How Global Shocks Affect Small-Scale Farmohlders: A Case Study of Access to and use of Fertiliser in Morogoro, Tanzania

Abstract: The thesis is a qualitative case study on how global shocks, specifically COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, affect small-scale farmholders, and their use of and access to, fertiliser. The study aims to explore how the global affects the local, and what factors may ameliorate or exacerbate farmholders’ situation. The study was conducted through fieldwork in rural Morogoro, Tanzania and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with rural small-scale farmholders. Inductive thematic coding was used when analysing the data, to allow the data to identify common themes throughout the interviews. The field study was conducted from January to March 2023, and aimed at identifying and understanding what factors affected farmholders' use of fertiliser, and how their access to them had changed. PESTEL was used to create a contextual analysis, which was used to analyse the findings of the study. The study found that fertiliser access and use had both been negatively affected, and that mitigation strategies were lacking. Lastly, the thesis highlights the importance of further research on the subject, and recommends possible scopes of future studies.