Socioeconomic and agronomic factors influencing vegetable production in rural wards in Tabora Municipality Tanzania
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Date
2025-02-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SCIENCEDOMAIN international
Abstract
The productivity of Tabora Municipality's small-scale vegetable producers is hampered by lack of
understanding of market dynamics and agricultural practices. The purpose of this paper was to
investigate aspects affecting the production and evaluate farmers' understanding of vegetable
growing. A survey was carried out in Ndevelwa, Misha and Kabila Wards. The findings showed that
90% of the respondents agreed that soil fertility and quality were important factors to consider for growing vegetables. Four-fifths (80%), 75% and 77.5% of the respondents in Ndevelwa, Misha and
Kabila Wards, respectively, followed suggested agronomic practices. Proper seed selection (51.7%)
and watering (65%) were mentioned as important factors that affected vegetable production. Nine in
ten (90%) of the respondents in Ndevelwa, 97.5% in Misha and 82.5% in Kabila reported to have
access to agricultural extension services. Nevertheless, 60.0% of the respondents in Kabila said
that the quality of the services was poor. Regarding marketing, 87.5% of the respondents looked for
market pricing trends, and 99.2% of the respondents had access to market data. The commonest
routes were local market places (60.8%) and wholesale (67.5%). About 70% of the respondents
said that they were satisfied with vegetable pricing, and 60.8% of the respondents cited high costs
as a result of supply not keeping up with demand. Agronomic practices, farm size, gender, marital
status, and price satisfaction were among the important variables that influenced production.
Production was adversely affected by pricing and inadequate extension services. In order to boost
vegetable production in Tabora Municipality, there is a need for addressing gender inequities,
improving extension services, stabilizing market pricing and promoting agronomic practices.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Production factors, Vegetable production, Small-scale farmers, Tabora Municipality
Citation
https://doi.org/10.9734/ajahr/2025/v12i2373