Socio-economic assessment of agricultural commercialisation of indigeneous african vegetables: a case study of african eggplant in Arumeru district
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Date
2008
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Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
A study aimed at assessing the socio-economic impact of household’s participation in commercialization African eggplant (solarium aethiopicum) was carried out in four villages in Arumeru district in Tanzania. The study determined the existing extent of commercialization of African eggplant by households, determined and
compared at different levels of commercialization the household members’ time allocation, income levels and ownership by gender, as well as land resource
allocation for different crops. Data were collected by structured questionnaire for individual farmers supplemented by interview checklists for focus group. SPSS
computer programme was used for data analysis. The results showed that: African eggplant growers had significantly higher extents commercialization than non
growers. Time spent by household’s members, income levels and women’s control of income was also higher in African eggplant growers. The average land allocation for
food crops was 0.76 hectares and 0.70 hectares for African eggplant growers and non-growers respectively which is insignificantly different between the two farmers’ categories. Time in hours per day spent by family members for African eggplant growers was 7.64 while for non-growers was 5.2. Moreover, total annual income in
Tanzanian shillings (TShs) of African eggplant growers was 2 449 617 compared to 2 030 767 for non-growers. In case of women’s control of income, there was a slight
difference between the two categories in which for African eggplant growers decision making by both husband and wife was higher. The following policy
implications have been raised: Commercialization of African eggplant should be enhanced notably through improving technologies. Participation of women should be
safeguarded by increased access of women to credit for the short term financing of cash crop productive inputs. Acquiring land for production of African eggplant through renting instead of using land which has been used for production of food crops should be maintained.
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Keywords
Socio-economic, commercialisation, african vegetables, african eggplan, Arumeru district