Exploring farmers’ perception, knowledge, and management techniques of salt-affected soils to enhance rice production on small land holdings in Tanzania
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Date
2022-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor&Francis
Abstract
Salt-affected soils among the key constraints to land productivity in
irrigated rice schemes, posing a decline in grain yield. This study was conducted to
explore the farmers’ perception, knowledge, and management practices of salt-
affected soils in selected rice irrigation schemes of the representative districts in
Tanzania. Whereas salt-affected soils were perceived as one of the constraints in
the studied irrigation schemes, the extent of coverage and the severity of the effect
are rarely documented. Therefore, the primary hypothesis of this study is that salt-
affected soils could have an effect on rice production across irrigation schemes; and
that farmers differ in perception, knowledge, and coping mechanisms. The
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach was employed to explore the farmers’
information from Mbarali, Iringa, Same, and Moshi districts, whereby 323 rice-
growing farmers were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Moreover,
120 farmers were involved in focus group discussions and 24 key informants. Our
Description
Journal article
Keywords
Improved livelihoods, Irrigation schemes, Soil health, Salt stress, Indigenous management practices
Citation
M. M Omar, M. J. Shitindi, B. H. J Massawe, K. G Fue, O. Pedersen & J. L. Meliyo (2022) Exploring farmers’ perception, knowledge, and management techniques of salt- affected soils to enhance rice production on small land holdings in Tanzania, Cogent Food & Agriculture, 8:1, 2140470, DOI: 10.1080/23311932.2022.2140470