Browsing by Author "Kajembe, G. C."

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Community participation in the management of protected forest areas in East Africa: opportunities and challenges
Kajembe, G. C.; Kihiy, V.B.M.S.; Banana, A.Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, W.; Ongugo, P.
Community participation in the management of protected forest areas in East Africa: opportunities and challenges
(2006) Kajembe, G. C.; Kihiy, V.B.M.S.; Banana, A.Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, W.; Ongugo, P.
There is a move in East Africa from centralized and state-driven forest management regimes towards decentralized and mainly community-based regimes. The paper points out some of the opportunities and challenges. Structural changes in forest policies are seen as a contributing reason that decentralization is more in tune with the prevailing ethos of governance. Similarly, economic and political crises have now discredited service delivery systems based on central bureaucracy, forcing theorists of development administration to shift their focus from hierarchy and control to participation and empowerment. Moreover, the accelerating retrenchment during the 1990s, often to comply with structural adjustment policies, occurred together with the realization that centrist management strategies need reformulation. Erosion of the legitimacy of local institutions has been cited in the paper as one of the challenges. Local institutions have no real authority to decide on the management of forest resources. Another challenge is with regard to the stratified communities. In all stratified communities, interests of some actors are represented only inadequately. Lack of political will at the centre to give powers to communities and grassroots organizations is also a challenge to community based forest management initiatives in the region. It is also important that benefits must be significant if the community is to go to the trouble of establishing and enforcing the rules about resource use. This begs the question on whether community based forest management programmes/projects in East Africa have sufficient value to stimulate community participation. This remains a puzzle. The paper concludes by pointing out that “Rural communities in the region are undergoing rapid social, economic, and political change, as the development and modernization process spreads and deepens”. Even if effective and viable user groups exist or can be put in place today, will they survive and persist in the face of modernization pressures? Much more need to be known about the institutional context in which users now find themselves and the type of support that will increase the probability of sustainable management of our forest resources.
Community perceptions on the impact of decentralised forest management on access to livelihood assets in the North Eastern And Central Tanzania
(Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies & Management) Mwambo, L.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Kajembe, G. C.
Conflicts and their management in the use of Miombo woodlands in selected areas of Tanzania
(Tanzania Journal of Forestry and Nature Conservation) Mvena, Z. S.; Monela, G. C.; Kajembe, G. C.; Ngaga, Y. M.
Contribution of Paddy Production to Household Income in Farmer-Managed Irrigation Scheme Communities in Iringa Rural and Kilombero Districts, Tanzania
(Journal of Agricultural Studies) Mosha, D. B.; Vedeld, P.; Katani, J. Z.; Kajembe, G. C.; Tarimo, A. K. P. R.
Contribution of Paddy Production to Household Income in Farmer-Managed Irrigation Scheme Communities in Iringa Rural and Kilombero Districts, Tanzania
(Journal of Agricultural Studies, 2018-05-09) Mosha, D. B.; Vedeld, P.; Katani, J. Z.; Kajembe, G. C.; Tarimo, A. K. P. R.
Irrigation reduces risks involved in agriculture and enables farming throughout the year. Improved irrigation systems enhance access to irrigation water. However, most smallholder farmers continue to use traditional irrigation schemes as if the difference in water use and crop yields between the two is insignificant. It seems essential to assess the paddy crop yield difference and its contribution to household incomes between traditional and semi-improved Farmer-Managed Irrigation Schemes (FMISs) in Iringa Rural and Kilombero districts in Tanzania. A cross-sectional research design was used in this study involving 48 key informants and 172 randomly selected households. Household survey using a structured questionnaire was the major method for data collection. Data from focus group discussions and key informants supplemented the information collected using household survey. The data were analyzed using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Results indicate that yield of paddy was higher in semi-improved schemes (2.5-3.6 tons/ha) compared to traditional irrigation schemes (2.2-2.9 tons/ha). This was attributed to the presence of improved water intake structures and existence of main canals, which facilitated an improved water supply to the irrigation fields. In spite of the poor and incomplete irrigation infrastructure, the paddy production contributed very significantly (73-80%) to the total annual household income of smallholder irrigators and somewhat more in the improved system than the traditional system. Other income sources are quite marginal in the study areas. The study recommends that the government should invest in irrigation infrastructure development to increase irrigation water use efficiency and increase agricultural values added.
Effective monitoring of decentralized forest resources in East Africa
Banana, A.Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, W.; Bahati, J.; Kajembe, G. C.; Kihiyo, V.; Ongugo, P.
