Abstract

Tumbi Agricultural Research Institute and International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) have been working on agroforestry technologies to address the problems of soil degradation and shortage of food and fuel wood in Tanzania. Among the technologies developed, using improved fallows to replenish soil fertility is being adopted by farmers. The lack of an effective dissemination pathway has been an obstacle for scaling-up this technology. The Network of Farmer Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA) facilitated co-ordination and streamlining of on-farm research, training and dissemination of improved fallows. Furthermore, it provided an analytical mechanism for participatory evaluation of promising technologies on farms and served as catalyst for their widespread dissemination in Tabora. The institute examined the effectiveness of different dissemination pathways, the government agricultural extension services, farmer trainers and traditional leaders for scaling-up of agroforestry technologies. Seventy-six percent of the farmers interviewed felt that farmer trainers were more effective in providing extension training on improved fallows than other channels. About 92% of the samples in the western zone of Tanzania were familiar with the concept of improved fallow technology. Farmers reported that government extension service and traditional leaders were not effective in dissemination of improved fallows. Farmer trainers are considered to be more effective in dissemination.

Key words: Extension, farmer trainers, network, traditional leaders.