Practical approach for sustainable solar eletrification of remote rural communities in eastern Africa : the case of Tanzania

Solar energy is one of the most important resources in the world, and advancements in solar energy technologies are making it more and more cost effective. Although the use of solar powered systems is rapidly increasing in many regions, the major barriers for wide spreads of such systems in remote rural areas of developing countries include lack of investment capital, cultural and technical barriers. This study was commissioned to assess the practicality of disseminating solar home lighting systems to remote rural villages in southern Tanzania, to identify specific barriers that may hinder adopting of such systems by wider communities in rural areas and recommend practical counteractive measures. The analysis used facts collected from key informants, focus group discussions and primary household-level data from 200 households in remote rural villages of Lindi and Mtwara regions. The study explored technical requirements, economic viability, and the policy and planning issues which may contribute to success or failure of an intervention. It was observed that the majority of respondents (80%) were enthusiastic towards acquiring solar kits for lighting their homes, especially those who happen to know these systems and were willing to pay between TAS 5000.00 ($3.3) and 10,000.00 ($ 6.6) as initial deposit to acquire a solar system,. In addition they were willing to pay TAS 5000 ($ 3.3) every month until the cost of the system is recovered. The payment is slightly lower than the cost they incur to buy kerosene and torch batteries for lighting. Despite, the willingness to acquire the lighting systems, it was observed that, success of such an intervention to large extent rely on availability of secure after sale services. The study could not identify any intentional government or other stakeholders’ strategies or policy measure to ensure sustainability of such interventions. Investigation on similar projects implemented in other parts of the country revealed that, conventional methods of providing aftersales services have had little success especially when applied to remote rural areas. Therefore the study recommends training of local people especially women who are deep rooted in the village and are unlikely to migrate from their villages to urban areas. The training should cover installation, repair, maintenance and spare parts procurement. Since most of rural dwellers in Tanzania are semi-illiterate, special approach for selection of trainees and ‘hands on’ training should be adopted to ensure comprehension of the course content. Barefoot approach which has been used successfully to train such technicians and has proved to be a workable solution for provision of training on aftersales services in Northern part of the country is recommended for other rural communities.RURAL COMMUNITIES- EAST AFRICACCIA

Factors shaping on-farm genetic resources of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] in the centre of diversity, Ethiopia

Ethiopia is cited as one of the centres of sorghum diversity. In order to assess the on-farm genetic resources management of sorghum various research methodologies were employed. These were focus group interviews with 360 farmers, key informant interviews with 60 farmers and development agents and semi-structured interviews with 250 farmers. Besides, diversity fair was done with over 1200 farmers. For quantifying on-farm diversity, direct on-farm monitoring and participation with 120 farmers were made. Quantification of varietal diversity per farm was counted by a participatory zigzag sampling in the diagonal direction of the plot with the farmer and all encountered varieties were counted. Soil samples were taken from 120 farms and were subjected to analyses of soil pH, P, available nitrogen, organic matter and exchangeable potassium. Altitude and other related climatic data were collected. The number of varieties conserved by farmers ranged from one to twenty per farm and this is affected by socio-economic and biophysical factors. The mean numbers of 8.3 and 6.3 varieties were grown by Oromo and Amhara farmers respectively. The minimum and maximum range did not vary for both ethnic groups. There was no significant difference in the number of varieties held by various wealth groups. With respect to farm size as explained by the quadratic model, it significantly accounted and predicted for the variation in the number of varieties. The role of soil pH, P, available nitrogen, organic matter, and exchangeable potassium on-farm genetic diversity is described. P was a positive limiting factor for varietal diversity. As to the effect of crop ecology, there were higher number of varieties in the intermediate altitudes than in the lowland and highland. Both the quadratic and linear equation expressed that distance from the house and town and showed non-significant relationship to the number of varieties planted per farm. Varietal mixture is one of the strategies used by the farmers for improved on-farm genetic diversity management. Farmers' underlying principles for conserving genetic diversity is described. Three models developed, namely; Bioecogeographic genetic diversity model, Farmer induced genetic diversity model and Farmer-cum-bioecogeographic genetic diversity model are explaining the processes shaping on-farm genetic diversity of sorghum in Ethiopia

The effect of climate variability and change to the farming systems in Iramba and Meatu Districts, Tanzania

Journal of Continuing Education and Extension, 2014;5(2): 656-676This study examined changes in farming systems in response to climate variability and change. Specifically, the study aimed to;(i) assess /armors' perceptions of climate variability and change and (ii) examine changes in the Jai-ming systems in response to climate variability and change. The study adopted qualitative (fOcus group discussions) and quantitative (household survey) techniques using a sample sire of 150 respondents for the survey. The results demonstrated that smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists perceived the occurrence of climate variability and change manifested through drought, rainfall variability and increased day time surface temperature. Awareness regarding climate variability and change were associated with the middle age group (18-45 years old), which perceived increased drought since the 2000s relative to other age groups. Frequent JOod shortage and increasing .shortage of pasture were on the increase. Contract. to their expectations, smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists were unable to adjust fully their .J arming systems to minimize the negative effects 01 climate variability and change. This means, they had little capacity to change their Jarming systems or simply, they -were vulnerable to the effects of climate variability and change. It is therefore recommended that, through integrated effort by the government and Nongovernmental Organi=ations (Ar(;0s) should support smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists to adjust their farming systems in response to climate variability and change so as to 1111171.111ire the negative effects