Influence of soil management practices on crop production in the changing climate: the case of Sanjaranda village in Manyoni district, Tanzania

This study assessed the influence of soil management practices on crop production in the changing climate in Sanjaranda Village, Manyoni District, Tanzania. The study examined community perception on climate change and variability and its evidence; soil management practices employed by small farmers in response to climate change impacts with reference to maize and sunflower crops. Literature review, focus group discussion (n=22); key informant interview (n=10), participatory field observation (n=5) and household questionnaire survey (n=53) methods were used to complement each other in addressing the objectives. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse quantitative data whereas qualitative data was subjected to theme-content analysis and Microsoft Excel was used to analyse meteorological data (rainfall and temperature) to determine their trends and patterns. The study found that, climate change and variability (CC&V) is already taking place in the study area. The observed indicators for CC&V included; decreasing amount of rainfall, increased incidence of drought, and late rainfall onset. It was also revealed that, CC&V also influenced shifting of crop calendar as well as adoption of new cropping varieties. Likewise, communities have adopted a combination of various soil management practices, such as deep tillage, combination of deep tillage and farmyard manure, and incorporation of crop residues into the soils. Such initiatives aimed to improve soil moisture holding capacity as a means to address CC&V impacts. The combination of deep tillage and farmyard manure ranked higher in addressing drought condition (improvement of soil moisture) hence improve crop yield in a changing climate. Findings from the study also revealed that area with soil management practices has been associated with increased yield of sunflower and maize compared to areas without management practices in the village. The study recommended that although there is considerable awareness on soil management practices on addressing climate change impacts, concerted efforts must be made to upscale the practices to many farmers within and outside the village. Furthermore the study recommended future studies on influence of soil management practices on physical and chemical soil properties including Total Nitrogen, CEC, pH, soil moisture etc in relation to climate change adaptation strategies in the study area.