Abstract:
In western Uluguru Mountains, professionals have introduced soil and water
conservation (SWC) practices which, if properly followed, would conserve the soil
and promote agriculture. Various high value crops (HVC) promotion interventions
and others which could serve as incentives were executed to aid attainment of this
objective. Despite these efforts, today, in most fields we see more of annual ridges,
the conventional farming practice which is not effective in SWC and other forms of
unsustainable agriculture practices. This study sought to determine the influence of
HVC promotion interventions on investment in SWC in Mgeta. It also investigated
whether or not appropriate incentives for overcoming adoption barriers have been
used. Data were collected through unstructured interviews, observations and
interview schedules. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression were
the main methods of analysis. Results were as follows: Age, education and income;
farm size and slope have significant influence on investment in SWC. Household
size, labour force and occupation were not significant. Land security was the number
one incentive followed by agricultural sustainability, farm implements, extension
services, irrigation improvement, labour sharing and suitability for growing HVC.
The four lowest incentives were rewards and prizes, market development, food-forwork
and credit. From regression analysis introduction of HVC had the highest
predictive effect on investment in SWC followed by irrigation improvement. Slope
and income were also significant. Recommendations are as follows: Promote SWC
measures which are cost-effective and can be integrated into existing farming system
and promote HVC for cultivating on terraces. In this respect, contour strip cropping,
