group discussions, land availability is not a problem in the study areas. Most of the farmers perceive land as abundant. Conflicts over land are generally rare and were not reported by any of the farmer groups that were visited. Soil quality patterns in Mkuranga District are related to the geographical zones. The district is divided into 2 main geographical zones; (i) the coast zone which include the whole of Shungubweni and Kisiju divisions and part of the Mkuranga Division; and (ii) the Upland Zone which includes large part of Mkuranga Division and a small part of Kisiju Division. While the Coast Zone has sandy soils with low water holding capacity, low water table and moderate soil fertility, the upland zone has loamy sand soils, which are suitable for agriculture. Information generated from the FDGs reveals that the quality of soils is generally declining due poor farming methods. Trends in crop production Mkuranga economy is largely depending on agricultural production for its economic wellbeing. About 80% of the population depends on agriculture as their sole preoccupation. As pointed out above, it is estimated that about 40,000 households are engaged in agricultural activities. Other activities include fishing which is mainly practiced by coastal communities, harvesting forest resources, handcraft activities (carpentry, woodcarving, tailoring; and livestock keeping particularly local chicken. Figure 3 shows the production trends for various food and cash crops. The figure shows that the trends were erratic. These findings suggest that crop production is quite unreliable, and even cassava production (Figure 4) which is the main of source of food, it trend has never been steady.
Figure 3: Trends in various crop production in Mkuranga District Source: Extracted from NBS (2007)
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