The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz Social Sciences Master Dissertations 2013 Production and marketing of maize for poverty reduction among smallholder farmers in Namtumbo district Mbawala, Bernard L. The University of Dodoma Mbawala, B. L. (2013). Production and marketing of maize for poverty reduction among smallholder farmers in Namtumbo district. Dodoma: The University of Dodoma http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/1389 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF MAIZE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN NAMTUMBO DISTRICT By Mbawala Bernard Lucas Dissertation Submitted In Partial Fulfilment of The Requirements For The Degree of Master of Arts In Development Studies of the University of Dodoma. The University of Dodoma October, 2013 CERTIFICATION The undersigned certifies that has read and hereby recommends for acceptance by the University of Dodoma a dissertation entitled “Production and Marketing of Maize for Poverty Reduction among smallholder farmers in Namtumbo District” in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Development Studies of the University of Dodoma ……………………………………… Dr. Sinda H. Sinda (Supervisor) Date…………………………… i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, Mbawala Bernard Lucas, hereby declare that, this dissertation is my own original work and that it has not been presented to any other University for a similar or any other degree award. Signature ………………………… No part of this dissertation may be produced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any means without the prior written permission of the author or the department of Development Studies of the University of Dodoma. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank my Almighty God for overall mercy and the breath gift that has enabled me carry my studies healthily and enabled others to strive for my success. This study could not have been accomplished without the assistance of many people. My grateful appreciation is directed to my supervisor Dr.Sinda H. Sinda for his kind fatherly advice, guidance and technical support and assistance from the early stage of the proposal to the report writing. His tolerant personality gave me encouragement to fulfill my work peacefully. May God bless you. I would also like to give my appreciation to Mr. Frank Julius and Mr. Anton Nzali of the St. Augustine University, Songea Centre for their great and memorable support in accomplishing this work. Always they were ready to spend their time giving their advice and passing through my work. I would like to extend my great appreciation to Namtumbo District Executive Director for his permission of conducting this study in the District. Also WEO of Hanga ward, VEO and village chairmen of both villages Hanga and Mlilayoyo respectively for their support of organizing village meetings. Thanks to Manager of NFRA of Songea Zone for his great assistance of providing all necessary statistics from his office. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife Mrs. Agness and my all children for their great tolerance for the whole period of my studies, they missed my services and assistance in the family life, may God bless them all as I was showing the way of the Educational world. I would like to thank all those not mentioned here for their valuable contribution towards this work. May God bless them all, AMEN. iii DEDICATION This Dissertation Thesis is dedicated to my beloved wife Mrs. Agnes for her endurance and great tolerance and burden of taking care of our children in my absence. To my all children Benson, Jackson, Beatrice and Brighton for enduring my long absence. iv ABSTRACT The general objective of this research was to assess the production and marketing of maize for poverty reduction to smallholder farmers in Hanga and Mlilayoyo village in Namtumbo District. The specific objectives included to investigate expenses on major inputs on maize production per acre; to assess the economic relationship between the expenses for agricultural inputs and the output in terms of the value of bags of maize per acre; to identify and analyze maize price setters and decision makers; and to investigate the extent to which maize marketing empower smallholder maize growers to reduce their income poverty. In order to collect data effectively survey method and the following research tools were used: questionnaire, interview, observation and documentation. Among the findings obtained in the study villages were: the majority of the respondents 50 (88.37%) used industrial fertilizer such as CAN UREA, SA etc. At the same time the major sources of finance and credit were self-savings, VICOBA, and SACCOS. The size of farm plots were between 1 and 5 acres per individual farmer and 17 (64%) of the respondents harvested between 3 and 6 bags of maize per acre. On the side of market and price of maize the majority of the respondents 38 (76%) sold their maize to private buyers and very few 7 (13%) sold their maize to NFRA. It was concluded that poor farm mechanization in Mlilayoyo and Hanga villages was the major problem as farmers depended only on hand hoe; and the measurement scales used in maize selling was exploitative, because traditional measurements such as “dumla” lead farmers to poverty. Recommendations included the need to increase the extension services to farmers, to provide education on the importance of farm mechanization to farmers and the prices of inputs should be controlled so as to help farmers to benefit from their maize production. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATION ................................................................................................................................. i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. x LIST OF PLATES ............................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background to the Problem ......................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Research objectives ................................................................................................................... 10 1.4.1 General objective ................................................................................................................... 10 1.4.2 Specific objectives ................................................................................................................. 10 1.4.3 Research questions ............................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Significance of the study.......................................................................................................... 11 1.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................................ 12 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Theoretical Literature Review .................................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 Definition of Key concept and Terms .................................................................................. 12 2.2.2 Theoretical Literature Review ............................................................................................... 14 2.2.2.1 Political Economy Theory and Markets ..........................................................................