Climate Change Adaptation Practices for Sustainable Food Production in Rombo District, Tanzania

Abstract

Although various studies on climate change and food production have been conducted, information on how households in Tanzania respond to climate change for sustainable food production is scarce. This paper investigates climate change adaptation practices in enhancing sustainable food production in Rombo District, Tanzania. The study adopted a cross- sectional research design. Quantitative data were analysed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software, while the qualitative data were analysed through factual and logical interpretation of the findings. Results show that drought was the main effect of climate change as reported by 65.7% of the respondents in the study area. Furthermore, the findings show that 81.4% of the respondents applied artificial fertilizers to their farms in efforts to adapt to climate change. Study results also show a significant association between the education level of the respondents and use of improved seeds (P = 0.08) and soil water conservation (P = 0.09) as adaptation measures to climate change. In adapting to the changing climate, respondents also experienced some challenges such as lack of resources in terms of financial, material and human labour. Proper knowledge on the adaptation measures is recommended to be given to farmers through various methods.