**3.2 Eco-village practices for adaptation to climate change and mitigating desertification**

The common eco-village practices identified through thematic analysis are presented in **Figure 2** below. Of the several eco-village practices and/or initiatives use of oxen-drawn techniques, rehabilitation of village forest, improved chicken/ poultry, use of energy saving stoves and afforestation were ranked by respondents as the most common.


**Table 1.** *Socio-economic characteristics.* *Role of Eco-Village Initiatives in Mitigating Desertification in Semi-Arid Areas of Tanzania DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98719*

#### **Figure 2.**

*Major eco-village practices in Chololo eco-village. Source: Field data (2017).*

The above five initiatives can be grouped into two major categories. First, oxen-drawn techniques and improved chicken/poultry initiatives were meant for livelihood. The fact that agriculture is the lifeline of these small-holder farmers use oxen to cultivate instead of hand-hoe hoping to make a difference in terms of increased plot size and land preparation hence increased production of drought resistant crops in the area, that is, sorghum, pearl millet, sunflower and groundnuts and improving soil structure.

During interview with one eco-village official in Chololo eco-village, he argued that turning over the upper soil with oxen-plow was advantageous in bringing fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and previous crop residues and/ or manure and allows decay of organic matter. Similarly, community involvement in improved chicken/poultry has been used as source of income and in improving household nutrition.

Second, rehabilitation of village forest, use of energy saving stoves and tree planning are meant to reduce forest and soil degradation, protection of water sources and protection of soil cover which in turn can play a very big role in mitigating desertification. Furthermore, energy saving stoves was meant to provide domestic energy for cooking and heating and indirectly spare much of forestry resources. Scholars (e.g. [17–21] suggest that the adverse impacts of climate change, appropriate responses and adaptive capacity advocated by the eco-village initiative are relatively more site-specific.

#### *3.2.1 Oxen-drawn tillage*

We used Binary Logistic Regression Analysis to assess community's motive on oxen-drawn tillage techniques and results shows that the estimated odds ratio was 5.62 indicating that the households' cropland preparation using oxen-drawn tillage techniques was 5.62 more appropriate for healthier crop growth in response to the impact of climate change compared to those who never used the techniques. Oxen-drawn tillage were appropriate techniques in response to the growing impact of climate change manifested through unpredictable rainfall, declining soil fertility and abnormal loss of soil moisture content that lowered cropland productivity.

#### *Deserts and Desertification*

The appropriateness of ox-drawn tillage technique in terms of user-friendliness and fitting to local knowledge and skills for generation of high benefits is consistent with the innovation-diffusion theory [22] which emphasizes that relevance of the practice motivates the users in carrying it for realization of benefits.

Views by eco-village initiative official, FGD participants and community seed producers in the study area had the opinions that the increased land productivity was a result of abandonment of previous slash-and-burn land preparation method, which was common in the past and adoption of oxen drawn tillage practice. Slashand-burn used to remove grasses and any remaining crop residues. Despite slashand-burn minimal effect on soil disturbance, still the unbroken hardpans restricted drainage of water and growth of plant roots in the face of growing impact of climate change. This decreased crop productivity and increased food insecurity and resulted into the increase in the number of people at risk from hunger in the area.

Oxen-drawn tillage involves turning over the soil and loosening it (**Figure 3**) immediately after the first rain season for sowing the early maturing and drought tolerant sorghum, pearl millet, sunflower and groundnuts, normally between late December and mid-January. During the interview with the eco-village official in Chololo eco-village, he argued that turning over the upper soil was advantageous in bringing fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and previous crop residues and/or manure and allowing decay of organic matter.

Compared to slash-and-burn, ox-tilled land was useful in promoting soil moisture and fertility, and in reducing soil erosion; which in turn promote crop growth in a limited rainfall caused by the impact of climate change. The use of ox-drawn tillage in semi-arid areas was found to promote soil fertility, reduced soil erosion, and increased soil capacity in retaining rainwater [23, 24]. The ox-drawn tillage technique was of paramount importance adaptation practice in place against the unpredictable rainfall, the ever-declining soil fertility, increasing soil erosion and loss of moisture content through run-off and evaporation, which are mostly accelerated by climate change.
