Participatory Evaluation of Resilient Potato Varieties in Climate-Smart Villages of Lushoto in Tanzania

This three-year study conducted by the International Potato Centre (CIP) in collaboration with Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) was based on demand by Lushoto farmers through the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). This participatory action research (PAR) was aimed at developing more resilient potato varieties that can grow in both long and short rainy seasons and give higher yields. The approach involved training-of-trainers (ToT) and participatory varietal selection (PVS) experiments. The ToT comprised five training events using modules. Three training events were done in the long rainy season and two in the subsequent short rainy season. The topics covered in the first round of training were on integrated crop management, from land preparation to seed storage. The second round of training was participant-driven whereby topics emerged from the first training. A total of twenty-one participants representing farmers, extension services and local non-governmental organizations were trained. The training was supported by field experiments using the CIP Mother and Baby Trials model. The trials were carried out in five villages: Kwesine, Boheloi, Maringo, Kwekitui and Milungui. Experimental materials comprised six advanced and heat tolerant clones from CIP (CIP390478.9, CIP388767.1, CIP392797.22, CIP300055.32, CIP398208.29 and CIP397073.7), two local varieties (Kidinya and Obama), an improved variety recently registered in Tanzania (Asante) and a popular farmer’s variety but registered in Kenya (Shangii). A cross-analysis of field and culinary data combining quantitative and qualitative assessments from the three seasons of field evaluations showed a certain consistency in the high yielding ability and acceptability of four genotypes, namely Asante, Shangii, CIP392797.22 and CIP398208.29. The two clones were then named by farmers and proposed for official release while Shangii was proposed for registration for commercial use

What the World Happiness Report doesn’t see: The sociocultural contours of wellbeing in northern Tanzania

This paper presents a mixed methods approach to understanding wellbeing in the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania—a country consistently ranked by the World Happiness Report as one of the least happy in the world.  A primary objective is to demonstrate how qualitative data offering bottom-up perspectives on wellbeing offer a necessary complement to quantitative self-report measures, allowing for more nuanced cultural understandings of lived experience and wellbeing that recognize diversity both globally and locally. The research contextualized responses to standardized life evaluations (including the Cantril ladder question used by the World Happiness Report) through observations and interviews along with culturally sensitive measures of emotional experience.  Findings show Kilimanjaro to have more positive life evaluations than Tanzania as a whole, and significant within-region demographic variation driven particularly by lower levels of wellbeing for nonprofessional women compared with nonprofessional men and professionals.  In part because such demographic groups were often unfamiliar with standardized self-report measures, it was only through interviews, case studies, and culturally sensitive reports of emotional experience that we were able to recognize the diverse and nuanced life circumstances which individuals and groups were navigating and how those circumstances interacted with wellbeing.  Drawing on the example of nonprofessional women for illustration, we describe how key sociocultural factors – particularly, family stability, parenting circumstances, social relationships, and meeting life course expectations -- intersect with economic realities to create varied experiences of wellbeing. The complex picture of locally understood wellbeing that emerged from this research presents an alternative picture to global perspectives reliant on survey self-reports. It serves as a reminder of the importance of methodological choices in global wellbeing research and urges the addition of local perspectives and paradigms to inform policy and practice

The global decline of cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and what it means for conservation

Establishing and maintaining protected areas (PAs) are key tools for biodiversity conservation. However, this approach is insufficient for many species, particularly those that are wide-ranging and sparse. The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus exemplifies such a species and faces extreme challenges to its survival. Here, we show that the global population is estimated at ∼7,100 individuals and confined to 9% of its historical distributional range. However, the majority of current range (77%) occurs outside of PAs, where the species faces multiple threats. Scenario modeling shows that, where growth rates are suppressed outside PAs, extinction rates increase rapidly as the proportion of population protected declines. Sensitivity analysis shows that growth rates within PAs have to be high if they are to compensate for declines outside. Susceptibility of cheetah to rapid decline is evidenced by recent rapid contraction in range, supporting an uplisting of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List threat assessment to endangered. Our results are applicable to other protection-reliant species, which may be subject to systematic underestimation of threat when there is insufficient information outside PAs. Ultimately, conserving many of these species necessitates a paradigm shift in conservation toward a holistic approach that incentivizes protection and promotes sustainable human–wildlife coexistence across large multiple-use landscapes

Understandings and Responses to Joint Pain: Preliminary Findings from a Rapid Ethnographic Assessment in Northern Tanzania

No abstract available

Understandings and Responses to Joint Pain: A Rapid Ethnographic Assessment in Northern Tanzania

No abstract available

Inclusion of informal economic actors in voluntary social security schemes: A study of motorcycle taxi service (bodaboda) in Dar es Salaam

