Browsing by Author "Mung'ong'o, Claude G."

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    Assessing the Cost of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation by Smallholder Farmers in Tanzania: the Case of Kasulu District.
    (2013) Mwakaje, Agnes G.; Yanda, Pius Z.; Mung'ong'o, Claude G.; Kangalawe, Richard Y. M.
    The impact of climate change on smallholder agriculture has led to different strategies of adaptation and mitigation intending to reduce the risks and GHG emissions. But what is the adaptation and mitigation practices taking place and what are the cost implications for smallholder farmers in poor countries? This study is an attempt to fill this gap. A total of 142 farmers were selected randomly in the two villages of Kasulu District. There was also a consultation with focus groups and key informants. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data. The findings revealed different strategies for adapting to climate change impacts by smallholder farmers such as planting drought and disease-resistant crops, the application of fertilizers/pesticides, mulching and irrigation. As regards mitigation, the farmers were sensitized to avoid deforestation and farming on river banks and catchment areas and to plant trees. Nevertheless, the cost of undertaking these activities was found to be high and poor farmers were incurring more costs than benefits. For successful and cost-effective adaptation and mitigation efforts by poor smallholder farmers there should be capacity building and supportive policies. These may include access to credit, timely and accurate climate information, improved infrastructure, environmental education and access to extension services.
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    Coming Full Circle: Agriculture, Non-Farm Activities and the Resurgence of Out-Migration in Njombe District, Tanzania
    (1998) Mung'ong'o, Claude G.
    This report presents the findings of research carried out between December 1996 and December 1997 in two villages (Igosi and Mtwango-Lunguya) in Njombe District, Tanzania. The study is one of four regional studies on agricultural and non-agricultural activities and their change over time within Tanzanian villages. As such there was a standardized research methodology that is outlined in the Appendix. It involved a general broad survey of individuals within the selected villages to determine the pattern of non-agricultural activities over time, a survey of existing non-agricultural enterprises within the village, a survey of Standard Seven school children's career expectations and attitudes towards work, and an in-depth survey of career patterns of different generations within selected households. The report is divided into three main sections - background about the study area, village profiles, and survey findings regarding the local economy, agricultural and non-agricultural production, migration patterns, associational ties, social relations between generations and prospects for agricultural development - followed by a conclusion which includes an analytical summary of findings and recommendations arising from the research.
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    Political Ecology: A Synthesis and Search for Relevance to Today's Ecosystems Conservation and Development
    (Wiley, 2009) Mung'ong'o, Claude G.
    Africa is facing problems of deforestation, desertification, loss of soil fertility, loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity, and the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems and lack of accessible, good quality water. Governments have formulated policies, enacted legislation and established various institutions addressing these issues. African countries are yet to arrest the environmental problems they are facing, due to, among others, the ineffectual theoretical analysis of the problem of ecosystems degradation. This study argues for the adoption of the political ecological framework in the analysis of sociopolitical sources, conditions and ramifications of ecosystems change and also highlights the explanatory power of this conceptual framework as far as the explanation of the problem of ecosystems degradation is concerned, and shows how it can enable us deal with the multi-layered causality rather than the symptoms of the problem of ecosystems change.
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    The Right to Food, Land and Democracy. An Analysis from a Grassroots Perspective in Three Semi-Arid Rural Districts in Tanzania.
    (Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2002) Mung'ong'o, Claude G.
    This paper shows how changes in the policy environment associated with economic reforms have undermined rural food security and increased poverty among the grassroots poor in three research districts in Tanzania. It demonstrates how smallholder producers no longer have access to key support systems such as producer goods subsidies, minimum producer prices, and soft loans. It also shows how smallholder farming and livestock-keeping has become a part-time activity for many women and men, who are forced to seek additional cash incomes from off-farm activities. This reduces the amount of time available to farming and processing of food, thus undermining food security at the household level. The struggles over land, markets and other key resources between large scale investors and small scale producers, both cultivators and livestock-keepers, men and women, are emphasised.
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    Risks, Livelihoods and Vulnerability to Flooding in Kyela District, Southwestern Tanzania
    (2006) Mung'ong'o, Claude G.; Yanda, Pius Z.
    This study aimed at establishing how local livelihoods had changed due to flooding in Kyela District, Tanzania. Both primary and secondary socioeconomic data were gathered using a household questionnaire and qualitative methods. The questionnaire was administered to sample households in three villages. Secondary data were gathered through literature search. Findings from this study show that sample villages have experienced normal flooding, occurring between April and May, and excessive flooding which occurs in cycles of 5-10 years. Local people perceive a decrease in frequency and magnitude of flood occurrence. Associated biological changes have included the disappearance of some banana and orange tree species, disappearance of some wild animals, and rotting and drying out of some cocoa and banana trees. Other impacts have included outbreak of new crop diseases. Socioeconomic consequences have included destruction of crops, animals, buildings and other infrastructure. Others have included the outbreak of cholera and other waterborne diseases. Coping strategies to excessive flooding have been temporal. Communities’ response to flooding has differed according to the economic access qualification of concerned wealth groups. The rich (mnoge) have coped well by shifting to higher areas, and hiring or buying farmland disposed off by other wealth groups. They also employ cheap labour from among the poor (ndondo). During and after floods the mnoge buy commodities from other and sell them to the flood affected people at a profit. The ndondo are the most affected group as they are less able to cope with the situation. Often they are forced to sell their assets at very low prices, and end up living on begging or working for other wealthier groups.
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    Social Transformations and Political Empowerment in the Age of Globalization: Looking beyond Women's Empowerment in Tanzania
    (Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2003) Mung'ong'o, Claude G.
    The paper reviews the efforts attempted so far to create a social movement for political empowerment of women in post-independence Tanzania. It locates the various women groups within the larger social context and analyzes the role gender plays in intra-household resource allocation and the mechanisms which maintains the prevailing structure of social relations. Firstly, the paper assesses the organizational resources which have been available to women and how these have facilitated the creation of a movement. The tutelage of women by men as fathers, uncles, brothers, and husbands is seen as a major impingement on independent resource management by women. Increased workload on women due to technological change in economic production is also highlighted. The sedentarisation of pastoralists and the resulting degradation of rangelands are shown to have changed women's property rights in livestock; to have made it possible for men to redefine women's traditional rights and consolidate control both over livestock and dairy incomes. The political opportunity structure under which women have been operating in Tanzania is, however, seen as fairly favourable to women empowerment. The paper sees women in Tanzania as the vanguards of the struggle for the second liberation, which is the agenda for this millennium.
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    Structural Adjustment Programmes and Peasant Responses in Tanzania
    (1995) Mung'ong'o, Claude G.; Loiske, V. M.; Simon, D.; Spengen, W. V.; Dixon, C.; Närman, A.
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