Improving Community Livelihoods through Improved Cassava Production for Matanzi Village Community in Mkuranga District, Coast Region

A dissertation on Improving Community livelihood through improved cassava production is a result of the Community Needs Assessments (CNA) conducted in Matanzi village in Mkuranga district. The Project Goal is enhancement of living standard of Matanzi village community at household level by raising income, employment opportunities, and food security through improved cassava production. CNA results revealed that Matanzi community earn low income due to low yield of cassava crop. Cassava low yield is caused by poor agriculture’s practices such as poor spacing, poor disease control, small areas/plots of cultivation and lack of reliable market for agricultural product. Matanzi village community have resources but they are not empowered to utilize their resources and available opportunities for their social economic development. Using a participatory method, four objectives were set; To sensitize and train 55 head of households on improved cassava production techniques, Raise cultivated area from less than 1ha per household to 2 ha per household by the January 2016, Controlling Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) by March 2016 and To instruct cassava best practice to Heads of households and reliable to the Market by June 2016. The Community Needs Assessment was carried by using participatory methodologies such as Focused Group Discussions, Interview and Observations. Research tools used are Questions, Discussion Guide, and Interview guide, came out with five major community needs which needed to be urgently addressed