Abstract
This paper analyzes household decisions to adopt varying degrees of agroforestry systems. A survey of farming practices and household characteristics were collected from a random sample of 435 households in Tabora, Tanzania (n = 386). Using multinomial logistic methods, we estimated models explaining adoption behavior with respect to multiple agroforestry systems, as well as partial adoption of agroforestry packages. We explored how household health and access to health services, credit access and mobile banking use, land tenure and firewood access, and extension services are associated with agroforestry adoption. Results indicated the importance of access to credit for tree planting, which is significantly associated to the adoption of the fertilizer tree Gliricidia sepium, and the combination of Gliricidia sepium and planted woodlots. We also found that acres farmed, education, and extension services are significantly associated to the adoption of the full agroforestry package (adoption of pigeonpea and cassava intercropping). Different household characteristics were associated with partial adoption of the intercropping package (pigeonpea or cassava with other food crops), including land tenure, health clinic access, and whether firewood is collected from the commons. Implications of these findings could be used by agencies promoting agroforestry systems to better understand what factors contribute to the likelihood of agroforestry adoption.
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Notes
Long and Freese (2006) develop a method to test the IIA assumption in STATA (mlogtest, hausman); however, they do believe that tests of IIA are limited, and categories should first make qualitative sense.
After working closely with village leaders, we collected 43 questionnaires for pretesting reliability and validity of questions. In the questionnaire revision we asked targeted questions about intercropping with other crops (such as maize), and about additional tree-crops that may be planted or left on-farm.
The mlogit command in STATA 14.2 fits a multinomial logit model for a categorical dependent variable with outcomes that have no natural ordering.
We can reject the assumption that IIA has been violated by way of the suest-Hausman Test for both multinomial logit models.
The farm acreage and the number of members in a household are in natural logarithmic form. Hence, the coefficient estimate must be interpreted to represent the change in relative log-odds caused by about 2.72 time increase in the independent variable as compared to non-adoption.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Anthony Kimaro for hosting this research, and the ICRAF Tanzania Office. We would also like to thank Dr. Badege Bishaw, Dr. Bill Jaeger, and Dr. Mark Needham, as well as Dr. Troy Hall for their contributions. Additionally, we would like to thank the enumerators, in-field team, and village leaders for their fellowship. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Funding
The Building Capacity for Resilient Food Security Project in Tanzania is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the United Republic of Tanzania, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Livestock and Fisheries in Zanzibar, the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government and the Tanzania Meteorological Association. The project is being implemented by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, the World Agroforestry Centre, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization with technical support from the United States Department of Agriculture.
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Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Oregon State University approval No. 8906. Additional approval was granted by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) permit No. 2018-456-NA-2018-380.
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Disclaimer This study is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in coordination with the United Republic of Tanzania. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the research team at Oregon State University and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or the United Republic of Tanzania.
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Bruck, S.R., Kuusela, OP. How health and market access associate with agroforestry adoption decisions: evidence from Tabora, Tanzania. Agroforest Syst 95, 1073–1086 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-021-00629-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-021-00629-3