This study explores and organizes the informal motorcycle transport operators to understand how motorcycle taxi service (boda-boda) riders join or refrain from becoming members of social security schemes that provide social protection. The study examines the perceptions of boda-boda actors toward voluntary contribution to social security schemes. The study employed a case study research design whereby qualitative methods were used to collect data through face-to-face interviews with motorcycle operators in Dar es Salaam. Motorcycle operators seem to be a lucrative employment sector for many youths and provide informal mobility services for urban residents; the activity faces many safety risks, physical disability from accidents, motorcycle theft, unreliable incomes and job insecurity; yet many are not members of the formal social security system. The study found that motorcycle operators established savings associations as social security institutions. These social security associations provide loans, moral and psychosocial support to members. The findings further indicate that flexible association norms and swift access to social security support in an event one has had a misfortune such as an accident or sickness make most association members prefer the association rather than formal social security schemes. This calls for legal, social security to adopt operational conditions that provide swift support to its members and the need for them to support and collaborate with these informal social security associations

Landscape-scale variability of soil health indicators: effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania

This article is published with open access at Springerlink.comLand-use change continues at an alarming rate in sub-Saharan Africa adversely affecting ecosystem services provided by soil. These impacts are greatly understudied, especially in biodiversity rich mountains in East Africa. The objectives of this study were to: conduct a biophysical baseline of soil and land health; assess the effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon (SOC); and develop a map of SOC at high resolution to enable farm-scale targeting of management interventions. Biophysical field surveys were conducted in a 100 km2 landscape near Lushoto, Tanzania, with composite soil samples collected from 160 sampling plots. Soil erosion prevalence was scored, trees were counted, and current and historic land use was recorded at each plot. The results of the study showed a decline in SOC as a result of cultivation, with cultivated plots (n = 105) having mean topsoil OC of 30.6 g kg-1, while semi-natural plots (n = 55) had 71 g OC kg-1 in topsoil. Cultivated areas were also less variable in SOC than seminatural systems. Prediction models were developed for the mapping of SOC based on RapidEye remote sensing data for January 2014, with good model performance (RMSEPcal = 8.0 g kg-1; RMSEPval = 10.5 g kg-1) and a SOC map was generated for the study. Interventions will need to focus on practices that increase SOC in order to enhance productivity and resilience of the farming system, in general. The highresolution maps can be used to spatially target interventions as well as for monitoring of changes in SOC

An exploration of patient perceptions of adherence to tuberculosis treatment in Tanzania.

Item does not contain fulltextIn this study, we aimed to explore patient perceptions of adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment and construct a theoretical model of treatment adherence behavior. We conducted semistructured interviews with 11 adherent patients from Tanzania whom we recruited by purposive sampling. The interview data were analyzed by content analysis. We found that the patient's intention to adhere is the most important determinant of adherence behavior. This intention is preceded by the decision to seek biomedical health care, and based on knowledge and beliefs about TB treatment and the motivation to be cured. The intention to adhere helps patients to cope with perceived barriers to adherence, such as socioeconomic difficulties, and to create an adherence-enabling environment in which the presence of social support plays an important role. Our preliminary adherence behavior model should be validated in larger, nonadherent patient populations and evaluated for its applicability to the development of adherence-promoting strategies.1 juni 201

Landscape-scale variability of soil health indicators: effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania

This article is published with open access at Springerlink.comLand-use change continues at an alarming rate in sub-Saharan Africa adversely affecting ecosystem services provided by soil. These impacts are greatly understudied, especially in biodiversity rich mountains in East Africa. The objectives of this study were to: conduct a biophysical baseline of soil and land health; assess the effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon (SOC); and develop a map of SOC at high resolution to enable farm-scale targeting of management interventions. Biophysical field surveys were conducted in a 100 km2 landscape near Lushoto, Tanzania, with composite soil samples collected from 160 sampling plots. Soil erosion prevalence was scored, trees were counted, and current and historic land use was recorded at each plot. The results of the study showed a decline in SOC as a result of cultivation, with cultivated plots (n = 105) having mean topsoil OC of 30.6 g kg-1, while semi-natural plots (n = 55) had 71 g OC kg-1 in topsoil. Cultivated areas were also less variable in SOC than seminatural systems. Prediction models were developed for the mapping of SOC based on RapidEye remote sensing data for January 2014, with good model performance (RMSEPcal = 8.0 g kg-1; RMSEPval = 10.5 g kg-1) and a SOC map was generated for the study. Interventions will need to focus on practices that increase SOC in order to enhance productivity and resilience of the farming system, in general. The highresolution maps can be used to spatially target interventions as well as for monitoring of changes in SOC