Socio-economic effects of schistosomiasis on irrigation rice growers in Morogoro, Tanzania

American Journal of Experimental Agriculture 2012, Vol. 2(3): pp395-406,Aims: To assess Socio-economic effects of schistosomiasis on irrigation rice farmers in Modern, Improved traditional and Traditional irrigation schemes in Morogoro Region. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Mkindo (improved traditional) in Mvomero district, and Mwega (Modern) and Chabi (Traditional) in Kilosa District, between March and April 2010. Methodology: In each scheme we used 40 farmers practicing irrigation rice farming. Between-scheme differences for infected farmers were tested using one way-ANOVA, and t-test for differences between infected and non-infected farmers within and irrespective of schemes. Results: Over 60% of all farmers surveyed reported to have had suffered from schistosomiasis, with traditional scheme exhibiting the highest number. Differences in financial expenditures on treatment and care were detected between improved traditional and traditional (P<0.001), and improved traditional and modern (p=0.014). Similarly, hours spent on treatment and care differed between improved traditional and traditional (p=0.001) and between traditional and modern (p=0.028). Additionally, net working hours per month differed between traditional and improved traditional (p=0.002) and between traditional and modern (p=0.056). Contrary, only net working hours per month differed between infected and non-infected farmers within traditional (p=0.003) and modern (p=0.001) before and after converting hours spent on caring of oneself/other family members into monetary cost. The same variable exhibited significant difference all schemes pooled together (p