Ecological Organic Agriculture in Africa: Researches done from 2002 to 2012 on Ecological Organic Agriculture in Tanzania

Summary

A research was carried out to identify research works done from 2002 to 2012 on ecological organic agriculture in Tanzania. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved. Ecological organic agriculture draws on agro-ecology that is the science of applying ecological concepts and principles to design and manage ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions. There was a problem of identifying various researches done in organic agriculture, hence difficult to know the gap on research works related to ecological organic agriculture. Therefore, this work aimed at identifying research works done on ecological organic agriculture in Tanzania since 2002 by gender in different disciplines in agriculture. Methods used include: i) direct visit to the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives in the Directorate of Research and Development, Agriculture Research Institutes, Universities and None Governmental Organizations; ii) Internet or online searching. The abstracts and project reports collected were those related to ecological organic agriculture only. The abstracts collected were analysed basing on gender and research themes covered. 100 abstracts were collected, 81% of corresponding authors were male. About 43% were soil fertility research works while the least researches are in marketing and value addition only 2%. Some of research works were still in progress reports, not yet published, conventional based (not organic agriculture). Researchers should be communicating their findings to many stakeholders. Researchers to include the component of ecological organic agriculture in their research plans.