Rain-Fed Farming System at a Crossroads in Semi-Arid Areas of Tanzania: What Roles do Climate Variability and Change Play?

Positive changes, like adopting drought resistant crop varieties, in the rain-fed farming system (RFFS) in response to climate variability and change enhance system’s ability to support people’s living as opposed to negative changes, like lack of pastures, which put the system at risk of failure in supporting the living. Using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and household survey, this paper examined the roles of climate variability and change in triggering changes in RFFS. Specifically, the paper: (i) assessed dominant crop and livestock farming system; (ii) assessed the change element of crop and livestock production systems; and (iii) examined factors for the changes in RFFS. A random sample of 388 households was used. Qualitative data analysis was done through content analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to assess factors that explain changes on RFFS. The results showed that dominant crops were different in each village. Secondly, some changes in crop varieties and in livestock grazing arrangements were noted in response to climate variability and change. Unlike the hypothesis (P>0.05), the results demonstrated that warming (ß = -10.61, Wald = 36.26, P ? 0.001) showed highest significant impact on likelihood of adopting new crop varieties relative to other factors. Similarly, drought (ß = 2.16, Wald = 6.82, P ? 0.009) showed highest impact on the likelihood of changing a grazing place. Yet, the changes were constrained by factors like natural resources protective policies, failure of crop varieties to withstand warming and drought, and poor land use management. Therefore, the RFFS was at a crossroads with implications on system sustainability and livelihoods. The government and private interventions should support farmers and agro-pastoralists to manage risks related to the changes in RFFS in response to climate variability and change. Keywords: Climate change, agro-pastoralism, livelihoods, semi-arid, Tanzani

Perceived corruption and quality of health services in Mbeya Urban District, Mbeya Region Tanzania

International Journal of Social Science Research, 2017; 5 (1)This paper examines the effect of corruption on quality of public health services. Corruption, in Tanzania, is a national concern that upsets public health services. There is a public outcry that corruption is increasing in the public health sector while the government’s effort to combat the phenomenon is unimpressive. This poses worries on the quality of public health services. The current study adopted cross-sectional research design, and a total of 180 respondents were involved in the survey. The Mann Whitney U Test was used to compare differences between perceived quality of health services and respondents’ characteristics. Overall, 87.2% of the respondents perceived low quality of health services, and corruption affected quality of health services to a greater extent. Based on age, employment and wealth status, there was significant difference on reporting perceived quality of health services at 5% and 1% level of significance. In addition, respondents’ sex and employment status showed significant difference in reporting the extent to which corruption affected quality of health services at 5% level of significance. The paper draws out two conclusions: first, the quality of health services was low. Second, corruption exacerbated poor quality of health services. To that effect, interventions to combat corruption in the public health sector are needed so as to improve quality of health services

Revisiting subjective wellbeing to stimulate empirical research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Review Article of Social Sciences 2017; 6(1): 28-34This review article focuses on conceptualization, measurement and determinants of Subjective Wellbeing to shade light among researchers in the field of development studies, psychology, sociology, philosophy and economics in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), herein also referred to as a sub-continent. The aim is to revitalize empirical research on Subjective Wellbeing in the sub-continent where there is dearth information about this concept. Such scanty information is attributed to, among others, low interest among researchers to conduct researches on Subjective Wellbeing. The article argues that, although Subjective Wellbeing is difficult to define, researchers in SSA should strive to come up with a common definition that enables cross-country as well as cultural context analysis. In addition, the concept is determined by many variables, such that researches should be conducted in the sub-continent, between and within countries, to find out which ones are the most explanatory variables of Subjective Wellbeing. This is important as it can inform development policy to improve Subjective Wellbeing and development more generally in SSA

Influence of women entrepreneurs’ characteristics on personal well-being in Arumeru District in Tanzania

African journal of business management, 2018; 12 (11): 316-328This article tests the hypothesis that women entrepreneurs’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics have no significant influence on women’s personal well-being, using quantitative approach with a random sample of 180 women. The article adopts the cross-sectional research design using a structured questionnaire administered to women entrepreneurs. Non-entrepreneurs were also involved for comparison purposes of personal well-being. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A multiple linear regression was used to determine the influence of women entrepreneurs’ characteristics on personal well-being. The results show positive relationship between personal well-being and years of schooling, age, and wealth status. Household size and employment status showed negative influence and did not show significance at 5%. Being a women entrepreneur and age showed positive significant influence (P = 0.000), while marital status showed negative significant influence (P = 0.000). The article concludes that some women entrepreneurs’ characteristics influenced personal well-being. Due to the fact that women are not homogeneous, the efforts done by development actors including the government should focus on promoting women entrepreneurship with particular emphasis on socio-economic and demographic characteristics to improve women’s personal well-being

Water governance in Tanzania: Performance of governance structures and institutions

World Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2017; 3 (1) 15-25Water governance is becoming imperative because of increasing water shortage for different uses in the world. However, the concept is not explored sufficiently in developing countries like Tanzania. This paper examines water governance in the lines of governance structures and institutions in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania. The paper adopted descriptive cross-sectional research design to make sense of the existing situation. Data were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. A sample size of 270 water users was involved in the survey. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used to collect qualitative data. Quantitative data were summarized using SPSS while qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. The results showed presence of weak water governance structures and institutions that cannot influence water users’ behaviour. The basin level was unable to control and monitor water quality because of lacking human resource and adequate funding. The formal and informal institutions were interlinked in their operations. However, village governments and village water committees were unable to resolve water conflicts because of being colluded by those who breached the rules. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to build capacity of the governance structures to enforce institutions in governing water resource

