*3.2.2 Rehabilitation of village Forest*

Forest rehabilitation can be defined as the process of restoring the capacity of the degraded forest land to deliver forestry products and services [25]. In the context of this study, rehabilitation refers to the re-planting of degraded village trees in

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

the village forest reserve to re-establish the presumed forest structure, productivity and tree species diversity for future delivery of the desired products and services.

We used Binary Logistic Regression Analysis to assess community's motive on rehabilitation of the Village Forest Reserve. Findings show that the rehabilitation of village forest reserve advocated by the eco-village initiative was 42 times more compatible with culture of restoring forest services to the participants in the era of increasing climate change stress to nearby forests compared to the non-participants. This means that participants of tree planting were more likely to restore the negative effects of over-exploitation of the long-standing village forest reserve for several uses such as wood fuel for domestic uses and extraction of building materials. Drawing from the adoption perception theory, the compatibility of the practice with the individuals' previous behavior, practice and/or way of living (for this case tree planting) is one of the motives for participation in the practice [26].

The loss of such previously vegetated forests had bearing on the increased rate of soil erosion, loss of soil fertility and wind disturbances. Similarly, the interview with one of the participants in tree planting in Chololo showed that, initially, before the eco-village initiative, forests management and conservation were actively observed; but deteriorated with time to respond to the impact of climate change manifested through elevated soil erosion and poor forest related services. In addition, forest resources became inadequate to support the growing wood fuel and building/construction demands.

The interviews with key informants and all FGDs showed that, after being mobilized and sensitized on environmental education and along with initial facilitation with seedling, the villagers participated in re-planting of such trees as cutch (*Acacia polyacantha*) and neem (*Azadrachita indica*) in the degraded village forest reserve. Besides facilitation of community members and village leaders on afforestation, nursery management and tree planting in Chololo, it was observed that community were involved in planting about 3000 trees within the village forest reserve [24].

The practice of rehabilitation of village forestry is in line with the Tanzania's environmental policies that call for immediate measures in restoring the degraded forests to assume the productive state, partly promoting both environmental goods and services for the community [27]. The community's venture on rehabilitation of village forest reserve partly reflects the community's commitment in ensuring sustenance of village forestry services like building materials, windbreak, reduced erosion, scenic value in the course of adapting to climate change and mitigation against land degradation and desertification.

#### **3.3 The performance of eco-village practices for adaptation to climate change and mitigation of desertification**

#### *3.3.1 Changes in average of small-holder farmers' yield*

Paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare the average small-holder farmers' yield per hectare for four main crops - sorghum, pearl millet, groundnuts and sunflower before eco-village intervention and after intervention. Results indicates that there was a significant difference in the average small-holder farmers' yield per hectare in sorghum and pearl millet (t = 5.361, p < 0.05) and (t = 6.656, p < 0.05) respectively, compared to the situation before intervention (without using oxen). On the contrary, the change in average small-holder farmers' yield for sunflower and groundnuts (t = 1.893, p > 0.05) and (t = 1.338, p > 0.05) was statistically insignificant (**Table 2**).

An important implication of significant average increase in yield per hectare for sorghum and pearl millet is probably due to the fact that such crops are both major


*YA, Average yield after the eco-village intervention; YB, Average farmers' yield before the eco-village intervention. Source: Survey data (2017).*

#### **Table 2.**

*Changes in average yield for the major crops in Chololo.*

staple food and cash crops and increased production creating surpluses motivated small-holder farmers to devote more efforts to transform knowledge and skills to increase land productivity. Increase in sorghum and pearl millet was also supported by key informants and FGD participants in the study area who argued that "Oxendrawn tillage encouraged use of proper agronomical practices like appropriate spacing, thinning and weeding eventually, increased the number of meals taken per day from one to two". It was further emphasized that ox-drawn tillage techniques promoted soil moisture and fertility, and reduced soil erosion and compaction; thus boosting the survival rate of the drought tolerant crops, high yielding and early maturing crops like sorghum and pearl millet. Eventually, it increased the land capacity in sustaining the crop growth under poor rainfall resulting from climate change.

The studies by [21, 24], in semi-arid areas reported the growing rate of smallholder farmers' abandoning the traditionally low crop yield slash-and-burn (clearing land and sowing) to modern ox-drawn tillage (deep plowing and sowing) techniques especially after the eco-village initiative [24] also found that smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas managed to increase crop yield per cropland size cultivated by valuing and translating the acquired knowledge on ox-drawn tillage land preparation method into practice. As a result, there was improved household food security manifested in limited migration of community in search of foods, increase in number of meals to about two-three per day, and the reduction in number of months without food [21]. Drawing on the economic constraints theory, [28] argue that the decision made by the user/adopter of practice is consolidated by the experienced yields and profits.

