Smallholder sunflower production as a climate change adaptation strategy in Kongwa district, Tanzania

The study was conducted to investigate the relevance of sunflower cultivation by smallholder farmers as a climate change adaptation strategy in Kongwa District and analyze its potential in sustaining farmers’ livelihoods. The study was conducted in two villages named Iduo and Sejeli. The two villages were selected according to their production of sunflower, one with high production and another one with low production; they were selected purposively with the help of Kongwa District Agricultural Officer to meet the needs of the study. Primary data was obtained through household survey, focus group discussions and key informants interviews. Secondary data was collected from the Internet, books and journals. The findings reveal that most farmers from these villages participate in sunflower cultivation and the many are females, reason being most men have more than one sources of income while most women, this is their main source of income and others this is their only source of income. Farmers who participate fully were those between 15 – 55 years of age and most of them have reached up to primary education level. The study also shows that most family sizes were small and due to ownership of livelihood assets, they are able to support themselves. Furthermore, the findings show that farmers are aware of climate change; this awareness is also contributed to exposure to various sources of information like TV, radios, agricultural officers and local government officials. The study further established that farmers were motivated to cultivate sunflower due to various reasons like the decline of groundnut market, scarcity of rainfall, oil for home consumption, some were motivated from the seminars given to them that emphasized on benefits of sunflower cultivation to mention a few. Apart from sunflower, farmers grow varieties of drought tolerant crops; furthermore, sunflower growers are faced with challenges like low quality of seeds and the affordability of the ones with high quality, unsatisfying sunflower prices etc. The extent of benefits of sunflower cultivation depends on the quality of the seeds grown, the sizes of their farms etc. The study concluded that it is evident that sunflower cultivation has a number of benefits, therefore measures should be taken by relevant authorities, measures like timely training on modern farming methods, affordable quality seeds, creation of sunflower board to give more power to the