Effects of Adoption of Improved Seeds and Fertilizers on Household Welfare: The Case of Smallholder Maize and Pigeon Pea Farmers in Tanzania

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the economic effects of agricultural technologies practices on maize and pigeon pea productivity in Babati district, Tanzania. The study utilized cross section data collected from a random sample of 500 maize and pigeon pea farmer households in Babati district. The data were collected through face to face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study used descriptive statistics to analyse proportion of the smallholder farmer's uses four agricultural technology practices in the study area. In this study, an adopter of agricultural technology was defined as the farmer household using at least 50% of the technology package including at least one improved crop variety and one type of fertilizer. With respect to the individual technology practices/components, it had been found that improved maize seed and organic fertilizers were used by 98.90% and 69.90% respectively, followed by pigeon pea adopted at the level of 68.40%. Contrary to that adoption of agro-chemical had been found with low adoption by individual farmers. The results further revealed that the most common sources of technology packages are from local traders/organization reported by about86.64%.  The study used a two-sample independent t-test to quantify the effects of adoption of agricultural technologies on farm productivity, farm income, household per capita expenditure and household food security as the indicators for household welfare. The results showed that adoption of improved agricultural technology can generate sizeable gains in maize and pigeon peas yields and increase household per capita consumption and food security status of adopting households in the study area. Moreover, results revealed that the average yield of maize and pigeon pea for adopters were 2,831.75kg/acres and 278.99kg/acres, respectively, compared to 1,906.28kg/acres and 151.76kg/acres for non-adopters in that order. This represents a yield gain of about 48.55% for maize and 83.83% for pigeon peas due to adoption of agricultural technologies. The household per capita expenditure was estimated at Tsh274, 134.04 for adopting households compared to Tsh184, 512.98 for non-adopting household; indicating 48.57% gain in purchasing power. Furthermore, the results show that mean calorie was higher among adopters (2,873.06 Kcal) compared to (2,387.08Kcal) for non-adopters; indicating 20.36% improved household food security of the adopting household. Findings from this study show that adoption of improved crop varieties and fertilizers can increase welfare of smallholder farmers in Tanzania. Efforts to promote adoption of agricultural technologies should focus on enhancement of farmer-awareness of the soil fertility management technologies; economic and other benefits such as livelihoods and living conditions. Similarly, the Government can increase access to improved agricultural technologies through subsidies on agricultural inputs.