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Perceptions guides decision making and eventually determines the actions to be made by
farmers on climate change adaptation. This study analyzed how farmers perceive cassava
as climate change crop, determinants of farmer’s perception and also estimated the share
of cassava to total household income in Kigoma Region. A multistage random sampling
procedure was used to select a total of 140 household heads for analysis. Data were
collected using structured questionnaire and key informants interview. Descriptive
statistics, Likert scale items and Chi-square tests were employed to analyze data. The
Heckman’s two step model was used to identify the determinants of perceptions of the
sampled households. The results show that 72.7% to 98.3% of the household farmers
perceived cassava as a suitable crop for climate change adaptation. Accordingly, most of
the respondents considered cassava as a food security crop in the face of changing
climatic conditions. Age, gender, marital status and availability of climate information
were found to be basic determinants of farmer’s perception on cassava as climate change
crop. The profitability of various crops produced in the study area was estimated using
gross margin analysis. Among food crops grown in the study area, cassava was noted to
constitute a significant share of household income, suggesting that is not only an
important food crop but also a major source of income. This study concluded that,
farmers perceive cassava as a climate change mitigation crop, hence recommends that the
efforts by policy marker towards climate change adaptation while improving food
security should target at improving and promoting cassava production. |
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