Changalima, Zainabu Bakari. Factors affecting farmers on the use of rice varieties in Kilombero District, Morogoro Region, Tanzania. Master's Degree(Tropical Agriculture). Kasetsart University. Office of the University Library. : Kasetsart University, 2019.
Factors affecting farmers on the use of rice varieties in Kilombero District, Morogoro Region, Tanzania
Abstract:
Agriculture is an important sector of Tanzanian economy in terms of food production, employment provision, production of raw materials for industries, and generation of foreign exchange earnings. A farmers selection of the best variety for rice production is the most important step for increasing crop productivity. Less use of high yielding varieties amongst farmers in Tanzania has been identified as one of the main reasons for the low agricultural productivity in the country. Rice as the second staple and commercial crop after corn, apart for the rice being important crop inside and outside the country yield of rice per hectare for most of farmers is insignificant. The study was conducted to examine the effects of basic demographic characteristics, social, economic and institutional factors affecting farmers on use of rice varieties. This research was conducted in six villages of Kilombero district, Morogoro region, Tanzania. A cross sectional design was used to collect quantitative data, a total of 338 respondents were interviewed using interview schedule. The data were coded and analyzed using the SPSS version 21 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) statistical package. The descriptive statistic such as the mean, frequency and percentage were used to determine the distributions of the study variables, while the Chi-square test was used to test hypotheses. The results of the study revealed that basic demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education level, and marital status has no direct relationship with the use of rice varieties. The farming experience indicated that less experienced farmers are more likely to try new technology compared to long experienced farmers. Furthermore, the results showed that yield harvested, total rice revenue, off- farm income, access to credit, reliable market for the product, and price of rice significantly affected farmers decision to use high yielding rice varieties.
Kasetsart University. Office of the University Library