The homegarden agroforestry system of Bukoba district, North-Western Tanzania. 2. Constraints to farm productivity

Rugalema, G.H. and Johnsen, F.H. and Rugambisa, J. (1994) The homegarden agroforestry system of Bukoba district, North-Western Tanzania. 2. Constraints to farm productivity. Agroforestry Systems, 26 (3). pp. 205-214.

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Abstract

The first of these papers (Agroforestry Systems (1994) 26 (1) 53-64) conducted a farming systems analysis of home gardens in Bukoba district, Tanzania. This paper reports a questionnaire survey conducted among 72 randomly selected households from August to November 1991. The objective of the study was to identify the major constraints to increased productivity in home gardens and farmers' responses to these constraints. Critical constraints mainly affected the two principal crops (banana and coffee) and the livestock (cattle) component. Causative factors in declining home garden productivity included gradual loss in soil fertility (mainly as a result of decrease in the cattle population), a serious outbreak of banana weevils, nematodes and later Panama disease, fragmentation of home gardens due to population growth, and lack of cash. As a result, home gardens can no longer subsist farm families for the most part of the year. The actual decline in banana yield is 66% over the last 20 years. Incomes are too low to support modest investment to improve productivity in home gardens. Farmers' responses to these problems have been out-migration, a shift towards cultivation of root crops, planting of beer banana, and a decrease in home garden management intensity. These responses, however, are likely to offer only short-term and partial solutions

Item Type: Article
Author Affiliation: Institute of Continuing Education, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3044, Chuo Kikuu Morogoro, Tanzania
Subjects: Crop Improvement
Divisions: Other Crops
Depositing User: Mr B Krishnamurthy
Date Deposited: 25 Jun 2012 09:03
Last Modified: 25 Jun 2012 09:03
URI: http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/6227

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