Determinants of intensity of adoption of water systems innovations in Makanya watershed, Northeastern Tanzania

Farmers in semi arid areas of north eastern Tanzania are faced with regular occurrences of intra-seasonal dry spells which adversely impact crop yields. The situation has fostered them to practice different types of innovations, including in-situ capture and management of rainwater, collection, concentration and/or diversion of run- off and collection and storage of run-off to mitigate the ever occurring intra-seasonal dry spells. The farmers in this area have been practicing these innovations for a number of years yet their adoption rate remains very low in smallholder farming environments. In some cases, while some farmers are practicing single innovation in their farm plots, others practice more innovations to intensify water and moisture conservation in their farm plots. Knowledge of the reasons for this difference is crucial for strategic planning of promotion of the innovations. This paper examines the main determinants of adoption of water system innovations with specific emphasis on the intensity of adoption using a cross-sectional sample of 234 farmers in the Makanya watershed. Censored Tobit model was used to estimate the coefficients of intensity of adoption of water system innovations. Intensity of adoption of water system innovation was found to be between 2 and 4. Most households (78.3%) have at least 2 innovations per plot. The adoption intensity was found to be higher in the uplands whereby more than 56.7% of farmers have 4 or more innovations in their farms as compared to 30.8% in the lowlands and 41.7% in the midlands. Group networking, years spent in formal education, age of respondent, location and agricultural information pathways were found to be major determinants of intensity of adoption at farm-level. Consideration of these factors in the scaling out of the water system innovations is predicted to improve their adoption and thus intensify management of water resources in the semi arid watersheds with similar settings like Makanya. Also the empirical knowledge on the determinants of adoption of water system innovations is critical for an effective promotion of best practices of water innovation systems at landscape level

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