Impact of tobacco curing on the environment andsocio-economic aspects in the Urambo District
Loading...
Date
2021-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
NM-AIST
Abstract
Despite the efforts that have been employed to reduce tobacco curing related deforestation in
many countries including Tanzania. The economic importance of tobacco production on
employment creation and foreign exchange makes production continue to increase which
increases the demand for wood fuel that results in deforestation. This study assessed the impact
of the tobacco curing process on the environment and socio-economic aspects. This was
achieved through a structured questionnaire and Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC)
assessments. A cross-sectional study design was adopted whereby structured questionnaires
were administered to 892 respondents who are tobacco farmers from nine Primary Tobacco
Farmer Cooperatives in the Urambo district. Structured questionnaires’ data were analyzed
using Microsoft Excel to determine the Cost-Benefit Analysis then subjected to SPSS for
descriptive statistics. In addition, SFC data were employed to estimate annual woodland area
cleared, carbon emission, and carbon dioxide hindered from sequestration. The results show
that 95% of all tobacco farmers have been harvesting wood fuel from forest woodland. This
caused tobacco related-deforestation of 6355.47 ha in 2018/19 that hindered 6 3554.73 tons of
atmospheric carbon dioxide from sequestration. Also, the emission of 3 3366.24 tons of carbon
dioxide was recorded during the curing process. Rocket barn version 2 (RB2) and traditional
barn (TB) were observed to have higher net revenue compared to rocket barn version 3 (RB3)
and standard barn (SB). For this reason, rocket barn and traditional barn are more preferred
than rocket barn and standard barn. The findings also revealed the social aspects associated
with tobacco curing including labor intensity and food insecurity. Based on these findings, it
is recommended that to improve the sustainability of tobacco farming, alternative and
affordable tobacco curing technologies should be instantly developed to replace wood fuel that
poses problems of environmental degradation.
Sustainable Development Goals
A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master’s in Environmental Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African
Institution of Science and Technology