An analysis of use of good agricultural practices in rice production: a case study of Bagamoyo and Dakawa areas, Tanzania.

One major outcome of the challenges in rice production in Tanzania is low yield. One intervention to help improve rice yield is adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). However, little information exists about farmers’ awareness of GAP and its application under farmer circumstances. A study was conducted in 2012 growing season at Bagamoyo and Dakawa. The objectives of the study were to establish differences between constrained and unconstrained farmers’ choices of rice production management practices, assess whether training on GAP affects farmers’ choices of rice production management practices and to identify factors that influence farmers’ adoption of GAP in rice production. Findings from the study have shown that farmers in Bagamoyo are already aware of improved practices of nutrient management, seed establishment method and weed management method. Farmers in Bagamoyo actually used improved practices that they had indicated they would use in establishment method and nutrient management in 2012. However, these farmers did not use improved practices in weed management despite the awareness. There was significant influence of training on farmers’ unconstrained choices of nutrient management (p-value = 0.016) seed establishment method (p-value <0.001) and weed management method (p-value = 0.012) in Dakawa. Despite this awareness, most trained farmers did not use improved practices in establishment method, nutrient management method and bunding/ non-bunding (bunding is the construction of ridges in rice fields to conserve soil moisture). Dakawa recorded 43 percent adoption rate . The study further concluded that there is no evidence suggesting that training influenced farmers’ adoption of GAP at Dakawa.