CHAPTER THREE 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.

1 Introduction Methodology refers to the techniques or methods to be used to collect all the relevant data needed for the study. This chapter begins with a detailed description of the study area (Mkindo) in terms of biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. Following the site description is a section that explains conceptual framework and then in detail the methods used to collect, analyse and interpret data. 3.2 Description of study area The study was conducted at Mkindo farmer managed irrigation scheme located in Mvomero rural District in Tanzania. It is located at latitude 60 16 and 60 18 South and longitude 370 32and 370 36east and its altitude ranges between 345 to 365 metres above sea level about 85km from Morogoro (JICA, 1996). The average annual temperature is 240 C with a minimum of 15.1
0

C in July and a maximum of 32.1 o C in February. The mean relative humidity is 67.5% while

the mean annual sunshine hours are 7.0 per day. The soils are sandy clay loam. General Mvomero district is one of five districts in the Morogoro region, is a rural district composed of 101 villages with a total population of 260,535 (Mboera et al 2007). Rainfall in the district is bimodal, with a long wet season from March to May and a short wet season from October to December. Average annual temperatures in Mvomero range from 20-30C (Mlozi et al 2006). The northern area has a humid to sub humid climate, and annual rainfall ranges from 1500 to 2000 mm (Lyimo et al 2004) while the southern part of the district is much drier, with annual rainfall between 600 and 1200 mm (Karimuribo et al 2005). The majority of the districts economic activity is derived from agricultural crop production, but the southern region is composed primarily of pastoralist livestock keeping.

Apart from Mkindo scheme, there are other schemes like Mhonda, Mgeta, Mlali, Mgongola, Patel, Mbigiri, Dakawa, Ndole, and Mtibwa Sugar Estate. Mkindo scheme has been selected because is one of the scheme which has been funded by TASAF and it is managed by small holder farmers. Figure 1

Mkindo area

3.3 Conceptual framework The purpose of investing in irrigation is that it can contribute importantly to increased agricultural production and economic benefits if planned, implemented and operated satisfactorily. According to Hussain et al, (2004) there are linkages both direct and indirect between irrigation and poverty reduction. Direct linkages operate via localized and householdlevel effects, and indirect linkages operate via aggregate or sub national and national level impacts. Irrigation benefits the poor though higher production, higher yields, lower risk of crop failure, and higher and year-round farm and nonfarm employment. Irrigation enables smallholders to adopt more diversified cropping patterns, and to switch from low-value subsistence production to high-value market-oriented production. Increased production makes food available and affordable for the poor. The indirect linkages operate via regional, national, and economy-wide effects. Irrigation investments act as production and supply shifters, and have a strong positive effect on growth, benefiting the poor in the long run. However in making decision on irrigation investment three things should be considered. The first on is the cost and benefit of the project, the second issue is the welfare impact and lastly is the negative impact of the project. In the first case, costs associated with the project, we are supposed to identify and measure the investments costs and managements costs and compare them with the potential benefit which will be accrued from the investment and then we have to measure what are the impact of the project to poverty reduction and lastly we are supposed to identity negative impact of the project like environmental impact to the ecosystem. After that, the information can be used by policy makers and donors, in order for them to either allocate more fund to irrigation or otherwise

Figure 2
Food security Potential benefits Household income Management costs Irrigation investment Costs Investment costs

Negative impacts

Impact to the environment

3.4: Research design Cross-sectional studies or known as Cross-sectional design, which involve observation of all of a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time is the strategy that has been used to obtain information. Cost- benefits analysis and with and without cross-sectional study design will answer the first, second and third specific objective. But the cross sectional design has some advantages and limitation which are to be considered. 3.4.1 Advantages of cross-sectional studies

Relatively inexpensive and takes up little time to conduct; Can estimate prevalence of outcome of interest because sample is usually taken from the whole population;

Many outcomes and risk factors can be assessed;

Useful for public health planning, understanding disease etiology and for the generation of hypotheses;

There is no loss to follow-up.

3.4.2 Disadvantages of cross-sectional studies

Difficult to make causal inference; Only a snapshot: the situation may provide differing results if another time-frame had been chosen;

Prevalence-incidence bias (also called Neyman bias). Especially in the case of longerlasting diseases, any risk factor that results in death will be under-represented among those with the disease.

3.5 Data sources Data for the study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources during the field survey which was carried on between 6th and 17th February 2012. 3.5.1 Primary data Primary data were collected through questionnaire. During the primary data collection the following activities were done, first was to design the questionnaire, second thing was to obtain the sample and sampling and last was administration of questionnaire through interviewing farmers within the irrigation scheme and those outside the irrigation scheme. 3.5.1.1 Questionnaire design A questionnaire was designed to obtain information required for answering the stated objectives. It was designed to capture both qualitative and quantitative data for farmers inside the scheme and those outside the scheme. It was divided into section as follow: Section A: General information about farmers household.

Section B: Crop and livestock production activities. Section C: Irrigation practices, but this section was asked only for those farmers who are inside the irrigation scheme.

Section D: It was information about resource use. Section E: This was the last section and it asks information about impact of agricultural to the lives of farmers who are within the scheme and those who are outside the scheme.

3.5.1.2 Sampling The target populations were farmers who are within the mkindo irrigation scheme and farmers who are outside the Dakawa irrigation scheme. The sample size was obtained by using the formula of finite population equations for the mean or the proportion respectively.

Where n = sample size, Z = Z statistic for a level of confidence, at which the data are going to be tested. Z statistic (Z): For the level of confidence of 95%, which is conventional, Z value is 1.96. Investigators who want to be more confident (say 99%) about their estimates, the value of Z is set at 2.58 (Naing et al, 2006). Therefore the value of Z depends with the choice of investigator. P or = expected prevalence or proportion or standard deviation. Expected proportion (P): This is the proportion (prevalence) that investigators are going to estimate by the study. e = precision or error, it is suggested that 5%, e = 0.05 to appropriate one because it gives the confidence interval of 95% which is acceptable in social science research (Naing et al, 2006). However, if there is a resource limitation, investigators or researcher may use a larger e. In case of a preliminary study, investigators may use a larger e (e.g. >10%) (Naing et al, 2006). Then from

the above formula the sample size which was obtained was 80. From the P value of 106 farmers who are inside the scheme. The same numbers of respondent where interviewed for those who are outside the irrigation scheme in order to simplify the process of comparing their mean with ttest. Because of hardship of obtaining respondent simple random sampling procedure was used. 3.5.1.3 Questionnaire administration The questionnaire was administered by the researcher with help of three enumerators who were selected based on their experience in data collection of previous researches which were conducted in mkindo and Dakawa. Their names are Mr. Juma from mkindo farmers straining school, Mr. Kimosa who was the former chairman of mkindo farmer managed irrigation scheme and Mr. Gabriel Ngoi who was a messenger at Dakawa ward office. The enumerators were initially told about the objectives of the research and trained before conducting the survey how to ask and record answers. At the end of every day the team would meet to discuss the discovered problem during the survey and then find out the solution to the observed problem. The interviews were conducted in Swahili. 3.5.2 Secondary data The secondary data were obtained from the former chairman of mkindo farmer managed irrigation scheme Mr. Moses Kimosa. The type of data obtained were the production cost, total yield of every farmer in the scheme since the TASAF finished the rehabilitation of the scheme, the number of farmers in the scheme and initial investment cost contributed by TASAF and farmers to the project. 3.6 Data analysis Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making.

Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, in different business, science, and social science domains.