Micro-Investment by Tanzanian Smallholders’ in Drip Irrigation Kits for Vegetable Production to Improve Livelihoods: Lessons Learned and a Way Forward

Muhammad Azher Bhatti (), Sosheel Solomon Godfrey, Shai André Divon, Julie Therese Aamodt, Siv Øystese, Peter C. Wynn, Lars Olav Eik and Øivind Fjeld-Solberg
Additional contact information
Muhammad Azher Bhatti: Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Sosheel Solomon Godfrey: School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Gulbali Institute (Agriculture, Water and Environment), Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia
Shai André Divon: Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Julie Therese Aamodt: Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Siv Øystese: Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), Bernhard Getz’ Gate 3, 0165 Oslo, Norway
Peter C. Wynn: School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Gulbali Institute (Agriculture, Water and Environment), Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia
Lars Olav Eik: Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Øivind Fjeld-Solberg: Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), Bernhard Getz’ Gate 3, 0165 Oslo, Norway

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: Food security in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the major issues confronting the continent. Innovative use of fresh water, the world’s scarcest food production resource, is vital for family-run small-holder agricultural systems, which supply up to 80% of the world’s food. Agriculture employs 70% of Tanzania’s rural population and supplies 95% of the country’s food. The goal was to measure the impact of smart drip irrigation kits on smallholder farmers’ resilience and rural poverty in Tanzania. A household survey was conducted using an exploratory sequential design in four districts (Babati, Hai, Kasulu, and Kilosa) in Tanzania. A total of 383 respondents (Micro-investing (MI) farmers, n = 195; control, n = 187) were randomly selected from a pool of 3444 farmers. Partial budgeting and enterprise economic analysis were used for the calculation of gross margins, and multivariate analysis was used for poverty analysis. Gross margin analysis showed that communities using drip-irrigated vegetable farming are more profitable. Partial budgeting analysis showed that micro-irrigation increased the revenue generation for most vegetable varieties. However, multivariate analysis was unable to confirm that household poverty was markedly reduced through the adoption of this technology. Half of the MI farmers could afford an education for their children due to the extra income generated from MI. This investment strategy has the potential to improve smallholder livelihoods and resilience to climate change.

Keywords: food-security; livelihoods; micro-investment kits; profit; markets; smallholder-farmers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/10/1732/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/10/1732/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:10:p:1732-:d:948041

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().