Browsing by Author "Ngissa, Sitta Ephraim Shimba"

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Small- scale horticultural production and household income in the peri-urban areas of mvvanza city – Tanzania
(Sokoine Univesiry of Agriculture, 2003) Ngissa, Sitta Ephraim Shimba
In many developing countries, Tanzania inclusive, the contribution of small-scale horticultural production at household and in the national economy is unknown. The output of the gardening sectors in developing countries is neither expressed in quantitative monetary equivalent terms, nor recognized as a significant contributor to household economies. This study seeks to determine the contribution of horticultural production in the promotion of income generation among the small-scale horticultural producers so as to show its economic contribution in comparison with other household’s sources of income. In year 2001 a study was conducted in Mwanza peri-urban areas to investigate the contribution of horticultural products to the household income. The study covered a total of 134 horticultural growers from 5 villages of Mwanza peri-urban. All of 134 respondents were sampled from 400 vegetable producers who were the beneficiaries of Mwanza Smallholder Horticultural Development Project - MSHDP also engaging in other economic activities. The results showed that horticulture growers are among the higher income earners in comparison with other agricultural cultivators of other crops such as cotton, cassava, maize and rice. About 19 per cent earned an income that ranged between Tshs. 300 001 -- 500 000 and 8.2% gained between Tshs. 500 001- 700 000 per year. In general, the income variation among the surveyed villages are very insignificant because the villages are located in the same kind of environment of Mwanza greenbelt. In other non- horticultural production, the study revealed that the income performance was very poor because 34.3 % of producers earned income that was less than Tshs. 100 000 and only 4.5% earned income between Tshs. 300 001 - 500 000 per horticultural grower. Also the survey revealed that more than 80% of the horticultural growers used their plots for cultivating cabbage and tomato. Furthermore the study shows that horticultural production created 1930 employment opportunities. The survey indicated that 52.2% of the farmers sold their produce to the city wholesale market and itinerary vendors. Therefore horticultural production is a chief contributor to the household as well as the national income in Mwanza peri-urban areas. Horticultural production is one of the industries, which employ people almost throughout the year in the agricultural sector than any other field of agricultural crops production in Mwanza region. It is high time economic and social development planners and policy makers recognized that horticultural production is one of the pillars of the household and national economy. What is needed is to make use of its potential value for which agricultural research and development programmes have overlooked for a long time.