Effective monitoring of decentralized forest resources in East Africa
(2000) Banana, A.Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, W.; Bahati, J.; Kajembe, G. C.; Kihiyo, V.; Ongugo, P.
There is no doubt that state control of forest resources in many countries has proved to be ineffective in solving and halting the rate of deforestation. The financial and human resources available to government forest departments are inadequate to carry out the task of policing forested areas without the participation of local communities . However, the success of decentralizing resources to local communities depends on solving three puzzles; the problem of supplying new institutions, the problem of credible commitment and the problem of mutual monitoring. IFRI, studies in Uganda have known that monitoring and rule enforcement is very important for the success of decentralized forest resources (Banana and Gombya- Ssembajjwe 1999). Trying to understand how use-groups and /or communities have monitored their own conformance to their agreements as well as their conformance to the rules in the E. African region is the challenge of this study. The study revealed that an effective monitoring strategy involves having good incentives for the monitors and a mechanism to supervise or monitor the monitors themselves. Where effective was effective, there are few illegal activities, high basal area and the physical and biological condition of the CPR was expected to improve with time.
Empirical assessment of short-term preferences of tropical forages by crossbred bull calves
(Academic journals) Komwihangilo, D. M.; Lekule, F. P.; Mgheni, D. M.; Petersen, P. H.; Mtenga, L. A.; Kajembe, G. C.; Kurwijila, R. L.
Empowering communities to manage natural resources: where does the new power lie? A case study of Duru – Haitemba, Babati, Tanzania
(SUA) Kajembe, G. C.; Monela, G. C.
Empowering communities to manage natural resources: where does the new power lie? A case study of Duru – Haitemba, Babati, Tanzania
(SUA, 2000) Kajembe, G. C.; Monela, G. C.
Recent approaches to community – based natural resource management appear diverse as their varied implementing agencies and natural resource settings; yet they rest on a set of common assumptions about community, natural resources and the relationship between them. This paper focuses on power relations between actors and how these set the framework for resource management in Duru – Haitemba. As one of the few remain ing tracts of miombo woodlands, Duru – Haitemba woodlands had been targeted for gazettement. However the exercise faced “local discontent”. The discontent has its origin in the “generalised narrative”. Before the coming of colonial powers the community lived in balanced harmony with nature. But when this harmony was disrupted, it led to disequilibria and hence degradation. A range of factors may be called to account, including: technological change; the breakdown of traditional authority; social change; urban aspirations and the intrusion of inappropriate state policies. What is required is to bring community and environment back into harmony. This requires either the discovery and rebuilding of traditional collective resource management institutions or their replacement by new ones. At the local level there are two factions competing for power: the elites and the traditionalists. The primary concern of traditionalists is “ritual”. Elites tend to hijack community based processes and forcefully occupying the political space opened by decentralization. Besides of the power struggles at the micro level another challenge is on the part of the government leadership at the macro level. Government officials usually have very mixed feelings about community actions. Increasingly though, these officials have come to realize that community action can substitute for the expensive need to put government officials into the field. The paper points out the fact that, community-based natural resource management seems plausible way to cut down public costs of managing resources. However, it remains an arena of power struggle between three actors: Local Communities, Field Agents and Supervisors. This “triangle” of relationships constitute the social arena marking out the actual “locale” of community based natural resource management in Duru – Haitemba.
Forest cover changes, stocking and removals under different decentralized forest management regimes in Tanzania
(Forest Research Ins) Mongo, C.; Kashaigili, J. J.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Kajembe, G. C.; Katani, J.; Eid, T.
Forest cover changes, stocking and removals under different decentralized forest management regimes in Tanzania
(Forest Research Ins, 2013) Mongo, C.; Kashaigili, J. J.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Kajembe, G. C.; Katani, J.; Eid, T.
By the end of the last century many countries including Tanzania moved from centralised towards decentralised forest management but little empirical evidence exists on how such changes have influenced forest conditions. The objective of this study was to provide insights on how decentralised approaches might influence forest resource conditions. Forest cover analyses from satellite images (1993, 2000 and 2009) and systematic sample plot inventories (2009) in two state forest reserves under joint forest management (JFM) and two village forest reserves under community-based forest management (CBFM) in Babati District, Tanzania were carried out. Based on the results, it was not possible to claim that the decentralised management had been successful in improving forest conditions. Proportions of closed woodland decreased significantly over time (from over 80 to 50-60% under JFM and from around 70 to almost 0% under CBFM. In all forests, numbers of régénérants were high, but proportions of larger trees were low and levels of removals (legal and illegal) were relatively high. In general the situation under JFM was better than under CBFM. Results of this study can be used by policymakers to assess the influence of decentralised forest management in Tanzania.
