Workshop data

Last updated on 2024-03-26 | Edit this page

All of the social science lessons use the same data set throughout. The data is tabular (rows and columns), similar in structure to what you might have in a spreadsheet.

The SAFI Teaching Database


Available on FigShare: https://figshare.com/articles/SAFI_Survey_Results/6262019

CITATION: Woodhouse, Philip; Veldwisch, Gert Jan; Brockington, Daniel; Komakech, Hans C.; Manjichi, Angela; Venot, Jean-Philippe (2018): SAFI Survey Results. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.6262019.v1

SAFI (Studying African Farmer-Led Irrigation) is a currently running project which is looking at farming and irrigation methods. This is survey data relating to households and agriculture in Tanzania and Mozambique. The survey data was collected through interviews conducted between November 2016 and June 2017 using forms downloaded to Android Smartphones. The survey forms were created using the ODK (Open Data Kit) software via an Excel spreadsheet. The collected data is then sent back to a central server. The server can be used to download the collected data in both JSON and CSV formats. This is a teaching version of the collected data that we will be using. It is not the full dataset.

The survey covered such things as; household features (e.g. construction materials used, number of household members), agricultural practices (e.g. water usage), assets (e.g. number and types of livestock) and details about the household members.

The basic teaching dataset used in these lessons is a JSON formatted dataset which is used directly in the Python lesson. For the other lessons a subset of the JSON dataset is used and has been converted into CSV format.

The individual fields and the survey questions asked to produce the data in the CSV formatted version are given below. We will only reference a subset of the fields in the lessons.

column_name description
key_id Added to provide a unique Id for each observation. (The InstanceID field does this as well but it is not as convenient to use)
interview_date Date of interview
quest_no Questionnaire number
start Timestamp of start of interview
end Timestamp of end of interview
province Province name
district District name
ward Ward name
village Village name
years_farm Number of years the household have been farming in this area
agr_assoc Does the head of the household belong to an agricultural association?
no_membrs How many members in the household?
_members_count Internal count of members
remittance_money Is there any financial assistance from family members not living on the farm
years_liv How many years have you been living in this village or neighboring village?
parents_liv Did your parents live in this village or neighboring village?
sp_parents_liv Did your spouse’s parents live in this village or neighbouring village?
grand_liv Did your grandparents live in this village or neighbouring village?
sp_grand_liv Did your spouse’s grandparents live in this village or neighbouring village?
respondent_roof_type What type of roof does their house have?
respondent_wall_type What type of walls does their house have (from list)
respondent_wall_type_other What type of walls does their house have (not on list)
respondent_floor_type What type of floor does their house have
window_type Does the house have glass in at least one window?
buildings_in_compound How many buildings are in the compound? Do not include stores, toilets or temporary structures.
rooms How many rooms in the main house are used for sleeping?
other_buildings Does the DU own any other buildings other than those on this plot
no_plots How many plots were cultivated in the last 12 months?
plots_count Internal count of plots
water_use Do you bring water to your fields, stop water leaving your fields or drain water out of any of your fields?
no_group_count How many plots are irrigated?
yes_group_count How many plots are not irrigated?
no_enough_water Are there months when you cannot get enough water for your crops? Indicate which months.
months_no_water Please select the months
period_use For how long have you been using these methods of watering crops? (years)
exper_other Do you have experience of such methods on other farms?
other_meth Have you used other methods before?
res_change Why did you change the way of watering your crops?
memb_assoc Are you a member of an irrigation association?
resp_assoc Do you have responsibilities in that association?
fees_water Do you pay fees to use water?
affect_conflicts Have you been affected by conflicts with other irrigators in the area?
need_money If you started or changed the way you water your crops recently, did you need any money for it?
money_source Where did the money came from? (list)
money_source_other Where did the money came from? (not on list)
crops_contr Considering fields where you have applied water, how much do those crops contribute to your overall income?
emply_lab In the most recent cultivation season, did you employ day labourers on fields?
du_labour In the most recent cultivation season, did anyone in the household undertake day labour work on other farm?
liv_owned What types of livestock do you own? (list)
liv_owned_other What types of livestock do you own? (not on list)
liv_count Livestock count
poultry Own poultry?
du_look_aftr_cows At the present time, does the household look after cows for someone else in return for milk or money?
items_owned Which of the following items are owned by the household? (list)
items_owned_other Which of the following items are owned by the household? (not on list)
no_meals How many meals do people in your household normally eat in a day?
months_lack_food Indicate which months, In the last 12 months have you faced a situation when you did not have enough food to feed the household?
no_food_mitigation When you have faced such a situation what do you do?
gps_Latitude Location latitude (provided by smartphone)
gps_Longitude Location longitude (provided by smartphone)
gps_Altitude Location altitude (provided by smartphone)
gps_Accuracy Location accuracy (provided by smartphone)
instanceID Unique identifier for the form data submission