Factors influencing smallholder Farmer’s willingness to adopt sustainable land management practices to control invasive plants in northern Tanzania
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier Inc
Abstract
Efforts to mitigate the effects of invasive plant species (IPS) have not produced the desired results due to poor
adoption of land management practices developed by scientists and introduced to the community through a top-
down approach. Little is known about adoption of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices that have been
co-developed by a diverse group of local stakeholders through a participatory process. In this study, we assessed
factors influencing the willingness of smallholder farmers to adopt SLM practices for the control of Lantana
camara, Clidemia hirta, Pteridium acquilinum, and Prosopis juliflora in northern Tanzania. A semi-structured
questionnaire was used to collect information from 240 heads of households from eight villages affected by
the four IPS. Binary logistic regression was applied to model the probability of factors that influence smallholder
farmers’ willingness to adopt the SLM practices. We found that farming experience, household income and
conservation awareness were positively associated with the willingness for adoption of SLM practices. Surpris
ingly, the invasive species cover was negatively associated with the willingness for adoption of SLM practices for
control of the IPS. We recommend that the extension service providers to continue raising awareness and edu
cation among farmers with low farming experience and income, and those with fields heavily infested with IPS.
Description
Journal article
Keywords
Agroecosystems, Invasive plant species, Sustainable land management