Browsing by Author "Johannes, Richard"

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The influence of agro-dealers on farmers’ use of agricultural inputs in Kilombero District
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2014) Johannes, Richard
Agro-dealers, the retail distributors of agricultural inputs such as seeds, equipment, pesticides, and fertilizers have an important role in raising agricultural productivity of rural households. This study examines the influence of agro-dealers on farmers’ use of improved agricultural inputs. Specifically, the study aimed at; identifying methods used by agro-dealers in stimulating agricultural input use among farmers, examining the effectiveness of agro-dealers in service provision to farmers in the study area and determining factors influencing farmers’ use of inputs in Kilombero District. The study adopted cross-sectional research design whereby data were collected from 100 randomly selected respondents from Ifakara, Kiberege and Kisawasawa villages using a structured questionnaire. The villages were purposively selected. In addition, in-depth interviews were also conducted with agro-dealers to determine how they were influencing households’ use of improved inputs. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS whereby descriptive statistics were determined. A logistic regression model was also used to determine factors influencing farm households’ use of improved agricultural inputs. Results show that, provision of credit by agro-dealers, the number of agro-dealers and provision of extension services by the same had a likelihood of influencing a household’s purchase and use of improved inputs. The time required to reach the agro-shop also influenced use of inputs (fertilizer). Based on these findings, it is suggested that for effective uptake of technology by farmers, agro-dealers need to be well equipped with knowledge of the agricultural inputs they sell to farm households as well as having entrepreneurial skills that may increase their sales and raise uptake of technologies to farmers