Small-scale Fishermen and Risk Preferences

Using an experimental approach, we investigate the risk preferences of artisanal fishermen in Tanzania waters of Lake Victoria. The experiment concerns pairwise comparisons of hypothetical fishing trips that vary in expected mean and spread of the net revenue. The results show that about 34% of the fishermen can be considered as risk neutral, 32% as risk averse, and 34% as risk seekers. Econometric analysis indicates that the likelihood of belonging to the risk-seeking group increases if motorboats are used, if fishing is the main source of household income, and if the fisherman is targeting Nile perch. Asset ownership and perhaps socioeconomic variables influence risk preferences.Risk aversion, artisanal fishermen, Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Nile perch, dagaa, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q22,

Forest Reform in Tanzania: A Review of Policy and Legislation

Community participation in forest management has existed in the United Republic of Tanzania for a long time, but on a small scale. It is common to find trees of certain species are being protected and managed for  traditional reasons. It has been observed that forests and woodlands that are managed using traditional knowledge and practices are accorded high respect by concerned communities. Thus, fires or encroachment does not affect them. While the strategy of setting aside forests and woodlands for protection remains the centerpiece of management of these resources in the United Republic of Tanzania, this has been the result of evolutionaryprocess from a conventional to a participatory approach of forest  management. In this regards, Tanzania has been considered among successful countries in African in implementing Participatory Forest  Management (PFM) as promoted through both Community-Based ForestManagement (CBFM) and Joint Forest Management (JFM). Policy provisions and legal framework has been important stepping stones for involvement of different players in forest conservation. In addition, legal reforms have tried to invert the colonial approach that excluded local communities from management and ownership of most resources in their vicinity. PFMtypically has been implemented on a forest-by-forest or village-by-village basis, rather than using a landscape approach. But protecting one forest through PFM may displace villagers’ Non Timber Forest Product (NTFP) harvest into other less protected forests, possibly causing greater ecological damage. A landscape approach to PFM would take into account even those forests that are not used by villagers before PFM is introduced but that might be once PFM reduces or eliminates access to alternative forests.Keywords: Participatory Forest Management, Policies, legislation, Forest, degradation, deforestatio

Fishing Business Arrangements and Sustainability in Lake Victoria Fishing

Fishing is an important activity for communities living adjacent to rivers and lakes—it is an economic activity that generates income and provides sustenance to those engaged in fishing as an occupation. Majority of the crewmembers of the fishing vessels, though small scale, are not the owner of the vessels. Majority are hired and their payment is made in-terms of the share of the catch. The main fish species are Tilapia, Nile perch  (sangara), Dagaa, nembe, gogogo and furu. In this article an attempt is made to analyse the existing production relations between the owners of the vessels and the crewmembers and the concern for sustainability. Our results found that the existing sharing system in Lake Victoria poses a big challenge in as far as sustainability is concerned. Some of the system such as the percentage of catch after deducting operation costs are to some extent seems to be exploitative since majority of the owner of the fishing vessels assign high costs. Hence large percentage of the catch will go to the owner of the fishing vessels. Thus, fishermen are compelled to use any means to ensure that they have enough catch. The most favoured sharing model is the ratio in days, in which case each fishing unit is assigned aday, that’s owners’ day, crews day, and vessels day. Regression results further shows that type of fishing gears, in particular mesh size, net length, Boat size, method of propulsion significantly influence the value of catch and the quantity harvested. Mounting of fishing nets is found to negatively influence the quantity of catch in each fishing trip. Suggesting that given the current stock mounting of nets is not an efficient way of catching large quantity of fish.Keywords: Lake Victoria, Inland Water, Sustainability, Overfishin

What does it take to be heard in managing marine protected areas? Insights from Tanzania coastal communities

This paper explores the debate on participatory approach by presenting evidence from the local communities practices living within the marine protected area in Tanzania (Mnazi Bay Ruvuma-Estuary Marine Park). Five out of fifteen villages that exist in Mnazi Bay Marine Park were selected for this study after consultation with the park authority. Stratified sampling of villages was conducted based on the location from the Indian Ocean: three villages located close to the sea (sea front villages) and two villages located far from the sea (inland villages). Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, participant observation and interviews. The findings are presented using the local community narratives on livelihoods strategies and participation in decision-making processes to highlight the challenges of a participatory conservation approach in marine resources management within MPAs and also using regression analysis to explain the factors determining their participation. A Logit regression model is run. Results show that participatory approach in MPAs is a challenging phenomenon due to existence of multifaceted layers in marine resources management and use. These layers exist in terms of power struggle to manage resources and extract benefits associated with marine resources between state and local communities. This power struggle tends to undermine the ability of local communities to use and manage marine resources, threatening the attainment of the main objective of establishing the MPAs that’s improving the livelihood of the adjacent communities and improving the resources.Keywords: participatory approach, local communities, marine protected areas, fisheries management, marine resources governance, livelihood strategie

