Socio-economic factors influencing the use of grain storage methods in morogoro region
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Date
1996
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the socio-economic factors influencing the use of different grain storage methods in Morogoro region.
The study concentrated on maize and beans, which are the grains for which
proper post-harvest storage is most important in Morogoro region. The
study was undertaken in Morogoro rural and Kilosa districts. Morogoro
district is situated in the highlands while Kilosa is situated in the lowlands. It was hypothesized that choice of grain storage methods is independent of socio-economic factors. Data were collected using two types of structured questionnaires. One was for the farmers who grew maize and beans, the other was for the extension workers. Out of 130 households sampled, 120 were farmers while 10 were extension agents. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for data analysis. It was found that various traditional and modern systems for grain storage are used in the region. These included; (a) Modern systems such as insecticides,
(b) Traditional systems, such as storage structures and locally available
materials. The differences in the storage systems between the highlands
and the lowlands was in principle due to their differences in agro-ecological
conditions. Visits by extension agents had a strong association with the use
of either improved traditional storage structures, or insecticides. This was particularly so for the case of maize. Extension agents visits were also trongly associated with the use of modern chemicals especially for beans
storage. In general, modern methods are a result of farmer advancement in
techniques. However there are significant cases of improvisation i.e using
traditional structures with modern chemicals. It is recommended that: For the farmers who adopt the use of insecticides, the traditional storage
structures such as 'Kilindo', 'Kihenge,' etc. can be used instead of the
sacks which were reported to be vulnerable to insect infestation. Further
research is needed to investigate effectiveness of different local materials
such as ash, tree leaves, and tobacco leaves, and also the residual effect to
the consumers. Advancement of crop storage and hence household and the
economies food security can be significantly improved by farmer education.
Extension services have proved to be influential, and hence need to be
strengthened. The focus should be in (a) educating more extension workers
b) strengthening agricultural extension services - research centers linkages.
c) Extension workers should closely supervise the farmers on the use of
insecticides for food grain storage, (d) Extension workers should advocate
specific innovations which suit specific agro-ecological conditions, (e)
Economists should investigate
economically more viable and compatible to the farmers' environment.
which types of storage practices are economically more viable and compatible to the farmers' environment.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Grain storage, Maize, Beans storsge