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This paper examines knowledge gain and adoption among farm women with access to information and improved communication. This is because access to information and improved communication is a crucial requirement for agricultural development. In rural areas, group approach, “self-help groups (SHGs),” have been initiated among farm women using Interactive Multimedia Compact Disc (IMCD). The IMCD emerged as a potential learning tool to train farmers about a particular agricultural-knowledge. A theoretical and conceptual framework for an adoption pathway is reviewed in which farmers move from knowledge gain to adoption over time. This study was conducted in Sengerema and Kilosa districts with telecentres that train farm women in SHGs using IMCD. A total of 180 farm women were randomly and equally selected. Simple correlation and multiple regressions were used to assess association and influence of socioeconomic characteristics on knowledge gain and adoption. It was established that education status and mass media exposure exhibited a positive and significant relationship. Age and farm statuses showed negative association with knowledge gain. Farm status and innovativeness showed significant and positive relationship with knowledge adoption. Farming experience exhibited negative and significant relationship with knowledge adoption. Thus, while preparing IMCD, one should take care these variables for knowledge gain and adoption. The inferences on knowledge gain and adoption imply that longer periods will be required for majority of farm women to use the technology and to have the decision leading to adoption.

[ENG] A variety of factors inhibit the development of MSMEs in African countries, which in turn affects entrepreneurship, job creation and economic transformation. Using cross-sectional data from 250 MSMEs in the Dar es Salaam region, we find in most of the examined variables the positive relationship between the use of non-financial business support services (BDS) and the development of MSMEs in the Dar es Salaam region. However, contrary to expectations, building business linkages and mentoring programs recorded negative relationships with MSMEs development. This is related to restricted capacities stemming from the size of MSMEs compared to large companies and deficiencies in the content of mentoring programs. In addition, the discrepancy between BDS demand and supply as well as the low adoption rate of BDS are associated with the inadequate adaptation of BDS to the needs of MSMEs, high service costs and a lack of qualified service providers. Thus, we argue that the provision of BDS to MSMEs should be demand-driven and that institutions should build on the pre-eminent characteristics of MSMEs when designing business support programs. On the other hand, Government efforts to nurture the development of MSMEs through policies and programs should extend to promoting business linkages between MSMEs and large enterprises. [SPA] Diversos factores inhiben el desarrollo de las MIPYMES en los países africanos, lo que a su vez afecta al emprendedurismo, la creación de empleo y la transformación económica. Utilizando datos transversales de 250 PYMEs de la región de Dar es Salaam, encontramos que en la mayoría de las variables examinadas existe una relación positiva entre el empleo de Servicios de Desarrollo Empresarial (SDE) y el desarrollo de las PYMEs en la región de Dar es Salaam. Sin embargo, en contra de lo esperado, la creación de vínculos empresariales y los programas de tutoría registraron relaciones negativas con el desarrollo de las PYMEs. Esto está relacionado con las restricciones de capacidad derivadas del tamaño de las PYMEs en comparación con las grandes empresas, además de las deficiencias en el contenido de los programas de tutoría. También, el desajuste entre la demanda y la oferta de SDE, así como la baja tasa de adopción de los SDE, se explican por: los SDE prestados no se ajustan a las necesidades de las PYMEs, a los elevados costes de los servicios y a la escasez de proveedores de servicios cualificados. Por lo tanto, sostenemos que la prestación de SDE a las PYMEs debe estar orientada a la demanda y que las instituciones deben basarse en las características preeminentes de las PYMEs al diseñar los programas de apoyo empresarial.Por otra parte, los esfuerzos del gobierno para fomentar el desarrollo de las PYMEs a través de políticas y programas deberían extenderse a la promoción de los vínculos empresariales entre las PYMEs y las grandes empresas.

