Key Regional Problems of the Contract Farming in the Republic of Maldives

Abstract. Introduction. An agricultural sector in the Republic of Maldives mostly consists of smallholder farming communities which are highly restricted by low productivity and unavailability of natural resources. The AgroNAT contract farming was implemented to address this challenge but so far does not provide the expected results across the agricultural regions Purpose. This research study looked into assessing and explaining the resemblances and differences observed in the analyzed agricultural regions 1, 2, and 3 regarding categories of gender disparity and farming population age, access to land resources, markets, and finance. Results. Total of over 1200 farmers on 13 islands were interviewed to specify key influential factors of their farming activities. To check the study hypotheses, we utilized the Chi-square Test for Independence. It confirmed strong resemblances of regions 1 and 2 by gender disparity and farming population age in favor of male farm heads and farmers over 40 years old. In region 3 there are more females actively involved in the farming activities. The research findings also revealed that around 27% of the farming population in region 3 are the young aged below 40 who demonstrate essential interest in new agricultural technologies and are better educated in financial aspects. The research clarified that regions 1 and 2 are more affected by the indicators of `No arable land` and `Land tenure insecurity`. Whereas regions 2 and 3 appeared to be similar by the indicators of `Started farming` and `No arable land`. All the regions resemble by the access to finance and markets. However, the focus group discussion revealed that farmers in region 3 are more efficient in using financing opportunities provided by the government and private sectors. Whereas the logistic and transport options are more beneficial for regions 1 and 2 as their islands are closer to the capital city. Conclusions. The study identified the weak spots and advantages of each agricultural region and recommended ways on how to increase efficiency and effectiveness of their contract farming.