Effects of population growth and land use on household food self-sufficiency in Kilosa district, Tanzania
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Date
2014
Authors
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