BackgroundThe Tanzania government sought support from The Global Fund to Fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria to reform its Medical Stores Department, with the aim of improving performance. The study sought to assess the impact of the reforms and document the lessons learnt.MethodsQuantitative and qualitative research methods were applied to assess the impact of the reforms. The quantitative part entailed a review of operational and financial data covering the period before and after the implementation of the reforms. Interrupted time series analysis was used to determine the change in average availability of essential health commodities at health zones. Qualitative data were collected through 41 key informant interviews. Participants were identified through stakeholder mapping, purposive and snowballing sampling techniques and responses were analysed through thematic content analysis.ResultsAvailability of essential health commodities increased significantly by 12.6% (95% CI 9.6% to 15.6%) after the reforms and continued to increase on a monthly basis by 0.2% (95%CI 0.0% to 0.3%) relative to the preintervention trend. Sales increased by 56.6% while the cost of goods sold increased by 88.6% between 2014/2015 and 2017/2018. Surplus income increased by 56.4% between 2014/2015 and 2017/2018 with reductions in rent and fuel expenditure. There was consensus among study participants that the reforms were instrumental in improving performance of the Medical Stores Department.ConclusionPositive results were realised through the reforms. However, despite the progress, there were risks such as the increasing government receivable that could jeopardise the sustainability of the gains. Therefore, multistakeholder efforts are necessary to make progress and expand public health.

BackgroundThe Tanzania government sought support from The Global Fund to Fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) to reform its Medical Stores Department (MSD), with the aim of improving performance. Our study aimed to assess the impact of the reforms and document the lessons learned.MethodsWe applied quantitative and qualitative research methods to assess the impact of the reforms. The quantitative part entailed a review of operational and financial data covering the period before and after the implementation of the reforms. We applied interrupted time series analysis to determine the change in average availability of essential health commodities at health zones. Qualitative data was collected through 41 key informant interviews. Participants were identified through stakeholder mapping, purposive and snowballing sampling techniques, and responses were analyzed through thematic content analysis.ResultsAvailability of essential health commodities increased significantly by 12.6% (95%CI, 9.6-15.6), after the reforms and continued to increase on a monthly basis by 0.2% (95%CI, 0.0-0.3) relative to the preintervention trend. Sales increased by 56.6% while the cost of goods sold increased by 88.6% between 2014/15 and 2017/18. Surplus income increased by 56.4% between 2014/15 and 2017/18, with reductions in rent and fuel expenditure. There was consensus among participants that the reforms, were instrumental in improving performance of MSD.ConclusionMany positive results were realized through the reforms at MSD. However, despite the progress, there were risks such as the increasing government receivable that could jeopardize the gains. Multi-stakeholder efforts are necessary, to sustain the progress and expand public health.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an extract of cat urine odour as a repellant of commensal rodents in houses. Cat urine was drawn and stored frozen in universal bottles at -200C until use. The stored cat urine was then thawed and mixed with maize starch to form a thick dough and then granulated and dried at room temperature before being packed in a hermetically closed jar. Initially, rodent foot marks on tracking soot coat tiles were used to estimate the rat population before the cat urine extracts application. Twenty households with high and low rodent activities were selected purposively in the study area. Ten houses were treated with the urine extracts and ten others were kept untreated (control). Both treated and untreated houses were categorized at two levels (i.e. low and high rodent activities) as determined by the tracking tile foot prints. One tracking tile was placed in each of the selected houses and rodent foot marks were counted. Collected data were subjected to analysis of variance and the results showed a significant difference in rodent activities which however, depended on the sex of the cat that donated the urine base. Female cat urine extract repelled significantly more commensal rodents as compared to male cat urine extract. The repellent effect was observed from day 1 to 4; but not beyond. Our findings suggest that cat urine odour has the potential to repel commensal rodent pest species; with female cat urine being more effective than male cat urine.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cat urine odour extract on rodent pest species to reduce crop losses. Cat urine from the captured cats was drawn using cat catcher. Urinary catheter was inserted into the urethra up to the urinary bladder and a syringe attached to the urinary catheter was used to draw urine which was stored in universal bottles at a temperature below -20ºC. The stored cat urine was directly bound to the maize starch by slowly mixing the urine with the starch until dough was formed which was then granulated. The granules were dried at room temperature and packed in a tight closed jar. Mastomys natalensis of 25 – 40 g were used in this study. Wild captured individuals were acclimatized in a room for 7 days prior to experiment by providing them with food and water. The effect of cat urine odours on rodent pest species was studied in a single box. Camera traps were set at the top of each room in order to monitor rodents’ activities. Our Findings suggests that cat urine odour has a potential to repel rodent pest species whereas female cat urine was more effective than male cat urine. However, more investigations are needed to evaluate its effectiveness under field conditions.

