UTILIZATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS BY WALUGURU PEOPLE IN EAST ULUGURU MOUNTAINS TANZANIA

A study was done to assess utilization of medicinal plants in Nyachilo village situated in eastern Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered and informal discussions conducted to traditional healers and midwives. The respondents were selected from Changa, Mselelo, Tanana, Mitamba, Kimeza, Mandani and Kibundi subvillages. Within the subvillages random sampling was used to determine the number of respondents to be interviewed. The study found that plant medicines utilized in the area can be categorized into groups for treating convulsion, pain killers, rituals and casting evil spirits, treating diseases, relieving respiratory complications, and treating skin eruptions. Many medicinal plants are collected from the forests (37.3%) and farms (37.3%). However, 16.4 % of the medicinal plants are not easily accessible. The community perceives modern medical system far advanced in comparison with traditional healing system. Both systems however, are useful in their sights. The study also revealed that in most medicinal plants, leaves are used as medicines (31.7%), followed by roots (29.6%), then barks (20.7%). The community proposed that in order to sustain conservation of medicinal plants, the traditional healers should be trained on appropriate harvesting and utilization techniques of the medicines. It is recommended that appropriate agronomic techniques that will ensure cultivation of medicinal plants should be taught to the community so as to guarantee sustainable utilization in future

Reforming Tanzania's Agricultural Extension System: The Challenges Ahead

The agricultural extension system in Tanzania has faced many problems, of which the key seems to be the poor institutional, administrative and organizational structure of the extension services. Recently, the Tanzanian government, with the assistance of the World Bank launched a major restructuring of the country's extension system including the introduction of the training and visit (T and V) extension. The T and V extension has some inherent weakness particularly if implemented without any modification to the Tanzanian context, due to lack of resources and other complimentary services. Recommendations are given to make the T and V system of extension more effective under Tanzanian conditions

Reforming Tanzania’s agricultural extension system: the challenges ahead

African Study Monographs,1994: 15(4); pp177 — 188The agricultural extension system in Tanzania has faced many problems, of which the key seems to be the poor institutional, administrative and organizational structure of the extension services. Recently, the Tanzanian government, with the assistance of the World Bank launched a major restructuring of the country's extension system including the introduction of the training and visit (T and V) extension. The T and V extension has some inherent weaknesses particularly if implemented without any modification to the Tanzanian context, due to lack of resources and other complimentary services. Recommendations are given to make the T and V system of extension more effective under Tanzanian conditions

Change and stability in the indigenous farming system of the Matengo

Gender, Biodiversity and Local Knowledge Systems (LinKS) to Strengthen Agricultural and Rural Development (GCP/RAF/338/NOR Selected Papers from the First National Workshop held in Morogoro, 22-23 June, 1999Mbinga District is one of the most densely populated areas in Tanzania. The indigenous system in the Matengo highlands is characterised by the Matengo pit system. This system is believed to have sustained land productivity for over 100 years. But it now faces problems related to environmental degradation caused by bush fires and deforestation. These problems have emerged due to population pressure and the growing human activities on the land. At the same time, it is now acknowledged that sustainable rural development is one that is based on indigenous knowledge systems and sustainable agricultural practices. But an important question is what contributes to the sustainability of indigenous agricultural systems such as that of the Matengo, and how does the indigenous system adapt to changing circumstances? This paper presents a summary of the findings of the Miombo Woodlands Agro-ecological Research Project which was carried out in Mbinga District by a team of Sokoine University of Agriculture and Japanese scientists from 1994 to 1997, with the support of JICA

The Adoption of Agricultural Innovations by Small Farms in Tanzania: An Analysis of the Research Needs

Many small farmers in Tanzania adhere to traditional farming practices deemed unsuitable and unproductive. This review of studies on bringing about a more rapid modernization of agriculture in Tanzania reveals a heretofore poor understanding of the process of adoption of agricultural innovations, and lack of policy research to examine the influence of government policy decisions on farmer adoption of specific innovations

Change and stability in the indigenous farming system of the Matengo

Gender, Biodiversity and Local Knowledge Systems (LinKS) to Strengthen Agricultural and Rural Development (GCP/RAF/338/NOR Selected Papers from the First National Workshop held in Morogoro, 22-23 June, 1999Mbinga District is one of the most densely populated areas in Tanzania. The indigenous system in the Matengo highlands is characterised by the Matengo pit system. This system is believed to have sustained land productivity for over 100 years. But it now faces problems related to environmental degradation caused by bush fires and deforestation. These problems have emerged due to population pressure and the growing human activities on the land. At the same time, it is now acknowledged that sustainable rural development is one that is based on indigenous knowledge systems and sustainable agricultural practices. But an important question is what contributes to the sustainability of indigenous agricultural systems such as that of the Matengo, and how does the indigenous system adapt to changing circumstances? This paper presents a summary of the findings of the Miombo Woodlands Agro-ecological Research Project which was carried out in Mbinga District by a team of Sokoine University of Agriculture and Japanese scientists from 1994 to 1997, with the support of JICA

Agricultural extension through participatory approaches: Lessons from UMADEP, Morogoro, Tanzania

Journal of Continuing Education and Extension, 2005; 2(1):67-74The Uluguru Agricultural Development Project (UMADEP) uses a combination of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Participatory Technology Development (PTD), Farmer Groups and Farmer to Farmer extension approaches. Experience in the use of these approaches show that farmers in collaboration with extension workers have developed activities which address location specific problems, generated appropriate technological innovations that are sustainable and take into account the socio-cultural and economic milieu of the communities. In addition, this has led to the formation of farmers ' groups which facilitate learning, decisionmaking, and adoption of agreed innovations. UMADEP's experience shows that use of participatory approaches can lead to making extension efforts more responsive to needs offarming communities, cost effective and sustainable

Accessibility and utilization of agricultural information among women farmers: the case of Korogwe District, Tanzania

Tanzanian Journal of Population Studies and Development, 2010; 17(1& 2): 97-114This study was conducted in Korogwe district involving 100 women farmers randomly selected from four villages. Household data was collected using a structured questionnaire, and supplemented by interviews for key informants and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyse the data. The findings showed that education, age, extension services, and mass media determine the access and utilization of agricultural information. Furthermore, low production was due to lack of extension services, low education of the respondents, inability to access credit and unawareness of sources of information. Moreover, sources of agricultural information such as extension services, mass media, and farmers' own efforts have a direct linkage with the accessibility to agricultural information. The study recommends that efforts to increase farmers' access to agricultural information should be improved. There is a need of improving extension services so as to reach and benefit women farmers. Vugiri ward is located in the highlands that are vulnerable to soil erosion which contributed to poor crop production, hence efforts should be made to introduce soil management practices so as to arrest the situation and increase crop production