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Institutional and policy-induced factors affect farmers’ decisions on the choice of the market
to sell their staple foods. This results in low motivation to participate in the production and agricultural
commodities’ commercialization. This study determines specific institutional and policy-induced
factors affecting the farmers’ decisions regarding the staple food market choice in Tanzania. The study
uses household survey data collected from 820 farmers raising staple food crops (maize, rice, sorghum,
and millet) randomly selected from the Dodoma and Morogoro regions, Tanzania. The index
method, descriptive statistics, and choice model (multinomial logit model) are used for data analysis.
Qualitative policy analysis is used for analyzing policy-induced factors. Findings show a low level
of integration of farmers into staple food markets, with female-headed households facing more
hurdles in accessing markets than male-headed households. Age, formal training, the value of
agricultural production, membership in organizations, access to credit, contractual arrangements,
and distance to markets are significant factors driving farmers to choose a particular market to
sell their produces. Restriction of selling and use of staple food commodities, instability of food
policy administration, and procedural operation obstacles are found to be key policy-induced factors
affecting the marketing of staple food commodities in Tanzania. The scale of production, as depicted
by the value of production, and supply contract arrangement with buyers are important factors to
ensure that farming households excel in lucrative markets through increased economies of scale and
the ability to reach critical volumes for supplying to various markets. Supporting market linkage and
infrastructure, as well as enforcing transparent and non-restrictive food marketing policies, would
help many farmers enter into contractual arrangements that increase market access and improve
market choices. |
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