Promoting sustainable agriculture and natural resource management through the process approach: experience from umadep project of Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
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Date
2020
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Publisher
Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
The importance of the Uluguru Mountains in Morogoro Region depends on two aspects: first,
productivity of the available non-restricted natural resources, and the ecological balance of the
mountains in the restricted areas. Unfortunately, the increasing population pressure, continual
indiscriminative slash and burn practices, intensive use of chemical fertilizers and conventional
research approaches in the mountains threaten these two aspects in the complexity of the natural
resource management. In order to redress the situation, the Uluguru Mountains Agricultural
Development Project (UMADEP) has been using the process approach to sustainable agriculture
and natural resource management (NRM) in Mgeta and Mkuyuni Divisions since 1993. Studies
conducted in the Uluguru Mountains, have assessed the effectiveness of soil and water conservation
(SWC) measures in soil erosion control and established reasons for adoption or non-adoption of
SWC measures. The role of the process approach in promoting sustainable agriculture and NRM has
not been studied. Using qualitative content analysis, this study attempted to highlight the outcome
of the process approach in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NRM activities.
A series of activities have been implemented with the participation of rural communities, such as:
Stakeholders’ engagement and networking, conservation of the environment and natural resources,
rural micro-financing, business appraisal and marketing. These activities have been implemented
through four iterative and continuous steps: Situational analysis (observation), collaborative
planning (communication), action and critical reflection (social learning and negotiation). The
lessons from this process indicate that: (i) community members should be actively involved in
prioritizing issues and in developing the activity plans and working according to commonly agreed
activity plans from the beginning of the project; (ii) sharing of experiences among farmers and
between professionals through a process of regular farmers’ groups and local networks forums
ensures sustainability of project interventions; (iii) the simpler the soil and water conservation
and management technological interventions coupled with immediate economic returns (including
availability of market) and loans, the faster the farmers can adopt the technologies; (iv) the
process approach enables negotiation and social learning among programme actors. Finally, the
experience points to the need for continuous re-building of livelihood security and social capital
of the farming communities to achieve greater understanding of the importance of maintaining the
environment in the long-term.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Process approach, Sustainable agriculture, Natural resource management, Negotiation, Social learning, UMADEP