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Drought is a recurrent climatic phenomenon in many parts of the world which requires urgent interventions to ensure that it does not jeopardize the lives of many people. During drought periods and beyond, semi-arid areas are left with no enough food and resources to invest in agricultural production. Despite of Tanzania’s Government efforts together with other stakeholders‟ efforts to overcome drought, still it affects environment, agricultural production and water resources resulting into food scarcity in rural areas. Households apply various drought coping strategies to ensure food availability, though, these efforts have not been well documented. This study was conducted to assess the contribution of drought coping strategies on household food availability in Chamwino District, Tanzania. Specific objectives were: to identify drought coping strategies applied by household, to examine the contribution of drought coping strategies on household food availability and to examine the challenges that people encounter during the application of drought coping strategies. Cross-sectional research design was employed in this study where both qualitative and quantitative research were used. Sample size of the study was 92 respondents which was randomly selected and 8 key informants were purposively selected. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) computer software program version 20 for descriptive statistics. It was found that households apply various drought coping strategies involving selling labor, planting drought tolerant crops, use of short term seeds, practice small scale of irrigation, conducting small business and selling charcoal, firewood and grasses. In applying those strategies, people encounter the challenges of limited capital, minimal amount of rain, food price fluctuation, destructive pests and reluctant to apply drought coping strategies. The study revealed that, the drought coping strategies applied contribute to household food availability. However, the amount of food does not satisfy the household annually food requirements. The study recommends that there must be deliberate efforts to be taken by Government, NGOs, Private institutions and other stakeholders in provision of more education to households concerning best drought coping strategies to adopt. Also support those households with agricultural tools, inputs, and loans to produce enough food. Extension services also should be increased in rural areas to facilitate households to achieve required amount of food. |
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