andchemicals. Market centres also have implement repair services, mainly for repairinganimal-drawn implements.Most often small-scale farmers sell their produce to traders and are expected tobargain for the price for their goods. According to farmers, crops like onion andtomato are sold cheaply because the farmers lack knowledge of how to store themand usually urgently need cash. This gives the trader an upper hand in bargaining.Seeds for cover crops, especially lablab, are mainly available from institutionspractising conservation agriculture. After harvesting lablab, farmers get USD 100for a 120-kg bag. Maize fetches TZS 18,000/100 kg at planting time, TZS 10,000–12,000/100 kg during harvest; lablab TZS 100,000/120 kg at planting time, TZS40,000–50,000/120 kg during harvest (TZS 1000 = USD 1).In Arumeru farmers lack an organized way to market their conservation agricultureproduce. This means middlemen follow them to the farms and dictate low sellingprices. The district is near the Arusha municipal centre, which is rapidly expandingand offers a ready market for most produce. There are also export opportunitiesthrough Kilimanjaro International Airport to Dar es Salaam and Nairobi for onion,banana and flowers (URT 2004). Agricultural stockists are also in the district or inArusha city. Access to supplies by farmers in more remote areas is problematic,since stockists are mainly in urban and semi-urban areas.MechanizationAbout 60–70% of farming in Arusha Region is mechanized. According to the districtagricultural and livestock development office, farmers use tractor-drawn disc andmouldboard ploughs, as well as animal-drawn implements. Between 30% and 40%of the arable land is cultivated with hand hoes. In 2004/05, out of the 51,575 ha ofarable land 25,787 ha was ploughed by tractors, 23,209 ha by draught animals and2,579 with hand hoes. In recent years conservation agriculture implements havebeen introduced, especially rippers, animal drawn no-till ploughs and jab planters.InfrastructureGood transport services, such as roads, connect Arusha to Dar es Salaam, Dodomaand Nairobi. However, most roads in the district are not paved and some areas aredifficult to get to. Interior villages are adversely affected by inaccessible roads. Theroads are poorly maintained and damaged during heavy rains but are relativelyaccessible during the dry seasons. Tractors, ox-carts, donkeys, pickup trucks, lorries,14 Maguzu et al.