Kerstin Schopp on the evaluation of Tanzanian smallholder farmers’ attitudes toward nature

2024

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This paper aims to identify and analyze Tanzanian smallholder farmers’ attitudes toward nature. The field was approached with a combined method, a content analysis of a body of literature and a qualitative study with smallholder farmers as well as their representatives. The literature analysis revealed three different types of evaluative attitudes toward nature in texts representing smallholder farmers’ opinions and values, and the issues affecting them. These include the Human benefit type, the Sustainable society type, and the Harmony type. The results show that there is a discrepancy among the literature analysis, the answers of smallholder farmers, and those of their representatives. The Harmony type is not mentioned in the answers of the smallholder farmers themselves and is only marginally in those of their representatives but is present in the literature. This finding is discussed from the perspective of the rights of nature as an entry point.