MSc Thesis
The study was conducted to examine large scale land acquisition implications on
smallholder rice production in Kilombero District. Purposive sampling procedures were
used to obtain four representative villages. In each village 40 respondents were randomly
selected leading to a sample of 160 respondents. Primary data was collected through
household questionnaires, focus group discussion, key informant interview and physical
observations while secondary data was collected from relevant local authority reports and
records. Using various analytical techniques collected data was analyzed using SPSS.
Descriptive results indicated that utilization of land acquired for large scale farming by
investors was only partially used. Moreover, results of paired samples t-test indicated that
rice production has significantly decreased among smallholder farmers with mean
differences of 4.61 to 1.47 respectively. The study was therefore able to reject the null
hypothesis which states that large scale land acquisition for large scale farming does not
have effects on rice production. The results indicated that among other factors, insufficient
land was a significant factor for decline of rice production (χ 2 =21.30; p<0.000). The
results further indicated that farming knowledge, improved roads, distance from large
scale farm, farm size and weeding were the main factors significantly affecting rice
production in the study area (p<0.05). The study invalidate the prior concern of outset of
large scale land acquisition in the study area following more of negative effects on rice
production than closing the sustained low rice yield gap among smallholder farmers.
Moreover, the study validates that apart from loss of land large scale land acquisition had
multiple negative effects on rice production which significantly threatened rice production.
It is therefore recommended that agricultural land investments strategies should carefully
evaluate what they are doing. There should be carefully evaluation of the negative and
positive effects to the smallholder farmers’ agricultural production before land is grantediii
to investors. Moreover, strong watch dog instrument is fundamental in ensuring the
investment by investors deliver the expected outcomes to majority of smallholder farmers
and nation at large.