Determinants for Post-Harvest Losses in Maize Production for Small Holder Farmers in Tanzania

Abstract

Maize is a major staple crop produced and consumed by the majority population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Tanzania being part of SSA, it has been ranked 19 top maize producing countries in the world and the first in East Africa. However, for the past 10 years, maize production in Tanzania has been increasing year to year ranging from 3.3 Metric tons in 2005/06 to 5.4 MT in 2013/14. Despite the steady production of maize over the past ten years, post-harvest losses of maize remained the highest, up to 20-40 % in some of rural areas. In this respect, the main objective of the current study was to assess the factors affecting the amount of Post-harvest Losses (PHL) of maize in Mbozi and Kongwa districts of Tanzania. The structured and semi-structure questionnaires were used in collecting the primary data from 240 randomly selected smallholder farmers. The Tobit model was used in assessing factors affecting PHL and the results indicate that, education level, family size, quantity of maize production, market experiences, type of storage facilities, bad weather condition, distance to the market and number of livestock were found to have a significant effect on the quantity of maize post-harvest losses. Therefore, it is recommended that, provision of up-to-date storage facilities and post-harvest handling tools such as hermetic storage and combined harvesters be encouraged. This could reduce the amount of post-harvest losses in maize production and thus contribute to food security and poverty reduction.