The influence of agro-dealers on farmers’ use of agricultural inputs in Kilombero District
Loading...
Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
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
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Agro-dealers, Agricultural inputs, Pesticides, Kilombero District