Integrating In-Situ Rain Water Harvesting Technologies and Organic Manure for Improved Soil Moisture and Maize Performance in Semi-Arid of Morogoro, Tanzania
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Date
2021
Authors
Balilemwa, Julieth Joseph
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Tanzania experiences water scarcity caused by unreliable rainfall and
prolonged droughts. The objective of this study was to determine in-situ
rainwater-harvesting technologies used by smallholder farmers to cope with
water scarcity and assess the effect of integrated in-situ rainwater harvesting
technologies with organic manure on soil moisture content and maize
performance in the semi-arid part of Morogoro region in Tanzania. This study
included both experimental and survey method. A household survey was
conducted in Gairo district while the experiment was carried out at Sokoine
University Agricultural farm. The treatments were traditional cultivation
without manure (TOM), mulching without manure (MOW), furrows without
manure (FOM), Zai pits without manure (ZOM), Zai-pits with manure
(ZWM), mulching with manure (MWM), furrows with manure (FWM) and
traditional cultivation with manure (TWM) which laid out in a randomized
complete block design and replicated thrice. The experimental data were
subjected to the analysis of variance using Statistical Analysis Software
version 9.4. Survey data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social
Sciences version 16. The survey results showed that smallholder farmers in
Gairo district had no knowledge on Rainwater Harvesting techniques for
overcoming water scarcity, where, 95.8% of Ibuti and 89.6% of Tabuhoteli
farmers planted drought-tolerant crops as a coping strategy during water
scarcity periods. This was attributed to lack of in-situ RWHTs knowledge
expressed by 97.9% of Ibuti and 83.3% of Tabuhoteli farmers. Experimental
results showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) in soil
moisture retention among treatments at 0 –20 cm and 20–40 cm of soil
depths, which ranged from 9.72%-16.16% and 13.52%-17.67%, respectively.
The highest soil moisture content was observed in the mulching treatments
without manure 16.16% at 0–20 cm and 17.67% at 20–40 cm compared with
the control that had 10.44% at 0–20 cm and 13.52% at 20–40 cm. Maize and
stover yields differed significantly among the treatments.. Conventional
traditional practice had the lowest maize grain weight and biomass weight
(3.2 t ha-1 and 3.4 t ha-1) compared to other treatments. The integration of
mulching and organic manure resulted in the highest maize grain weight and
biomass weight (5.1 t ha-1 and 6.2 t ha-1) compared with the traditional
practice. This implies that there is a need for promoting a combination of insitu
rainwater harvesting technologies and manure applications especially the
use of mulching technology with manure.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science (Land and Water Management) in the School of Agriculture and Enterprise Development of Kenyatta University, June, 2021
Keywords
Integrating, In-Situ Rain Water Harvesting Technologies, Organic Manure, Improved Soil Moisture, Maize Performance, Semi-Arid, Morogoro, Tanzania