Alliance for Enhancing Agroecological Practices among Organic Farmers in Tanzania: Perceptions, Opportunities, and Challenges of the SAT-SUA Farmer Centred Research Programme

The study examined the perception, opportunities and challenges of a research programme geared towards farmers who have taken participatory action research to support agroecological practices among small organic farmers. The study, which followed a mixed methodology, was conducted in Mvomero district and the Morogoro municipality. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and analysis of documents and content. The sample included all farmers, pastoralists, students and staff of the SUSA who had taken part in the programme. The sample size was 136 respondents. The findings show that more than 90 per cent of respondents were positive about the use of participatory action research (PAR) as a methodology for the design and implementation of collaborative agroecological research. Attitudinal scores of 4.05 to 4.75 (farmers) and 4.22 to 4.85 (students) on a scale of 5.0 were recorded. Respondents highly rated the potential of PAR in integrating formal (general) and local knowledge, strengthening the thinking of the student of the development system and fostering cooperation and empowerment. Moreover, the solutions developed and implemented were more realistic and more feasible to share. Time-consuming, high costs of organisation and planning, high demand for facilitation and coordination skills, power and imbalance at the start of the process were identified as major challenges. The study recommends strengthening and institutionalising the partnership and assessing the overall impact of the programme and its adaptability to other settings and contexts. Lastly, future studies should consider longitudinal designs to evaluate the long-term impact of SAT-SUA’s approach, providing more robust evidence of sustainable change.