The role of agricultural extension in improving vegetable production for the new market in Meru district, Tanzania
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Awareness and skills that address the needs of improving production practices that
incorporate Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and good manufacturing practices (GMP)
arc essential to help producers ensure the safety of their produce and it is through
agricultural extension this will be made possible. To diagnose whether this is done, a study
on roles of agricultural extension in improving vegetable production for the new market in
Meru District, Arusha region was conducted. The specific objectives of the study were to
determine perception of vegetable producers towards different agricultural extension
services in the study area, to examine vegetable producers’ agricultural extension needs in
the study area and to examine the types of extension services offered to vegetable
producers in the study area where a cross-sectional study design was employed.
The study utilized a structured questionnaire used to interview 120 vegetable producing
farmers in different parts of the district on the extension services they were provided with
at different times of vegetable production. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
was used to analyze data where frequencies and percentages were calculated. Also cross
tabulation was used to examine the relationship between variables where Pearson Chi
square was used.
Results of the study indicated that, very few farmers got extension services during
preparation to production, production and during marketing of vegetables respectively that
is 10%, 37.5% and 5%. Also it was observed that the main reason given for not getting
extension services were lack of extension agents (60%). Also, only 25% of respondents
were members of farmers’ groups. As a result, only 40% farmers managed to meet
vegetable market standards. Most of the interviewed farmers were married (90%) with
primary school education (62.5%). It was observed that extension services at different times of production had a positive contribution to the amount of vegetables produced.
Therefore, efforts should be made to make sure that every village should have extension
agents with all supportive logistics such as transport facilities and housing to serve farmers.
Description
Master's Theses
Keywords
Agricultural extension, Vegetable production, Market, Meru district, Tanzania