Browsing by Author "Malila, Barnabas P."

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Factors influencing smallholder Farmer’s willingness to adopt sustainable land management practices to control invasive plants in northern Tanzania
(Elsevier Inc, 2023) Malila, Barnabas P.; Kaaya, Omega E.; Lusambo, Leopold P.; Schaffner, Urs; Kilawe, Charles J.
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.
Socio-economic and ecological implications of sustainable land management practices for controlling invasive alien species in Moshi rural and Muheza Districts, Tanzania
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2021) Malila, Barnabas P.
Various practices for controlling invasive alien plant species have been implemented but often end up on the initial stages of implementation due to lack of social acceptance as they are introduced through a top-down approach, high costs of the practices, and poor effectiveness of the recommended practices. Therefore, understanding the relevance of land management practices jointly selected by the community to control invasive alien plant species in different forms of land uses is of great importance. This study aimed to provide a better understanding of socio-economic and ecological implications of sustainable land management practices for control of invasive alien plant species. The study was conducted in Amani (Tanga region) and Kahe (Kilimanjaro region) wards which have been invaded by invasive alien species Lantana camara L and Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) respectively. Specifically, the study aimed to (i) determine factors influencing willingness for adoption of sustainable land management practices, (ii) assess the impact of sustainable land management practices for managing invasive alien plant species on livelihoods of individual farmers, and (iii) determine effectiveness of sustainable land management practices in controlling Prosopis juliflora. Kahe and Amani wards were purposively selected due to the presence of information on invasion by P. juliflora and L. camara respectively. In each ward, four villages were randomly selected as follows: Mlesa, Shebomeza, Mbomole, and Mkwinini (Amani) and Oria, Mtakuja, Chekereni, and Mawala (Kahe). In each village, thirty (30) respondents were selected randomly. Data collection utilized different methods; For the first objective, A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from 240 heads of households from eight villages affected by the alien invasive plants. For the second objective, key informant interviews were conducted using a checklist to 12 farmers who were controlling Prosopis juliflora using SLM and traditional (control) practices to collect data on cost of implementing practices, benefits accrued after starting to implement the practices and yield of crop produce on each cropping cycle. For the third objective, complete enumeration of Prosopis juliflora was done to capture number of individuals present on 12 farms (50 x 50 m) before implementing the practices and after implementing the practices on the third cropping cycle. The results revealed that households’ farming experience, income, invasive species cover, and awareness on conservation to be associated with willingness for adoption of SLM practices for control of L. camara and P. juliflora. The study also revealed higher net benefit in implementing SLM practice compared to traditional practices. Furthermore, the SLM practice was effective in control of invasive alien species (P. juliflora) density compared to traditional practices. The study concludes that smallholder farmers are willing to adopt SLM practices for control of IAPS in Amani and Kahe wards, higher net benefits were observed from SLM practice than traditional practices (control), and the number of individuals per hectare (Prosopis juliflora) was significantly low (F (1,10) = 10.27, p=0.0094) on Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practice compared to traditional practices for control of P. juliflora. I recommend that Sustainable land management (SLM) practices should be promoted through awareness creation campaigns on conservation so that to increase people’s willingness to adopt SLM practices for control of L. camara and P. juliflora. Also, there should be programs for early detection and rapid response (EDRR) to eradicate P. juliflora while at small infestation levels to avoid higher cost of managing them at later stages and local government should introduce new native tree species that will be useful to the community after removing Prosopis juliflora and this will ensure that the land is not left bare.