Impact of decentralised forest management on forest resource conditions in Tanzania
(Forests, Trees and Livelihoods) Mbwambo, L.; Eid, T.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Zahabu, E.; Kajembe, G. C.; Luoga, E.
Impact of decentralised forest management on forest resource conditions in Tanzania
(Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 2012) Mbwambo, L.; Eid, T.; Malimbwi, R. E.; Zahabu, E.; Kajembe, G. C.; Luoga, E.
Impacts of decentralised forest management on forest resource changes were assessed. Six contrasting forest reserves regarding management regimes, that is, Joint Forest Management (JFM; in National Forest Reserves, owned by the State), Community Based Forest Management (CBFM; in village lands or general lands), and ordinary centralized state management, were selected. The forest resources were assessed by means of systematic sample plot inventories. Number of stems, basal area, volume, biomass, and carbon ha21 were compared with results from previous studies in the same reserves. Harvesting activities were also assessed as part of the sample plot inventories. In general, the results were somewhat ambiguous regarding the impacts of different management regimes. There was, however, some empirical evidence indicating that JFM and CBFM performed better than the ordinary state management, although uncontrolled exploitation of the forest has continued under decentralised forest management in the studied forests. The two regimes are promising forest decentralisation models for Tanzania, but more research is needed to understand the functions of different governance structures and how they may facilitate sustainability in both forest use and livelihoods.
Impact of indigenous-based interventions on land conservation: A case study of a soil conservation and agroforestry project, Arumeru district, Tanzania
(John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.) Kajembe, G. C.; Julius, F.; Nduwamungu, J.; Mtakwa, P. W.; Nyange, D. A.
Impact of indigenous-based interventions on land conservation: A case study of a soil conservation and agroforestry project, Arumeru district, Tanzania
(John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2005) Kajembe, G. C.; Julius, F.; Nduwamungu, J.; Mtakwa, P. W.; Nyange, D. A.
Land degradation has been identified as a serious problem in Tanzania since the 1920s. Among the factors normally cited as contributing to land degradation are deforestation, overgrazing and inappropriate farming practices. Several attempts by the government to arrest the problem have been based on top-down approaches. Indigenous-based interventions are among the alternative practices adopted by the Soil Conservation and Agroforestry Project in Arumeru District, Tanzania. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of the indigenous-based interventions on land conservation. More specifically the study intended to assess farmers’ perception of land degradation, the adoption rate of indigenous-based interventions, the impact of those interventions, and lastly the sustainability of those interventions. Data for the study were collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques and a questionnaire survey. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 1 ) was used to analyse quantitative data and Content and Structural-Functional Analyses were used for qualitative data. The study found that the rate of land degradation was perceived by respondents to be rather severe. The study also revealed that indigenous-based interventions, which require minimal labour and capital, have been highly adopted by many farmers while labour/capital intensive ones have been taken up by fewer farmers. In general, indigenous-based interventions appear to have eased farm operations and contributed towards increased crop yield, improved soil fertility and increased income. Success in some of the indigenous interventions warrants their wider promotion beyond the project area. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Impact of joint forest management on Handeni hill forest reserve and adjacent communities in Tanga, Tanzania
Kajembe, G. C.; Mohamed, B.S.; Luoga, E. J.
Indigenous technical knowledge as reflected in the management of natural resources in Tanzania
(FAO) Kajembe, G. C.; Zahabu, E.; Mwenduwa, M.
Indigenous technical knowledge as reflected in the management of natural resources in Tanzania
(FAO, 1999-06) Kajembe, G. C.; Zahabu, E.; Mwenduwa, M.
In the broad sense, natural resource management can be defined as taking a firm decision about future of any area of resources, applying it and monitoring the application (Rietbergen 1993). It is widely accepted that natural resources should be managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations. Much of these benefits should be geared towards the local communities. Local communities surrounding natural resources should be the first hand beneficiaries to know the resource better than outsiders, and should have, therefore a great role to play in resources management. Within natural resource management systems, Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) embraces people's knowledge of tools and techniques for the assessment, acquisition, transformation, and utilisation of resources which are specific to the particular location. ITK can encompass