Examining the institutional framework of the inputs supply chain under national agriculture input voucher scheme in selected Districts of Tanzania

The Degree of Master of Science in Agricultural Education and Extension

The NAIVS has been in operation since 2008/09; however there is lack of empirical evidence on the efficiency of the institutional framework. So the study was conducted to examine the institutional framework of the inputs supply chain under NAIVS in selected districts of Tanzania. Multistage sampling was employed in the selection of districts and wards; the purposive sampling technique was used in selection of villages based on accessibility. While simple random sampling was employed to select 300 respondents in all districts, a cross-sectional design survey was used and data were collected using structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were coded, entered in computer and statistically analyzed using The Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) while qualitative data were summarized and analyzed manually. Based on NAIVS implementation the study identified a number of problems that were facing farmers including delay of subsidy inputs, inadequate number of vouchers, bureaucracy as well as lack of transparency, increased rate of top up amount to more than 50% of the total cost and poor service of extension that led to majority of the farm households to have neither the neutral nor negative perception on NAIVS. From this study it is recommended that, policy makers should redesign the institutional framework to reduce bureaucracy as well as to improve transparency for the purpose of increased performance. Policy makers should support the government to increase the budget on subsidy to increase number of vouchers and to harmonize the time of input distribution. The MAFC should improve working environment to extension staff as well as extension services.

EPINAV programme under Supply Chain Analysis of Agricultural Inputs project