Analysis of the Factors Influencing Maize Postharvest Losses and Effect of Agricultural Inputs Supply on Productivity in Rwanda: A Case of Gatsibo and Nyagatare

Abstract

In the world, food demand and an increasing population remains a major global concern, where more than one-third of food is lost or wasted in postharvest operations. Reducing the postharvest losses, especially in developing countries including Rwanda, could be a sustainable solution to increase food availability, reduce pressure on natural resources, eliminate hunger and improve farmers’ livelihoods. The main objective of this study is to conduct an economic analysis of the factors influencing maize postharvest losses and effect of agricultural input supply on productivity of smallholder’s farmers in Rwanda. A Case of Gatsibo and Nyagatare districts. A multistage sampling technique was employed involving purposive sampling of two districts in Eastern Province and three sectors in each district. A sample size of 110 respondents were proportionally selected from 562 farmers of maize crops in six sectors of the study area. Multiple regression analysis was employed to identify the factors influencing maize production losses; budgetary technique analysis was used to evaluate the profitability of improved seeds, while difference in difference method was employed to determine the effect of agricultural inputs supply to farmers of the study area. The results indicated that variables such as weeds, pests, diseases, and rodents have statistically significant influenced maize postharvest losses in study area at (p values <0.01). While the distance to market and storage facilities influenced the maize postharvest losses at 5% and 10% respectively. The most destructive rodent pests in study area like different corners of Rwanda are multimammate rat, and birds. The overall average maize yield is 2274 kg per ha for both before and after agricultural inputs delivery to the farmers of Gatsibo and Nyagatare districts. The difference in yields between before and after for the farmers is highly significant (p<0.01). The gross margin before and after is 174,895 per ha and 289,956 per ha respectively. The p-value for test of difference in means of gross margin for before and after was 0.01. This suggests that the gross margin for users of agricultural improved seeds is significantly higher after inputs delivery than before. The figure showed that the difference is 1034 kg/ha of yield, and 115061 of gross margin indicating that maize crop is more profitable in study are.