Can organic farming be an alternative to improve well-being of smallholder farmers in disadvantaged areas? a case study of Morogoro region, Tanzania
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Date
2015
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Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
This research was done to assess contribution of organic farming on improving well-being
of smallholder farmers through crop productivity, profit and food security among 324
smallholder farmers in Morogoro Region, Tanzania. The specific objectives were to:
examine how farmers implement organic farming practices and sell their products;
compare productivity, profit and food security between conventional/traditional farmers
and organic farmers; determine factors affecting productivity, profit and food security;
determine challenges of organic farming; and determine communities’ attitude towards
organic products. The results showed that organic farmers had diversified crops and
availability of water for irrigation, and they had better selling situation of their crop
products. Productivity of maize, cow peas and pumpkins did not show significant
differences between organic and conventional/traditional farmers, but profit and food
security did. Food security was analysed using food consumption score and dietary energy
consumed by organic farmers and showed significantly better results compared to that of
conventional/traditional farmers. The factors which influenced productivity significantly
were sex of a household head, number of people in a household, constant markets and
livestock keeping. Years of practicing organic farming showed significant association with
profit, and livestock keeping and age of a household head had significant impacts on food
security. It was revealed that there were challenges of land preparation, markets, getting
premium price, and contamination with other farms. Customers of a normal market place
had similar attitude to that of customers of an organic shop. In conclusion, organic farming
has a potential to improve well-being of smallholder farmers in disadvantaged areas
especially from the aspects of profit and food security. Therefore, it is recommended that
more emphasis should be put on promotion of organic farming by agricultural stakeholders
such as the government, agricultural institutions, development institutions and organic
farming organizations.
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Keywords
smallholder farmers, disadvantaged areas, food security, organic farming, Morogoro, Tanzania