HIV/AIDS is disrupting household livelihood security in Tanzania's rural communities and contributing to rural impoverishment by claiming the lives of the most productive young adults who make up the bulk of the labor force in those areas. This article presents results of a case study based on a survey of 119 households conducted in three villages of Rungwe district in Tanzania. The results reveal that households with HIV/AIDS deaths spend less on food than those without AIDS deaths, and that households with HIV and AIDS-related deaths are more likely to fall below the poverty line.

The dynamics of revenue generation in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are explored. Results demonstrate that revenue generation is sluggish in Tanzania compared to Kenya and Uganda. Macroeconomic environment, economic structure, and level of development are fundamental at explaining these differences. Results reveal that these countries have the potential for generating more revenue, if could address weaknesses inherent in their tax systems. Computerization of tax collection; expansion of the tax base; address problems associated with tax revenue leakages; and instituting strong legal enforcements should be at the fore in the ongoing tax reforms so as to enhance tax revenue collection.Key worlds: Short-run, Long-run, Revenue generation, Tax buoyancy, Co integration, Error-correction, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda

This paper is an attempt to investigate the effects of tax revenue generation capacity on public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa drawing empirical lessons from three East African countries-Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It employs the co-integration and error-correction modeling framework to analyze the effects of erratic and inadequate revenue generation on physical and human capital development in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda using time-series data over the period 1970-2005.The results unambiguously demonstrate that changes in tax revenue have strong impacts on physical and human capital development spending in the three countries. The policy lessons that can be drawn from the findings of this paper is that the three countries should strike a balance of the composition of government expenditure; reprioritize public expenditure into productive spending and strive to generate sufficient tax revenue to finance budget expenditures on physical and human capital development in order to reduce poverty and promote long-run economic development.Key words: Tax Revenue Generation Capacity; Physical infrastructure; Human Capital, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda

Traditional agricultural extension services intended to serve agro-pastoralists in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa at large have failed to make significant impacts, due partly to the lack of knowledge-sharing practices to disseminate timely agricultural and livestock-keeping information. A key problem has been inadequate access to information due to weak linkages and interactions between agricultural and livestock research institutions; including, the lack of knowledge and information articulating best practices; and deficiency of relevant research information presented in easy to understand ways and localized to the needs of agro-pastoralists. However, in recent years, there has been growing attention devoted to the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture and livestock-keeping development. The growing ubiquity of mobile phones presents an excellent opportunity to put timely agricultural and livestock-keeping information into the hands of agro-pastoralists through direct linkages with the telecentres services in rural areas. The evidence has linked ICTs to an increase in gross domestic product; it has prompted dedication to the research of the socio-economic benefits and policy implications of ICTs consumption in Africa. Consisting of field case studies and implementation frameworks for telecentres, this paper provides a Tanzanian rural perspective and understanding of the developments in ICTs services for sustainable agro-pastoral livelihood. Therefore, the field results indicates that, the extent of the interaction between the telecentre services and agro-pastoralists in terms of ICTs access as a learning tool shows that more than half, 43.7% (178) and 23.6% (96) out of 407 respondents were interacting; whereby agro-pastoralists access the services provided by the telecentres to improve agro-pastoral livelihood. We conclude that the interaction between the telecentre services and agro-pastoralists has to be transformed; since the potential of ICTs services in rural areas as yet remains untapped and urgent measures are required to derive maximum benefits for sustainable agro-pastoral livelihood.