Groundwater conflicts or disputes? Experience from Mbarali District in Tanzania

Journal of African studies and development, 2018; 10 (5): 51-60This article examines conflicts and or disputes attributed to ineffectiveness of groundwater governance. The study adopted sequential exploratory research design. A random sample of 90 water users was involved in the survey. The key informants and focus group discussions were used to collect qualitative data. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Frequency and percentage distribution of the responses were computed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results show that 43 (47.7%) of the sample experienced groundwater disputes, between and or among water users themselves, or between groundwater governance structures, at least in the previous five years since 2013. This is attributed to poor governance and failure of the actors in abiding to the guidelines of the Water Resource Management Acts of 2009 (WRMA), particularly lack of transparency, destruction of water pumps and unequal distribution of water among groundwater users. Some disputes were resolved successfully at water users’ level, while those occurred between governance structures were difficult to resolve. The article concludes that there was poor groundwater governance and therefore disputes occurred. The disputes could develop into conflicts if continue unabated. Therefore, the article recommends strengthening of groundwater governance in abiding to the Acts. It also recommends a comprehensive governance structural arrangement, formal and informal institutions to enhance groundwater governance, specifically resolving groundwater disputes to avoid conflicts in future

Water governance in Tanzania: Performance of governance structures and institutions

World Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2017; 3 (1) 15-25Water governance is becoming imperative because of increasing water shortage for different uses in the world. However, the concept is not explored sufficiently in developing countries like Tanzania. This paper examines water governance in the lines of governance structures and institutions in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania. The paper adopted descriptive cross-sectional research design to make sense of the existing situation. Data were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. A sample size of 270 water users was involved in the survey. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used to collect qualitative data. Quantitative data were summarized using SPSS while qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. The results showed presence of weak water governance structures and institutions that cannot influence water users’ behaviour. The basin level was unable to control and monitor water quality because of lacking human resource and adequate funding. The formal and informal institutions were interlinked in their operations. However, village governments and village water committees were unable to resolve water conflicts because of being colluded by those who breached the rules. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to build capacity of the governance structures to enforce institutions in governing water resource

Land governance and conflict management in Tanzania: institutional capacity and policy-legal framework challenges

American Journal of Rural Development, 2017; 5 (2): 46-54This paper examines land governance in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor in Rukwa and Katavi regions in Tanzania. The four districts involved include Sumbawanga, Kalambo, Nkasi and Mpanda. Land governance and the management of related conflicts were assessed in views of the roles of local government and the challenges posed by policy and legal frameworks. Using a sample size of 270 smallholder farmers, a household survey was used to collect quantitative data, while qualitative data were collected from 74 Focus Group Discussions’ participants. The results confirmed the ‘legal dualism’ that embraces colonial policy and laws on land issues at local level despite the land reforms that have had taken place in Tanzania. In addition, land conflict was a common phenomenon. The results also show that the efforts of local governments, and other stakeholders, to manage land conflicts were hampered by serious challenges. The challenges include incapacitation of the local government with regard to legal issues, lack of education and unawareness of the policies and legal framework on the part of the citizenry. These resulted into ineffective implementation of informal and formal arrangements governing land issues. Ineffective land governance, in turn, stem from inadequate capacity to resolve land conflicts. This justifies poor land governance. To that effect, concerted efforts are needed to correct the situation

Land governance and conflict management in Tanzania: institutional capacity and policy-legal framework challenges

American Journal of Rural Development, 2017; 5 (2): 46-54This paper examines land governance in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor in Rukwa and Katavi regions in Tanzania. The four districts involved include Sumbawanga, Kalambo, Nkasi and Mpanda. Land governance and the management of related conflicts were assessed in views of the roles of local government and the challenges posed by policy and legal frameworks. Using a sample size of 270 smallholder farmers, a household survey was used to collect quantitative data, while qualitative data were collected from 74 Focus Group Discussions’ participants. The results confirmed the ‘legal dualism’ that embraces colonial policy and laws on land issues at local level despite the land reforms that have had taken place in Tanzania. In addition, land conflict was a common phenomenon. The results also show that the efforts of local governments, and other stakeholders, to manage land conflicts were hampered by serious challenges. The challenges include incapacitation of the local government with regard to legal issues, lack of education and unawareness of the policies and legal framework on the part of the citizenry. These resulted into ineffective implementation of informal and formal arrangements governing land issues. Ineffective land governance, in turn, stem from inadequate capacity to resolve land conflicts. This justifies poor land governance. To that effect, concerted efforts are needed to correct the situation

Need for Sustainable Development: Theoretical and Practical Concerns for Sub-Saharan Africa

Book chapterSince 2015, the efforts to promote sustainable development turned into a new face after the 17 Sustainable Development Goals were embraced by the 193 nation states, in the world, to be implemented up to 2030. Despite this impressing milestone, the concept of SD is not explored sufficiently. This chapter reviews and discusses need for SD in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where poverty is rampant and livelihood security is deprived. The chapter argues that SSA needs SD. This can be achieved through a balance between the environment, society, economy and institutions, concurrently with interventions to eliminate abject poverty and improve livelihood security. Additionally, SSA should address the challenges that impede the efforts to promote SD seriously with considerations that the communities are heterogeneous and inequalities in different forms are lingering. The future research should investigate, among others, appropriate strategies and interventions to balance the environment, society and the economy for SD.Non