Improving Farming Activities through Traditional Practices: The Role of Rural Women in Tanzania

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the potential of rural women to bring about agricultural change in Tanzania. Based on the original research, this paper presents findings on improving farming activities through traditional practices in Dodoma City Council and Singida District. Specifically, the paper presents findings on the role of women’s traditional practices in improving farming activities and on women’s attitudes towards those practices. Utilizing a cross-sectional design, the original research collected data from 382 rural women of varying age, education, and marital status. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS for ordinal logistic regression and Microsoft Excel to calculate mean scores for each Likert-scale statement. The findings revealed five significant factors (p < .001) associated with improved farming activities: knowledge, skills, technology, information systems, and personal characteristics (p < 0.05). In contrast, farming materials, sources of funding, farming inputs, and women’s attitudes were not found to be statistically significant. Additionally, the study assessed women's attitudes toward traditional farming practices and found both positive and neutral perceptions. Based on these findings, this paper concludes that five key factors significantly influence agricultural practices and the women in the surveyed area hold both positive and neutral attitudes toward traditional farming methods. As a result, the paper recommends that the Ministry of Agriculture, Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in Dodoma and Singida, and non-governmental organizations develop agricultural interventions and capacity-building programs to strengthen weak traditional agricultural practices and reinforce effective ones.