Awareness and practices of Paddy Farmers towards Sustainable Agricultural Technologies: The Case of Usangu Plains in Mbarali district, Tanzania

Sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) lie not in conserving but also in enhancing the natural resources without sacrificing yield levels. The adoption and diffusion of specific SAPs have become important issue in paddy production and productivity in Usangu Plains. However, Farmers ’decisions to adopt a new agricultural technology depend on complex factors. One of the factors is farmers ’perception (awareness and practices). The objective of this study was to investigate perceptions of farmers towards applying sustainable agricultural technologies in paddy farms and identify factors influencing their perceptions. Experimental research design was adopted. Stratified purposive sampling was used to collect data from a sample size of 120 farmers from Uturo, Ihahi and Ukwavila villages. Data were collected through household survey and key informants. SPSS 16.0 and STATA 11 packages were used for descriptive and quantitative data analysis, respectively. The results of the study show that farmers had positive perception about sustainable agricultural technologies such as diversification and rotation, application of manure but in general, they prefer modern technologies to local ones. They perceived agrochemicals as the best means to combat against pests and to increase rice production. Their perception of intangible impacts of modern technologies was weak. It was found that there should be a relationship between a numbers of socio-economic factors, such as human capital factors, information sources use, extension participation and landholding size and the perception towards selected sustainable agricultural technologies. Also, educational level, contact with agricultural experts and extension participation were best predictors of their perceptions.