This paper is an attempt to investigate the effects of tax revenue generation capacity on public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa drawing empirical lessons from three East African countries-Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It employs the co-integration and error-correction modeling framework to analyze the effects of erratic and inadequate revenue generation on physical and human capital development in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda using time-series data over the period 1970-2005.The results unambiguously demonstrate that changes in tax revenue have strong impacts on physical and human capital development spending in the three countries. The policy lessons that can be drawn from the findings of this paper is that the three countries should strike a balance of the composition of government expenditure; reprioritize public expenditure into productive spending and strive to generate sufficient tax revenue to finance budget expenditures on physical and human capital development in order to reduce poverty and promote long-run economic development

The dynamics of revenue generation in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are explored. Results demonstrate that revenue generation is sluggish in Tanzania compared to Kenya and Uganda. Macroeconomic environment, economic structure, and level of development are fundamental at explaining these differences. Results reveal that these countries have the potential for generating more revenue, if could address weaknesses inherent in their tax systems. Computerization of tax collection; expansion of the tax base; address problems associated with tax revenue leakages; and instituting strong legal enforcements should be at the fore in the ongoing tax reforms so as to enhance tax revenue collection.

A study was carried out in Kilosa and Gairo districts to identify and characterize animal health constraints as perceived by stakeholders in the beef and milk value chains. A combination of methods was used to collect data, namely, mapping of value chain actors and baseline survey. The baseline survey involved 220 households drawn from 33 villages and 22 wards. Using a structured questionnaire, households were visited to assess awareness and experience of livestock diseases based on observation of clinical cases prevalent in cattle herds. Prevalent diseases as reported by the respondents were East Coast fever (ECF; 88.1%), anaplasmosis (78.0%), heartwater (75.8%) and babesiosis (64.0%). Other animal health problems reported were contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP; 92.6%), calf diarrhoeas (79.9%), trypanosomosis (66.7%), brucellosis (65.3%) and mastitis (60.1%). Further inquiry revealed that health problems perceived to be the most important, in declining order, were: ECF, trypanosomosis, anaplasmosis, heartwater, calf diarrhoea, brucellosis and babesiosis. With regard to routine disease control activities, all respondents reported to apply acaricides to control ticks while 90% reported deworming their animals regularly. Although acaricide application was reported to be carried out, tick-borne diseases (TBDs) were still prevalent in the study area. These finding suggest that the current control measures against infectious diseases are ineffective. There is, therefore, a need to have in-depth evaluation of existing disease prevention and control options so that corrective measures can be applied to reverse the situation, which will ensure reduction of morbidities and mortalities associated with infectious diseases. This will contribute to improved livelihoods of pastoral and agro-pastoral farmers predominant in Kilosa and Gairo districts. Key words: disease control, tick-borne disease, pastoral, agro-pastoral, Kilosa and Gairo districts

A value chain analysis of beef sub-sector was carried out in Kilosa and Gairo Districts in order to address weak-links in the chain. Stakeholder mapping and analysis, baseline data collection and stakeholders’ workshop were conducted. Results indicate that the beef value chain has various actors among them: pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, service providers, small, medium and large livestock traders and live animal transporters. Others are market masters, slaughterhouse operators, meat transporters, meat shop operators and consumers. Mobile phone service was noted to effectively link various actors along the value chain. The producers in Kilosa and Gairo are feeding into within the district, region, Dar es Salaam; and the export market. There are relatively few female actors along the beef value chain, mostly in processing and retail offal business, input supply and one case in Dar es Salaam where three womenare operating a slaughter slab. Feeds and water availability particularly during the dry season; and animal diseases were reported as major production constraints impacting on quantity and quality of beef produced. Analysis of value chain governance revealed that retailing butcher shops are receiving relatively a larger share (30%) of the overall price compared to the rest of actors in the strand. Furthermore, findings show that the supply chain is characterized by low value addition among the pastoralist and high value addition among the feedlot operators and large scale processors. Weak links that require immediate attention include: animal diseases and non-use of standard weight measures during selling of live cattle.Key words: Actors, agro pastoralist, pastoralist, producers, supply chain, traders

