Can linking small- and large-scale Farmers enhance adaptive Capacity? - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 143

Research methods and study area
The fieldwork informing this chapter was undertaken during five visits to
Tanzania totalling 15 months in the period October 2010 to April 2013. Research
focused on two OG schemes in Morogoro Region - one, Kilombero Plantations
Limited (KPL), producing rice; the other, Mtibwa Sugar Estates (MSE),
producing sugarcane - and two communities located adjacent to these schemes
(see Table 8.1 ). Morogoro Region is characterized by high agricultural potential,
relatively good backbone infrastructure (outside the rainy season), and generally
adequate rainfall compared to other parts of the country (Environmental
Resources Management Limited 2013; AgDevCo and Prorustica 2011). Both
OG schemes are located in flat valleys/floodplains (250-350 metres above sea
level) bordering wetlands at the foot of mountain ranges that form part of
the Eastern Arc Mountain chain, a recognized global hotspot for biodiversity
(Frontier Tanzania 2009). KPL and MSE schemes were chosen due to their
location within the SAGCOT region, and because initial field investigations
identified rice and sugarcane as having strategic potential to contribute to
national development efforts through import displacement. Research explored
what factors are important for understanding the contribution of OG schemes
to adaptive capacity at the household and community levels. The author
lived and conducted research in and near the two study sites throughout the
fieldwork. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods was employed
to collect data, including participatory observation of farming activities; key
informant interviews with OG farmers, livestock keepers, estate personnel and
a range of actors in the public, private, donor, non-governmental organization
(NGO), civic and research sectors; and group discussions and participatory
rural appraisal exercises with male and female farmers in the two communities.
Semi-structured interviews ( n =142) with OG and non-OG households of
different wealth categories were conducted in two villages to gain insight into
farmers' views of MSE and KPL estates, the OG schemes, and wider farming
systems and livelihoods. A review of policy documents relating to SAGCOT
and national climate and agriculture policies, and the author's participation in
meetings in villages and with Tanzanian researchers and policy-makers, donors,
private-sector actors and agricultural development practitioners, helped to
contextualize and triangulate the data collected through formal and informal
interviews and observations.
Assessing the contribution of OG schemes to adaptive capacity
In this section, I describe how the two OG schemes are shaping adaptive capacity
at the household and community levels in relation to the seven determinants of
adaptive capacity described above.