Browsing by Author "Mmasa, Joel Johnson"

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Economic analysis of honey production and marketing in Hai district, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2007) Mmasa, Joel Johnson
The objective of the study was to analyze economic factors that affect honey production and marketing in Hai District. Specific objectives were (i) to analyse profitability of honey production (ii) to assess efficiency of honey marketing and role-played by various market participants (iii) to evaluate contribution of beekeeping to household income and (iv) suggest intervention strategies to improve the existing situation. A cross sectional research design was adopted, the sample size of 80 respondents obtained through both simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods for data analysis in order to address the objectives of the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 11.5 was used to analyze the data. The results of the study show that beekeeping is a household viable enterprise. Beekeepers owned on average 1-30 beehives and earned Tshs 37 850 as gross profit per one beehive. It was also observed that 84% of the sampled beekeepers didn’t process honey into other valuable forms including wax. Processed honey and waxes earn more income compared to raw honey by about 30% higher. Constraints to honey and beeswax production as identified by respondents include: insects, legal access to forest reserve and drought as identified by 24.4%, 22.3% and 16.4% of the sample beekeepers respectively. Marketing constraints identified were low prices of honey (83.4% of the sampled beekeepers) and no strong market for honey products (16.6% of the sampled beekeepers). From this study it is concluded that beekeeping enterprise contributes to household cash income of Tshs 10 000-221 000 per year with a mean of Tshs 215 659 and it was seen that the contribution of beekeeping sector to the household income is significant. Meaningful interventions to enhance the competitiveness of the value chain should start with organizing the players, letting them build a platform to interact addressing key chain issues. Any organization already involved in the establishing a supply chain of honey should be fully supported by all stakeholders. On the overall, despite its potential, it has failed to attract investment and therefore has remained at subsistence level. Government at all level and CSOs need to join efforts to commercialize the sector. Whatever efforts we do, market is the determining factor, e.g. why improve quality if the market is not ready to pay an extra cost for quality products? Since entry into export market requires strict quality products, let us develop the local market, which shall form the springboard for exports.
Market potential for processed sweet potato products in Tanzania: a case of Coast, Mwanza and Shinyanga Regions
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2014) Mmasa, Joel Johnson
Prices of sweet potato had drastically dropped due to its glut in the market during harvesting season. This lead to stumpy margin revenues to famers as compared to production costs. Hence solution to help farmers earn more is to add value to the produce in Tanzania. The objective of the study was to investigate and create awareness on the sweet potato processed products marketing potential in the smallholder production system. Specifically the study sought (i) to characterize and describe the sweet potato value chain (ii) to estimate market analysis for sweet potato processed products (iii) to analyse social economic factors affecting consumption of various processed sweet potato products and (iv) to analyses social economic factors influences farmer’s profitability. The study used cross-sectional research design combining both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It employed Regression analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Market Potential Analysis, Profit Margin Analysis and Market Margin Analysis. The findings revealed that overall chain for sweet potato was characterized by low value addition, informal marketing system and poor coordination. Likewise, nutritional value and packaging were among a factor that influences the decision of consumers towards purchasing the products. Furthermore, results found that there was significant mean different in profit margin among actors in the chain at p < 0.01. Similarly, farmer’s profit margin was statistically significant different from the wholesaler’s profit margin at p < 0.01. The empirical data also suggested that variables included in the model explained about 64% of the variations in the dependent variable, hence farm gate price, occupation of the household and education level were statistically significant at p < 0.01. The industry still faces a number of developmental challenges, the most serious are chronic shortage of improved vines (33.1%), lack of capital (26.8%) and unpredicted weather (20.6%). Value addition approach is now a systematic focus of research and to support development of value chain for neglected crops like sweet potato. Hence, it is important to enforce of existing laws and regulations by creating enabling environment for the crop, to strengthen both vertical and horizontal coordination and build capacity to farmers in handling, preservation and processing.