ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Climate-Smart Food Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicConservation Agriculture For Food Security And Climate ResilienceView all 14 articles
Enhancing Climate Resilience of Smallholder Farmers through Conservation Agriculture in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania
Provisionally accepted
Adolph Katunzi1*
Ndabhemeye Mlengera1
Marco Mng'Ong'O2Benedictor Mwamlima3Baraka Mvile1Johnson Mtama1Revina Lukasumbusa1- 1Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI Uyole), Mbeya, Mbeya, Tanzania
- 2Mbeya University of Science and Technology, Mbeya, Tanzania
- 3Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA), Mbeya, Tanzania
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Conservation Agriculture (CA) offers a promising pathway for enhancing climate resilience and productivity among smallholder farmers in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. This study assessed how farmers in Mbeya region and surrounding areas use CA practices to adapt to climate change and variability between 2015 and 2024. Temperature and rainfall data were analyzed alongside on-station and on-farm CA trials. Results showed a warming trend (0.040°C/year for maximum and 0.026°C/year for minimum temperatures) and variable rainfall patterns (903.9–1518.7 mm annually). In 2021, the maize yields under planting basins (8.5 t/ha) outperformed no-till (6.2 t/ha) and conventional ox-ploughing (6.0 t/ha). CA practices reduced production costs and increased profit margins for maize (USD 526.9 vs. 176.6) and beans (USD 917.4 vs. 376.3). Despite increased adoption of minimum tillage and residue retention, barriers included residue burning, crop-livestock competition, and limited access to inputs. Findings underscore CA's role in sustainable intensification and call for policy support, tailored extension, and institutional coordination to scale CA for climate-smart intervention in farming systems.
Keywords: conservation agriculture, Smallholder farmer, climate change and variability, Southern Highlandsof Tanzania, Consensus discussion
Received: 15 Sep 2025; Accepted: 05 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Katunzi, Mlengera, Mng'Ong'O, Mwamlima, Mvile, Mtama and Lukasumbusa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Adolph Katunzi, bugaiga@gmail.com
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