Adapting to Fuelwood Scarcity: The Farmers' Perspective

About 3 billion people worldwide depend on fuelwood to meet their domestic energy needs. Almost 90% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa use fuelwood-based forms of energy. However, its use is often unsustainable and is one driver of environmental degradation. In Tanzania, the majority of rural residents depend on fuelwood as their major source of cooking energy. The adaptation measures applied by small-scale farmers in response to fuelwood scarcity are typically unsustainable with regard to socio-economic, environmental, and food security dimensions. This study applies a methodological framework that assesses the personally experienced impact of coping strategies by local stakeholders on sustainability criteria. This framework comprises (1) the selection of appropriate adaptation measures; (2) the identification of local sustainability criteria; and (3) the participatory impact and frequency assessments at two case study sites in the semi-arid region of Dodoma in central Tanzania. Overall, eight coping strategies from 23 measures applied in the region were selected and four sustainability criteria defined by local key informants were identified. The participatory impact and frequency assessment show that the strategies of “on-farm tree planting” and “use of improved cooking stoves” are rated as positive across all four sustainability criteria and are regularly applied by the farmers. Two of the eight strategies are clearly negative: “eat fewer meals” and “increase in walking distance to collect fuelwood.” These measures are regularly and widely used by farmers, thus amplifying the negative rating. Overall, the experiences of farmers suggest that applied coping strategies have the greatest negative effect on the environmental condition and, on average, a rather positive effect on economic conditions. The results offer an approach for developing a reliable monitoring of how adaptation measures are applied in response to fuelwood scarcity and to achieve distinct values for benchmarking

Editorial: Achieving nutrition security in Tanzania by improving production, education and economics: Methods, tools and applications

Peer Reviewe

Synergien zwischen Natur- und Klimaschutz in der Landbewirtschaftung – Öffentliche Güter zwischen Markt und Staat

Multifunktionale Landbewirtschaftung soll zugleich die öffentlichen Güter Klima- und Naturschutz bereitstellen. Die jeweiligen Politikinstrumente stehen derzeit eher im Konflikt, können aber auch synergetisch sein. Dieser Beitrag stellt die Ergebnisse einer sozial-empirischen Akteursbefragung sowie einer Literaturanalyse vor, die mögliche Konflikte und Synergien zwischen Klima- und Naturschutzmaßnahmen in der Landwirtschaft beleuchten. Im Ergebnis wurde der Moorrenaturierung die größte Bedeutung als Synergiemaßnahme beigemessen, wohingegen dem Anbau von nachwachsenden Rohstoffen (NaWaRo) das geringste Synergiepotential bescheinigt wurde. Nachbesserungen in der Umsetzung sind vonnöten

Systemising gender integration with rural stakeholders' sustainability impact assessments: A case study with three low-input upgrading strategies

Participatory action research across food value chains (FVC) can help stabilise the food security of subsistence farmers by implementing upgrading strategies (UPS). These strategies can be assessed ex-ante and ex-post for their potential social, ecological and economic sustainability impacts. UPS implementation, however, often entails gender-specific changes and challenges in a farmer's social life, economy and environment that either were not perceived and anticipated beforehand or are not followed up during UPS implementation. Before and during their implementation, therefore, UPS need to be entirely understood and assessed by both genders in terms of their potential social, ecological and economic sustainability impacts. This article conceptualises a systematic framework for integrating gender in sustainability impact assessments and presents gender-based assessment differences in three low-input UPS in Tanzanian FVC. We conducted ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments using nine food security criteria developed earlier by the authors following the Framework of Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA). Sustainability impact assessments—to a greater extent than expected—differed to various extents between the genders for a) different food security criteria, b) different sustainability dimensions (economic, social, and environmental), c) different points in time (T0, T1) of assessments, d) different implemented UPS, and e) different members within the groups of female and/or male stakeholders. The results demonstrate the substantial importance of integrating female-male segregated assessments and perceptions before and while implementing food-securing UPS. We anticipate that integrating these assessments and perceptions as regular components will lead to better gendered social learning for both scientists and stakeholders and a holistic understanding of complex local food systems

Consumer preferences and willingness to pay for dried traditional mangos from Kitui – A marketing analysis for Kenya and Germany

The Kenyan mango value chain faces high post-harvest losses due to poor market access alongside a lack of storage technologies and processing facilities. Thus, using fruit processing methods, like solar drying, can enhance shelf life and help smallholder farmers access new markets, diversifying income and livelihoods. Nonetheless, the processing of both indigenous and grafted mango fruits is not a very common practice. This study was conducted to support product development targeting processing and marketing to link farmers to both local and export markets. Four independent consumer testing and sensory evaluation rounds on Kitui’s dried mango flakes were conducted in Germany and Kenya. Data were collected via a group tasting by 31 randomly selected participants and an online questionnaire of 304 randomly selected participants. All participants were given samples of different varieties of dried mango flakes with and without additives. Results show that high-quality mango cultivars, like Ngowe, receive high hedonic scores without any additives (honey, sodium metabisulfite, or ascorbic acid). Some varieties positively respond to the treatments and achieve higher scores, e.g., Van Dyke or the indigenous variety Kikamba. The consumers testing in Germany show that extrinsic attributes, such as organic production, fair trade, cooperative, and sustainable labelled flakes open up new opportunities for farmers who aim for the export market. Against findings derived from German panellists, in Kenya, consumers do not show a higher willingness to pay despite having a positive attitude toward sustainability. Thus, the local market should focus on cost-reduction strategies rather than introducing standardisation