figures are slightly higher compared to the national statistics which show that smallholders in Tanzania cultivate between 0.2 and 2.0 hectares (Tulahi and Hingi, 2006). The major limitation on the size of land holdings and utilization is the heavy reliance on the hand hoe as the main cultivating tool (Tulahi and Hingi, 2006). As highlighted above, VECO aim to improve farm productivity through utilization of improved planting materials and use of appropriate farming methods, so as to have an effective utilization of the small land holdings owned by the farmers. For improved farming especially cassava production a certain level of investment will have to be done in land management. One of the premises of the VECO’s programme is that, for effective use of small land holdings owned by farmers in the programme areas, increased access to improved business development services (BDS) and skills on crop husbandry will be crucial. Livestock Livestock is one of the major assets in many areas in Tanzania. In many places, livestock contributes to food supply, converts rangelands resources into products suitable for human consumption and is a source of cash and store of value. Official statistics show that Mkuranga District, a variety of livestock species are kept. Table 16 shows the number of the main livestock animals by type.
Table 16: Number of livestock in Mkuranga District by type Type Number % Local chicken 396,420 Indigenous goats 7,752 Indigenous Cattle 2,808 Sheep 702 Dairy cattle 564 Dairy goats 372 Total 408,618 Source: NBS (2007)
97.0 1.9 0.7 0.2 0.1 0.1 100.0
These findings suggest that amongst the livestock types, local chicken constitute the most popular livestock type kept in the district. These statistics were confirmed during the baseline study. It was found Mkuranga keeping large animals was negligible in many areas visited. The respondents did not have large animals such as cattle, goats and sheep. The only animals they had are chicken. It was found that most of the households had chicken and for Mkuranga livestock keeping may be equated to chicken production. Table 17 summarizes the results from this study regarding the number of chicken owned by the respondents. The table shows that households in Mkuranga district owned between 2 and 50 chickens with a mean of 14.
Table 17: Average number of chicken, Mkuranga District Parameter Mean Minimum Maximum Standard deviation
Number 14 2 50 11
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