Factors that influence smallholder farmers' decisions to employ hermetic bag technology for maize grain storage in Kilosa District, Tanzania

Abstract

The huge maize grain losses caused by a lack of improved storage methods have a negative impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and national food security. Despite the effectiveness of hermetic bags against pest insects and fungal growth; and aflatoxins accumulation, the technology is not widely used by smallholder farmers. The survey study was conducted to evaluate the factors that influence the adoption of hermetic bag technology among smallholder farmers in Kilosa district. A total of 180 respondents were purposively selected based on their ability to store maize produce for six months. The data was collected using a smartphone android and responses recorded by open data kit (ODK). The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model in SPSS software. The descriptive results indicated that overall existing maize storage options among smallholder farmers included interwoven polypropylene bags 43.5%, hermetic bags 17.8% and synthetic chemicals and metal silos account for 38% of respondents. The model results indicated that price, access, awareness, farmer’s experience and training factors had a positive and significant impact on the use of hermetic bags. The price variable significantly and negatively influenced the use of hermetic bags at a P<0.01 level of significance. Other independent variables such as awareness, training, access and farmers experience were positively significant at P<0.05 level of significant. The government and other actors could promote and disseminate hermetic storage bag technology as a sustainable approach of lowering grain storage losses while taking identified factors into account.