Heifer in-trust schemes’ contribution to smallholders’ well-being in diverse agro-ecological and cultural environments in Tanzania
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Date
2015
Authors
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Publisher
Sokoine UNiversity of Agriculture
Abstract
Diverse agro-ecological factors in terms of seasonality, rainfall patterns, quality pasture
availability and cultural environments in terms of beliefs, animal treatment and protection
and gender relations’ structures pose different challenges on Heifer In-trust Schemes
(HIS) in Tanzania. The above have impacts on milk production, income from milk sales,
women empowerment and employment generation. These factors have not sufficiently
been explored in many studies. This study was conducted in Njombe (highland) and
Shinyanga (semi-arid) regions to try to fill in that research gap. The study specifically: (i)
explored the role of Heifer-In-trust Schemes to smallholders’ self-employment; (ii)
determined the implications of the seasonality and rainfall patterns, quality pasture,
traditional animal grazing systems and treatment; and protection to Heifer In-trust
Schemes objectives; (iii) assessed the participation and benefits of men and women
household heads in Heifer In-trust Schemes in the study areas of Njombe and Shinyanga
Regions; and (iv) evaluated the performance of households’ well-being indicators in the
study area. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design in which 402 households
were surveyed. Moreover, 9 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 15 Key Informant (KI)
interviews including livestock extension workers, leaders of farmer groups, Community
Animal Health Workers, Local Government Authorities staff and project holders, and
input suppliers. Mixed research methods approach was used for data collection including
sequential exploratory design for both qualitative and quantitative information. Purposive
sampling was used to select regions, districts and wards. Simple random sampling was
used to select villages and HIS respondent. The unit of analysis was a HIS participant.
Qualitative data from FGDs and Kls were transcribed into texts and analysed using
content analysis techniques whereby the flow of logic and constant comparison between
the logic was employed. As regards quantitative data from the households, the Statisticaliii
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 was used to determine descriptive and
inferential statistics, including t-test, chi-square and Wilcoxon Signed Test. The results
showed that HIS had generated employment opportunities among the less formally
educated youth, women and men. The results further showed that negative implications of
seasonality, rainfall pattern, and quality pasture availability in highland and semi-arid
areas were more prevalent during the dry season. Moreover, the results showed that
traditional grazing systems, animal treatment and protection had more negative effects on
HIS in semi-arid areas. Comparatively, the results show that women had benefited more
than men, and HIS had empowered women in terms of resource access, control and
ownership. Moreover, the results showed that income before and after the scheme in both
Njombe and Shinyanga regions were significant (p<0.05). In addition, annual net cash
increased almost eight-fold after the HIS, and all male and female participating in HIS
were getting above TZS 4 000 000 ($ 2 224) per annum. The results further showed that
children’s education, assets acquisition and food accounted for 36.2%, 24.3% and 10.5%
of income expenditure accrued from HIS respectively. The results also showed that meal
frequencies and households’ food diversity had improved as meals taken and meals
composition before and after HIS were different (p<0.05). The results further showed that
during the wet season average milk production increased by six litres per cow per day.
However, more milk was sold during the dry season as demand was higher while
production was low. The study concludes that HIS has significantly contributed to
smallholders’ well-being in Tanzania. However, any dairy farming for poverty reduction
innovation should consider agro-ecology and cultural issues.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Tanzania, Trust schemes’ contribution, Smallholders contribution, Seasonality rainfall patterns, Agro-ecological diverse