Adoption of indigenous farming practices for adaptation to climate change induced food Insecurity: a case of Busega District in Simiyu Region, Tanzania

This study is about adoption of indigenous farming practices as an adaptation option to climate change induced food insecurity in Busega District, Simiyu Region. The main objective of the study was to assess the potential of promoting crop productivity of smallholder farmers through adoption of indigenous farming practices for adaptation to climate change induced food insecurity. The specific objectives of the study were to: study the rainfall and temperature patterns in the study area from 1986 to 2015, identify the impacts of change in rainfall and temperature on food crop production in the study area from 2006 to 2016 and identify the existing indigenous farming practices in the study area and delineate their potential in adaptation to climate change induced food insecurity. The research adopted random sampling procedure of 10% to select one district out of four, two wards out of fifteen wards. At the household levels the study selected 243 households out of 4,877 of the study villages adhering to 5% sampling protocol. The data were analyzed using Time Series Trend Analysis Software (Mann Kendal Trend Test), Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20, Microsoft Excel and XLSTAT computer programme. Results of the analyses indicated that 1.6%, 12.9%, 55.5%, 64.4% and 77.5% of the sample selected for study practice contour bunds, crop rotation, intercropping, zero and minimum tillage, and cover crops respectively, as indigenous farming practices in the villages studied. The study recommends a need to give much priority to the indigenous farming practices in agriculture and food security policies.