Factors affecting access to agricultural inputs among smallholder tobacco farmers in Kahama district, Tanzania

Abstract

Appropriate application of agricultural inputs plays a significant role in offsetting the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture including in tobacco production. Use of agricultural inputs has been reported to improve quantity, quality and market value of tobacco worldwide. In view of that, this study was undertaken to assess the factors affecting access to agricultural inputs among tobacco smallholder farmers in Kahama District. Additionally, the study determined the effects of inputs applications on tobacco production. The interview method using structured questionnaires was employed to collect primary data from a sample of 180 tobacco smallholder farmers obtained through random sampling. The data were analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that 77.2% of smallholder farmers had an access to agricultural inputs while 22.8% did not. Access to these agricultural inputs was through Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) (100.0 %), fellow farmers (68.3%), and agro-input dealers (48.2%). Furthermore, findings showed that price (p=0.029), AMCOS membership (p=0.000), awareness (p=0.045), frequency of usage (p=0.000), credit accessibility (p=0.012) and farm size (p=0.048) were the significant factors that influenced smallholder farmers to access agricultural inputs. Moreover, the effects of agricultural inputs applications on tobacco production were; increase of tobacco leaf size (100.0%), resilience to pests and disease (97.3%), quality of produced tobacco (91.3%) and amount of produce (80.6%). The study concludes that most farmers have access to agricultural inputs, and that access is influenced by a number of important factors. There are several ways that inputs impact tobacco production. The study strongly suggests that in order to improve accessibility and input usage, farmers should be encouraged to join AMCOS and get access to credit.