The Contribution of Cassava Production and Marketing on Smallholder Farmers Livelihood in Dodoma Region, Tanzania.

Abstract

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) has remained a major source of food security for many countries in the world due to its ability to drought resistance and disease. This study intended to assess the contribution of cassava production and marketing on livelihood of smallholder farmers in Dodoma region of Tanzania. A sample of 240 cassava smallholder farmers was randomly selected from four districts in Dodoma region namely Kondoa, Chemba, Kongwa, and Mpwapwa districts. Quantitative data was collected through self-administered structured questionnaire from the study area. Focus group discussion (FGD), interview and observation methods also were used in collecting qualitative data. Also, the Documentary review was used to collect secondary data and the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used as analytical tools for quantitative data whereas Nvivo software was used as analytical tool for qualitative data. On the other hand, Content analysis was used in analysing qualitative data collected through FGD and interview. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data. Descriptive statistics were involved in the computation of means, standard deviations, Chi-Square, frequency and percent. To estimate the contribution of cassava production and marketing on famers’ livelihoods, the Binary logistic regression was employed. The findings from this study indicated that family size, farmer’s experience, land size, education and number of visits by extension showed a positive relationship with the improvement in the livelihood of famers in the selected districts. It recommended that, Ministry of Agriculture to increase the provision of best farming practices through employing more extensions.