Conservation agriculture Tanzania_casestudy.pdf - Sokoine ...

Most of the surface and underground water sources in the district are seasonal,hence limited as potential for irrigation. However, permanent springs are foundalong Lake Eyasi in the Mang’ola flood plain. Potential area for irrigation in theseplains is estimated to be 3600 ha, but the irrigated area is only 1081 ha.The district has a good number of farm implements: 1700 tractors, 21 combineharvesters, 3900 ox ploughs, and a good number of draught animals (URT 2004b).Most of the tractor maintenance and repairs are done locally. Most operators areskilled in maintenance as most owners service or maintain their own tractors andequipment. Spare parts are available in Arusha town and installed in Karatu. Bothlarge- and small-scale farmers own tractors while small-scale farmers own ox ploughs.Karatu District has one of the highest numbers of working tractors and combineharvesters in Tanzania. This has to do with the good soils and the possibility of farmingwheat and other crops such as safflower. The tractors are relatively old (some tractorswith more than 50 years) but still functional, signifying that farmers in Karatu havebeen able to make enough money to buy and sustain tractor use. This is a potentialfor the district in mechanization options under conservation agriculture (subsoiling,tractor direct-seeding implements, etc.). Large-scale farmers own tractors to work ontheir farms while small-scale farmers with tractors work with them on their fields andalso hire them out to other farmers for ploughing or transporting. More than 40%of the farmers in Karatu have access to tractors for land preparation. During thelow period of tractor activities, some small-scale farmers shift their tractors to otherdistricts (Kondoa, Basutu, etc.) for business.To some extent mechanization follows the agroecological zones; in the highlands wherewheat and barley are mostly cultivated tractors are used for ploughing, harrowingand applying herbicides. Farmers also use combine harvesters for wheat and barley.Tractors pulling trailers are used to transport agricultural inputs and crops. Tractorsare also used for disc ploughing, which is often done in combination with seedingmaize with a person walking behind the tractor disc. Animal draught power is usedfor ploughing with a mouldboard plough. Oxen are normally used as a source ofanimal power, mainly for ploughing and transportation, while donkeys are normallyused for transportation. Seeding is often done by hand behind the plough.Land-holding size for households ranges from 5 to 15 acres (2–6 ha). Poor householdswith relatively small holdings of less than an acre and cultivating in the hilly uplandsdo most of the work by hand. The so-called onion hoe is used for planting by handunder minimum-tillage conditions, the work mostly done by women. Farmers withland size more than 2 acres can hire a tractor or animal power services, especiallyduring land preparation, ploughing and harvesting. In 2006, the cost of hiring atractor for ploughing an acre was around TZS 22,000 1 while hiring ox ploughingwas about TZS 13,000. The price of hiring tractors has increased sharply with theincreased fuel prices. Weeding is also often done with hired labour or in laboursharinggroups.Both tractors and oxen ploughs are used in the midlands zone. In the lowlands,oxen provide draught power for ploughing and opening furrows for planting maize,sorghum and pigeon pea (fig. 2).1 1 USD = TZS 1200 at time of survey64 Ringo et al.