Land degradation due to use of unsustainable agricultural practices has affected many communities in rural mountain areas rendering them to be more vulnerable to income poverty and inequality. In this case, agroforest...Land degradation due to use of unsustainable agricultural practices has affected many communities in rural mountain areas rendering them to be more vulnerable to income poverty and inequality. In this case, agroforestry systems promise to offer great solutions as they can be developed in unfavourable conditions where other production systems would either rapidly degrade the land or otherwise would not be possible. However, little is known whether agroforestry can address issues of income inequality in mountain areas. Hence, we conducted a study to investigate the nature and determinants of income inequality in Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. Specifically, we used the cross-sectional research design and we calculated the income percentile shares, Gini coefficients and the coefficient of variation (CV), to pinpoint the nature of income inequality in the study area. The determinants of income inequality were analysed using the step by step multiple linear model. The results of analysis suggested prevalence of income inequality. Crop production was the main source of income in the agroforestry systems of the study area. <span style="font-family:Verdana;">Earnings from crops and timber were decreasing income-inequality amongst smallholder farmers. Our disaggregated analysis showed that off-farm income</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> was also decreasing income-inequality for farmers with farmlands located close to homestead, for female-headed households, for farmers who did not access extension services, and those who were members of com</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">munity-based financial institutions. Estimated incomes increased with house</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">hold assets, size of farmland, and age of household head. However, the same decreased with household size. We found gender disparity to be one of the key issues that need attention in formulating future policies to reduce inequality. We recommend promotion of livelihood diversification as well as the designing and implementation of tailor-made training and farm financing mechanism to help the less resource-endowed farmers in mountain areas to raise their economic portfolios and social status and combat income poverty and inequality.</span></span></span>展开更多
In this study, a soil filled Hydraulic Tilting Flume (HTF) was used as a test plot under simulated rainfallconditions. This flume was flled with mollisols soils (sandy loam in texture) collected from tarai regionof Hi...In this study, a soil filled Hydraulic Tilting Flume (HTF) was used as a test plot under simulated rainfallconditions. This flume was flled with mollisols soils (sandy loam in texture) collected from tarai regionof Himalayas. The effects of root and shoot characteristics of Napier grass in terms of leaf area index (LAI),shoot length (SL), number of leaves (NL), number of tillers (NT), shoot biomass (SB), root density (RD),root length (RL), root biomass (RB), and total biomass (TB) were investigated on runoff and sedimentoutflow at 90, 120 and 150 days after planting (DAP). Four simulated rainfall intensities namely 4.0, 6.5,8.3 and 9.4 cm/h over three land slopes of 1, 2 and 3% were selected. Runoff samples collected fromwhole plant plot and only root plot were analyzed for runoff and sediment outflow. Findings revealedthat Napier grasses were very effective to reduce runoff and sediment outflow and its efficacy increasedwith the extended growth stages. The reduction in runoff and sediment outflow at 90, 120 and 150 DAPwas obtained as 56% and 85%, 68% and 90%, and 74% and 96%, respectively, as compared to bare plotconditions. It was observed that the comparative contribution of shoots in runoff rate reduction washigher than the roots. On the contrary, the root part of the plant showed more contribution in sedimentrate reduction as compared to the shoot part. Step wise regression was attempted for the selection ofeffective input parameters to establish authentic runoff and sediment outflow models. Power form ofmultiple non-linear regression (MNLR) showed very satisfactory results for predicting runoff and sedimentoutflow with coefficient of determination (R^(2)) as 97.4% and 99.0%, respectively, root mean squareerror (RMSE) as 38.8 cc/m^(2)/min and 0.126 g/m^(2)/min, respectively, and coefficient of efficiency (CE) as93.9% and 96.7%, respectively, during testing period.展开更多
文摘Land degradation due to use of unsustainable agricultural practices has affected many communities in rural mountain areas rendering them to be more vulnerable to income poverty and inequality. In this case, agroforestry systems promise to offer great solutions as they can be developed in unfavourable conditions where other production systems would either rapidly degrade the land or otherwise would not be possible. However, little is known whether agroforestry can address issues of income inequality in mountain areas. Hence, we conducted a study to investigate the nature and determinants of income inequality in Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. Specifically, we used the cross-sectional research design and we calculated the income percentile shares, Gini coefficients and the coefficient of variation (CV), to pinpoint the nature of income inequality in the study area. The determinants of income inequality were analysed using the step by step multiple linear model. The results of analysis suggested prevalence of income inequality. Crop production was the main source of income in the agroforestry systems of the study area. <span style="font-family:Verdana;">Earnings from crops and timber were decreasing income-inequality amongst smallholder farmers. Our disaggregated analysis showed that off-farm income</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> was also decreasing income-inequality for farmers with farmlands located close to homestead, for female-headed households, for farmers who did not access extension services, and those who were members of com</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">munity-based financial institutions. Estimated incomes increased with house</span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">hold assets, size of farmland, and age of household head. However, the same decreased with household size. We found gender disparity to be one of the key issues that need attention in formulating future policies to reduce inequality. We recommend promotion of livelihood diversification as well as the designing and implementation of tailor-made training and farm financing mechanism to help the less resource-endowed farmers in mountain areas to raise their economic portfolios and social status and combat income poverty and inequality.</span></span></span>
文摘In this study, a soil filled Hydraulic Tilting Flume (HTF) was used as a test plot under simulated rainfallconditions. This flume was flled with mollisols soils (sandy loam in texture) collected from tarai regionof Himalayas. The effects of root and shoot characteristics of Napier grass in terms of leaf area index (LAI),shoot length (SL), number of leaves (NL), number of tillers (NT), shoot biomass (SB), root density (RD),root length (RL), root biomass (RB), and total biomass (TB) were investigated on runoff and sedimentoutflow at 90, 120 and 150 days after planting (DAP). Four simulated rainfall intensities namely 4.0, 6.5,8.3 and 9.4 cm/h over three land slopes of 1, 2 and 3% were selected. Runoff samples collected fromwhole plant plot and only root plot were analyzed for runoff and sediment outflow. Findings revealedthat Napier grasses were very effective to reduce runoff and sediment outflow and its efficacy increasedwith the extended growth stages. The reduction in runoff and sediment outflow at 90, 120 and 150 DAPwas obtained as 56% and 85%, 68% and 90%, and 74% and 96%, respectively, as compared to bare plotconditions. It was observed that the comparative contribution of shoots in runoff rate reduction washigher than the roots. On the contrary, the root part of the plant showed more contribution in sedimentrate reduction as compared to the shoot part. Step wise regression was attempted for the selection ofeffective input parameters to establish authentic runoff and sediment outflow models. Power form ofmultiple non-linear regression (MNLR) showed very satisfactory results for predicting runoff and sedimentoutflow with coefficient of determination (R^(2)) as 97.4% and 99.0%, respectively, root mean squareerror (RMSE) as 38.8 cc/m^(2)/min and 0.126 g/m^(2)/min, respectively, and coefficient of efficiency (CE) as93.9% and 96.7%, respectively, during testing period.