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Abstract:
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"The study is based on a survey of multiple-stakeholders of water in the study area, including direct water users in agriculture namely farmers, water resources and agricultural experts, and water managers especially in irrigated systems. The survey of smallholder farmers covered 6 villages and 248 households selected randomly The experts’ category was formed by agricultural village extension officers, MATI Igurusi tutors, Zonal irrigation officers, researchers from SHARDI Uyole, Rufiji basin water resources officers and local government leaders. Data were collected using structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and key informant’s interviews. Data collected were summarized, coded and entered in a computer and the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) computer software was used to analyze the data. Cross tabulations were used to determine the relation between the variables. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and cross-tabulations were used to present the data. A high proportion (87.5%) of the smallholder farmers indicated low awareness of the concept of productivity of water in agriculture as universally defined. The closest farmers come to deal with the issues of productivity of water is when practicing minimum tillage, early planting, mixed cropping and planting drought resistant crops. The experts are aware of the basic definition of productivity of water as the ratio of total crop yield to the volume of water used. The main limitations were found to be there was lack of technical know how and equipment’s for measuring the volume of water used for crop production. Given the past experiences in the study areas knowledge sharing through demonstration plots and poster will assist in increasing the understanding of different stakeholders and thus improve dialogue. To achieve a common understanding of the productivity of water in agriculture the study make the following recommendations: (i) Farmers training, demonstration plots, radio and field visits should be employed as knowledge sharing tools for creating awareness of PWA. (ii) Dialogue should be held between other stakeholders from village level to national level to get common understanding of the description of PWA."
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