Welfare Implications of the Payment for Environmental Services: Case of Uluguru Mountain –Morogoro

This study was carried to find out the impact of PES (Payment for Environmental Services) on the welfare of the communities in the Uluguru Mountains. The aim of the study is to assess the main objectives of the PES project which is to conserve the environment (forest) and reduce poverty. The assessment of the project is done by looking on the difference between the treatment group (those who participate in PES) and control group (households who do not participate). The study employed a combination of questionnaire and field observation to collect primary data together with a detailed review of literature. The study utilized Propensity Score Matching (PSM), Descriptive statistics, Perception and Logistic analysis. In all the methods of analysis the results shows that there is a significant difference in the poverty status between treatment and control groups with treatment groups showing low level of poverty. In the regression analysis it is shown that participation into the programme, age of the respondents, the level of dependence on natural resources are found to significantly reduce poverty.Keywords: Payment for Ecosystem Services, Welfare, communities Propensity Score Matchin

The Effect of Climate Change on Agricultural Crop Returns in Uganda

The study examined the effect of climate change on agricultural crop returns in Uganda using the Ricardian Panel Tobit technique and the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data, climate data from Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) and global weather data. The findings showed that climate related risks account for over 67 percent of agricultural risks and less than 2 percent of the farming households practise irrigation. Farmers that practised irrigation earned higher agricultural returns nationally than their counterparts did. The findings show that the output elasticities with respect to temperature range from -2.02 percent to 0.543 percent. This implies that for the average temperature increase by 1 percent, maize farm returns decreased by 2.02 percent, banana by 1.7 percent, cassava by 1.50 percent and beans by 1.01 percent. While 1 percent increases in rainfall, lowered banana returns by 0.02 percent, beans by 0.08 percent, cassava by 0.035 percent, maize by 0.025 percent except for groundnuts’ returns increased by 0.115 percent. Apart from climate factors, non-climate factors such as capital, labour, farm size, fertilizers and soil quality are equally important inputs and significantly impact on agricultural farm returns. The study proposes that due to unrelenting adverse climate change effects in Uganda, adoption of multi-pronged approaches such as extensive irrigation, agro-insurance, diversification of agricultural activities, use of food cribs during bumper harvests would be the breath of life for Ugandan farmers

Perceptions of caretakers with different socioeconomic status about the harmful outcomes of fever in under-five children in Dodoma region, central Tanzania: A cross-sectional study

Background: Socioeconomic status can affect health in childhood through many different pathways. Evidence on how households differ with regard to socioeconomic status and the degree to which this difference is associated with investment in child health is essential to the design of appropriate intervention strategies.Aim: This study examines the impact of caretakers’ socio-economic characteristics on perceptions about the harmful outcomes of fever among under-five children.Material and methods: The study used a three-stage cluster sample of households with under-five children in Dodoma region, central Tanzania. Multilevel modelling approach was used to model the relationship between the outcome measure and caretakers’ socioeconomic characteristics while controlling for other variables.Results: A total of 329 under-five children with fever were studied of which 74.8% were perceived by their caretakers to have some chances for harmful effects of fever to occur when they experienced fever. Secondary school education or above of caretakers was significantly associated with decreased beliefs about the occurrence of harmful effects of fever.Conclusion: Many caretakers are concerned about the occurrence of harmful effects of fever for their under-five children. Study findings suggest that promoting enrolment in secondary education or above and participation in the labour market particularly in non-farm activities of women would be valuable to the health of under-five children in central Tanzania.Keywords: Beliefs, Childhood fever, Health effects, Perception, Socioeconomic statu

Altruism and the pressure to share: Lab evidence from Tanzania

We propose a novel laboratory experiment to document the pressure to share income within social networks in Africa. We find that the redistributive pressure exerted via the possibility of receiving a claim increases altruism, while the possibility of hiding from such claim reduces it. Our results indicate that sharing norms are crucial drivers of giving to other members of the network. We also find that pressure to share has a detrimental effect on the undertaking of profitable but risky investments