Coastal communities of Tanzania use natural water systems such as rivers, estuaries and marine for various activities like drinking, fishing, washing and bathing. However, there is scanty information on the safety for these water bodies for the various uses. In this study faecal indicator bacteria were assessed in three sites along the coast of Tanzania (i.e. Pangani Estuary in Tanga Region, Ruvu Estuary in Pwani Region and Mzinga Creek in Dar Es Salaam Region). At each site, three sampling stations covering fresh, brackish and marine waters were selected for monthly sampling between July 2009 and June 2010. Faecal bacterial indicators were generally higher in Mzinga Creek compared to the rest of the study sites with significant differences between Mzinga Creek and Pangani Estuary for total coliforms (TC) and faecal coliforms (FC) (P < 0.05). All faecal indicator bacteria were significantly higher in fresh waters compared to brackish and marine waters (P = 0.0001), for TC and FC and P = 0.001 for Enterococcus (ENT). The faecal indicator bacteria correlated positive to each other and negatively to some environmental parameters namely pH and Salinity. Results suggest allochthonous sources of contamination and the influence of environmental factors. Generally the faecal bacterial indicators in the studied waters along the coast of Tanzania were within the acceptable standards according to WHO and USEPA indicating low risks situation for recreational purposes. However, these levels of faecal bacteria does not warrant the use in the studied estuaries for shellfish harvesting and the fresh water is not suitable for direct drinking. Further studies and monitoring programs are recommended to substantiate the current results.

The main focus of this study was to establish the economic impacts of a single tourism business operated in a rural area on a regional economy in Africa. This paper presents a case study of the regional multiplier effects of Singita Grumeti Reserves’ (SGR) tourism investment in the Mara region, Tanzania. The recursive Keynesian multiplier approach was used to identify significant economic multiplier effects larger than any other multiplier effects we could find published for relevant, comparable studies (Type 1 average 1.57 from 2008-2013, range 1.24 – 1.81). This result was contrary to economic theory that predicts the multiplier effect in this case should be low given the small area of investment in comparison to the much larger regional economy. In addition, these results represent underestimates, as the multiplier effects established in this study did not factor in substantial positive environmental and socio economic impacts accrued from SGR’s non-profit partner organization, the Grumeti Fund. Consequently, our study findings present compelling evidence that SGR tourism investments, when combined with the Grumeti Fund’s conservation and community development activities, demonstrate a pro-poor economic approach of substantial benefit to the Tanzanian economy. This was possible because the investment made by one private company is relatively substantial in comparison to the limited government services provided to the Mara Region, where nearly half of the 1.7 million people in this region remain in the poverty trap. These results provide compelling evidence that this type of high-value low-volume tourism investment can also contribute to sustainable and equitable socioeconomic development when paired with conservation and community development efforts. This assessment also demonstrates the value of ecosystem services derived from conserving Tanzania’s rich and globally significant natural heritage for the benefit of both people and nature. As there is more tourism potential in Tanzania, Tanzanian government authorities at all levels should consider encouraging and supporting similar tourism investments (i.e., high-value low-volume tourism model). This support could be tailored to providing incentives such as tax rate reduction or exemptions to encourage this specific type of tourism investment. Private investment is particularly important in rural and underserved regions in Tanzania– like the Mara Region – where there have been limited economic investments despite substantial opportunities for economic growth.