Micro-level evidence of synergies between extension services and small-scale maize farmers in tanzania: what works, what doesn’t work and why?

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Date

2022

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Volume Title

Publisher

Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU)

Abstract

The article investigates synergies that exist between extension services and small-scale maize farmers for enabling them to cope with climate variability and increase yields in Magu District, Tanzania. The article adopts agricultural extension theory of the Ecological Knowledge System (EKS) that hypothesizes on transferring knowledge and skills to farmers. A cross-sectional research design was applied to collect data. The target population was maize small-scale farmers and the sample size was 70 respondents. Respondents were selected through simple random sampling. Data collection methods included household survey, focus group discussions, nonparticipant observations and life history interview. Data collection instruments included questionnaire, checklists and interview schedules. Qualitative data were thematically analysed through content analysis and life history trajectory. Quantitative data were analysed by using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation for categorical variables of a five-point Likert scale and multiple linear regressions. The results show that, 78.57% of maize small-scale farmers had limited access to extension services because there were no synergies with extension-officers’ schedules. Hence, the inferences indicates the value of 0.012 for age, 0.018 for sex, 0.003 for marital status and 0.01 for education to have a significant difference at a p-value of 0.05 in the synergy for small-scale maize farmers and the number of sacks produced among households per year. The major policy implication is that, whether farmers are organic and conventional, extension agents should customize their services according to their client’s socio-economic characteristics.

Description

Research Paper

Keywords

Extension services, Maize, Small-scale farmers, Synergies, Tanzania

Citation