Access and use of agricultural market information by smallholder farmers: measuring informational capabilities
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Abstract
While farmers sell their crops, middlemen provide a linkage between them, markets
and buyers. Middlemen have good knowledge of working conditions of markets and
have access to agricultural market information. Due to poor access to markets and
agricultural market information by smallholders, there is a feeling that middlemen
benefit more while farmers sell their crops. Good access to markets and market infor-
mation may help farmers bypass middlemen while selling crops and thus benefit
more. Thus, it is best to improve the informational capabilities (ICs) of farmers in agri-
cultural marketing. Thus, this research measured ICs of farmers accessing market
information, through a program NINAYO, while selling their crops. The research uti-
lized the informational, psychological, social, and economic dimensions of the
empowerment framework in identifying capability indicators to formulate survey
questions. Data were collected from smallholders in six regions in Tanzania. The anal-
ysis utilized measures of life satisfaction and results showed that about half of the
variation in the dependent variable, satisfaction with capabilities, was explained by
the model. Backward elimination analysis confirmed that life satisfaction is multi-
dimensional. Robustness test confirmed a positive relationship between satisfaction
and capabilities. Overall, results confirmed ICs are multidimensions, their improve-
ment empowers farmers in agricultural marketing.
Description
Journal Articel
Keywords
Agricultural market information, Capability approach, Information and communication technologies, Informational capabilities, life satisfaction, Smallholder farmers