Effects of population growth and land use on household food self-sufficiency in Kilosa district, Tanzania

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2014

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

The study was done in Kilosa District to assess effects of population growth and land use on household food self-sufficiency. Specifically the study sought to: describe demographic characteristics of the respondents’ households, identify the on-going land use practices by the respondents’ households, analyze the household food self-sufficiency situation, examine the extent to which population growth contributes to certain land use practices, and investigate whether population growth and land shortage lead to household food self-insufficiency. A cross-sectional research design was adopted and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 120 households in Chakwale, Nguyami, Rubeho and Kwipipi Villages. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 12.0 computer software. Data analysis entailed a number of descriptive statistics, particularly percentages, frequencies, averages, minimum and maximum values, as well as cross-tabulations. Moreover, inferential analysis was done using chi-square to test whether there were significant associations between some variables, and binary logistic regression was used to determine the impact of some independent variables on the likelihood of households being food self-sufficient Results show that: the average household size was 7 members and the dependency ratio was 101%; land holding was moderate in size (6.5 ha/household) with uneven distribution; crop productivity was low (2.9 bags/ha of maize); 71.7% of the households were food self-insufficient; and the odds of households not affected by population growth and land shortage to be food self-sufficient were 2.119 times as high as the odds for households affected by population growth and land shortage to be food self-sufficient. It was concluded that: population is high and characterized by a young age structure leading to labour shortage; households adopted poor farming practices that affected food productivity, hence food self-insufficiency. It is recommended, among other things, that households should increase on-farm production through adoption of intensive farming, proper land use so as to improve food self-sufficiency.

Description

Masters Dissertation

Keywords

Population growth, Kilosa district, Food self-sufficiency

Citation