Determinants of derived demand for improved maize seeds in rural mainland Tanzania

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS OF SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE. MOROGORO, TANZANIA. 2017

Despite various efforts by international non-governmental, local public and private institutions towards the research and development of improved crop technologies, the use of improved seeds in Tanzania is still low hence low agricultural productivity among smallholder farmers. The general objective for this study was to identify the most preferred improved maize seed varieties and the determinants for the demand for those improved seeds in rural mainland Tanzania so as to suggest measures which could be used to enhance their use in the country. Given that, maize seed industry in Tanzania is one of the major staple crop industries, the present study therefore specifically focused on identifying the most preferred improved maize seed varieties and also the determinants of improved maize seed demand in rural mainland Tanzania. The present study specified and estimated improved maize seed adoption and demand model simultaneously using the national panel survey data for 2012-13-crop season. The survey covered 3 265 households as representative at the national, urban/rural, and major agro-ecological zones but for the case of this study rural mainland households were the main focus. Therefore, 2 124 rural mainland households were the sample size for this study. Results show that KITO, PAN 6195, PAN 6549, SC 621, SC 627, SC 713, SITUKA 2, SITUKA-M1, STAHA, KILIMA, DK 8071 and KATUMANI, SITUKA-M1, TMV2 were the most preferred improved maize varieties across agro-ecological zones. Furthermore, the results suggest that distance to the market, farm size (adoption rate), and credit access and household size significantly influence farmer’s seed purchase decisions. Therefore, joint estimation of technology adoption and seed demand provides holistic methodology to identification of relevant factors that determine seed uptake at the farm level. It’s recommended that, private companies should consider investing more in agricultural extension services given a limited government extension services. Furthermore, it’s recommended that seed companies should ensure seed availability at locations nearer to the farmers so as to improve adoption rate and subsequent seed demand.