### *3.3.2 The gap between the potential yield and average smallholder small-holder farmers' yield*

**Table 3** presents results on the average gap between potential and average small-holder farmers' yields for major crops cultivated in Chololo eco-village. The gap between potential and average small-holder farmers' yields for major crops in Chololo ranged from 51.5% for pearl millet to 55.2% for sorghum after the initiative as of before ranged from 68.5% for pearl millet to 69% for sorghum.

In filling the gap, several scholars suggest a number of measures to crop production: firstly, by timely applications of irrigation and fertilizers based on crop requirements and soil conditions [29]. Secondly, by promoting smallholder farmers' use of water-saving techniques such as mulching [30] and sprinkler irrigation *Role of Eco-Village Initiatives in Mitigating Desertification in Semi-Arid Areas of Tanzania DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98719*


#### **Table 3.**

*Average small-holder farmers' yield in relation to potential yield.*

(instead of furrow irrigation) to deal with the increasing water shortages in most of the areas. Thirdly, by improving the agro-technical service provision and government support would likely help smallholder farmers adjust their crop management and adopt more sustainable farming practices. Fourthly, by including the development of policies associated with land tenure to stimulate cooperation of individual households or allowing land transfer to merge the very small and fragmented farms (often less than one hectare) into larger land holdings. This would increase the yields in terms of efficiency use of labor and other production factors such as machinery, resulting in low labour productivity and profit [31].

The untimely availability or completely lack of industrial fertilizer and/or manure made small-holder farmers miss the correct application of fertilizer on crops to boost cropland productivity. Lack of oxen and plow, delayed some smallholder farmers in catching up with farm preparation and planting. Meanwhile, the repeated rainfall unpredictability and poor distribution in some incidences, impaired the whole crop farming planning processes resulting into massive crop failures, thus reduced crop yields.

Limited knowledge and lack of skills in crop production among small-holder farmers constrained crop production too; for instance, through inefficiencies in meeting the desired conditions of practices and failure to make appropriate choice of seeds. Similarly, previous studies point out that the shortage of farm implements; inadequate education on crop farming practices [30] and erratic rainfall on the rain-fed crop farming [31] are among the major factors that affect crop productivity in crop farming.

To promote the performance of such practices of the eco-village under crop farming, several suggestions were pointed out, namely: the government and all relevant stakeholders should participate effectively in timely provision of farm implements; they should promote knowledge and skills on crop farming through workshops, seminars, farmer field schools and exhibitions; and they should promote the user-friendly weather forecasting and prediction, and disseminate user-friendly information to the grass-roots levels involved in crop farming in rural areas.

#### *3.3.3 The survival rate of trees in the Rehabilitated Village Forest reserve*

A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare the average tree survival after the rehabilitation of the village forest reserve advocated by the eco-village initiative and planted trees in village forest before intervention. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the average survival rate of trees in the rehabilitated village forest reserve (t = −1.41, p > 0.05) compared to the situation with no ecovillage intervention (**Table 4**). The associated tree planting limitations in terms of costs, efforts, and maintenance can explain this.


*SA, Average number of tree survival before; SB, Average number of tree survival after eco-village intervention. Source: Survey data (2017).*

#### **Table 4.**

*Average number of survived trees.*

Furthermore, the slow growth rates and limited direct linkage of forest resources to the urgent felt needs can have bearing on the reduced community's efforts in maintaining planted trees against harsh conditions and environment. One of the respondents and the eco-village official emphasized that unrestricted animal movements and untimely replacement of dead trees undermined the survival of planted trees in the area. On the other hand, focus group discussion for adult females had the opinion that "scarcity of water posed risk to survival of trees in the area". On the other hand, adult female focus group discussion had the opinion that "scarcity of water posed risk to the survival of the trees progress in the area" [21] observed water scarcity and limited urgent response of tree planting practices to livelihood felt needs led to low survival of the trees planted. Other causes raised by respondents were inadequate supply of quality seedlings which demoralized the community's participation in tree planting at household level and effect of termites on the transplanted seedlings during dry season [30, 31]. Reports that tree pests as well as insects and fungi, limited watering, and unavailability of quality seedling is among the factors hindering tree planting programmes at household and at the institutional levels.

To redress the challenges, the study suggests timing of planting trees during the wet season, establishment of charcoal dams for irrigating trees in areas with unreliable sources of water and selection of seedling with high survival rate under minimal watering. Meanwhile, the shortage of seedling can be addressed by promotion of seedlings at the local level that can be established and managed by individuals, groups and institutions like schools and the village for sustainable tree planting programme. In controlling termites, the study suggests the use of pesticides and/or adequate watering to manage soil wetness so as to boost the growth of transplanted seedlings at early stages.
