Browsing by Author "Mbwana, Hadijah A."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessment of post-harvest handling practices: knowledge and losses of fruits in Bagamoyo district of Tanzania
    (IISTE, 2013) Kereth, Gudila A.; Lyimo, Monica; Mbwana, Hadijah A.; Mongi, Richard J.; Ruhembe, Carolyne C.
    The harvesting practices, knowledge and post-harvest losses of fruits along the supply chain in Bagamoyo District were investigated. 142 farmers, 50 retailers and 10 wholesalers dealing with fruits were involved in the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. The results indicate that, 90.14% of the respondents harvested fruits when they are just ripe and the great market losses were reported to occur due to rotting (microbial) at 63%, physiological at 20% and 17% by insects and rodents. Along the supply chain, mechanical damage was observed to be the major type of loss during harvesting (79%) and transportation (56%) while microbial damage was observed by majority (67%) during marketing. Poor infrastructure from farm to the market was observed to account for large percentage of losses in the market. The findings also shows that all farmers (100%) interviewed have no knowledge on post-harvest losses and management. In the view of the findings, it can be concluded that, post-harvest handling practices and knowledge of stakeholders involved in fruit sub sector in the country are not good enough to prevent the losses. It is therefore imperative to improve educational knowledge, skills and fruits quality from the field to reduce post-harvest losses.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Expert-based ex-ante assessments of potential social, ecological, and economic impacts of upgrading strategies for improving food security in rural Tanzania using the ScalA-FS approach
    (Springer, 2017) Graef, Frieder; Uckert, Götz; Schindler, Jana; König, Hannes Jochen; Mbwana, Hadijah A.; Fasse, Anja; Mwinuka, Lutengano; Mahoo, Henry; Kaburire, Laurent N.; Saidia, Paul; Yustas, Yusto Mugisha; Silayo, Valerian; Makoko, Bashir; Kissoly, Luitfred; Lambert, Christine; Kimaro, Anthony; Sieber, Stefan; Hoffmann, Harry; Kahimba, Frederick C.; Mutabazi, Khamaldin D.
    Subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are highly vulnerable to food insecurity given their low adaptive capacity against ecological and socio-economic shocks. Therefore, food security is one of their main challenges. Participatory action research across food value chains (FVCs) can help stabilize and enhance food security by developing upgrading strategies (UPS) that enhance specific aspects of crop production, post-harvest processing, marketing, income generation, and consumption. However, prior to their widespread adoption or upscaling, UPS need holistic understandings of their potential social, ecological, economic, and institutional challenges and opportunities in target areas. This article reports the application of the “ScalA-FS” tool, which assessed the potential success of selected UPS using assessment criteria developed by agricultural scientists and local farmers in a participatory process in Tanzania. This work is embedded in a larger participatory research project conducted in semi-arid and sub-humid ecological settings of the Dodoma and Morogoro regions of Tanzania. Results from the assessment of the potential impact of the UPS differed strongly between the UPS and the social, economic and environmental assessment criteria, but only slightly between semi-arid and sub-humid regions. The positive impacts of food-securing UPS centre on productivity and income generation. Rain water harvesting, fertilizer micro-dosing, optimized weeding, and promotion of kitchen gardens were expected to have the highest impacts after implementation. The ScalA-FS ex-ante assessments provide a knowledge base about potential impacts, as well as the potential bottlenecks to address during the implementation of UPS.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Prevalence and determinants for poor nutritional status among children in rural Dodoma region of Tanzania
    (Research Square Platform LLC, 2022) Mbwana, Hadijah A.; Mwinuka, Lutengano
    Background: Undernutrition is a problem of public health significant in developing countries. This study examined the factors that determine stunting in children in Dodoma Region in Tanzania. Methods: Multistage stratified sampling procedure was used to select respondents. Height and weight were measured and nutritional status of children was determined. Stunting, underweight, and wasting in children were defined using these criteria, which were compared to WHO norms and standards. Logistic regression models were used to establish relationships between stunting and multiple variables. Results: The overall prevalence of stunting was 33%. Mzula village had the highest prevalence of severely underweight children at 3.6%. There were no significant differences in weight and height among children between villages. Important determinants of stunting in a univariate logistic regression were mother’s education, material used to build house, age of the child and distance to water source. In the multivariate analysis distance to water source and mother’s education, maternal education, and child’s age were found to independently predict stunting. The univariate logistic regression picked the father’s education, age of the mother and distance to water source as main determinants of being underweight. Conclusion: The current study stresses the importance of implementing region specific and context-relevant treatments to prevent malnutrition in this and other similar contexts in Tanzania