Round potato (Solanum tuberosum) production in southern highlands of Tanzania: Are smallholder farmers becoming commercial?
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: The subsistence production is chosen by farmers because it is subjectively the best \noption. However, subsistence farming on small and fragmented plots risks not \nreaching even farmers’ own food requirements, let alone producing a surplus. \nTherefore, it would have been expected that farmers would be commercialising \nproduction of profitable food crops. One of the more profitable food crops than many \nothers as studies show is round potato (Solanum tuberosum). Nonetheless, the \nextent to which farmers have commercialised round potato production was not \nknown. This study was then undertaken to fill this knowledge gap by analysing the \nproportion of land allotted to round potato production and the extent to which the \ncrop was oriented towards the market by using the commercialisation index. A \nsample of 510 farmers was visited from three districts of the southern highlands of \nTanzania. Results showed that round potato production was highly commercialised. \nThis was evidence by the proportion of land that was allotted for round potato \ncultivation and the commercialisation index. About 20 to 67% of the total land under \ncultivation was allotted to round potato production and about 88% of the produce \nwas sold. However, both the cultivated land and output per capita were small.
DOI: 10.5897/jaerd12.067
Author: Hosea Mpogole
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, No poverty
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2145354728