Multiple Roles of Community Cereal Banks on Promoting Income of Smallholder Farmers in Central Tanzania

Abstract

The basic necessities of rural people such as food, clothes, shelter, basic literacy, primary health care, and security of life and their property cannot be achieved if their income is not improved. Increase in the income will guarantee their capacity to meet the costs of such important needs for their lives. This paper examines the contribution of Community Cereal Banks (CCBs) in improving income of smallholder farmers in the central parts of Tanzania. Five CCBs were visited in Dodoma and Manyara regions. Simple random sampling technique was used to obtain 120 beneficiaries who were interviewed. Focus Group Discussions, In-Depth Interviews, and Semi-structured questionnaires were used for data collection. CCBs offered better cereal prices to smallholder farmers as compared to price offered by other cereal business speculators. Technical trainings on production provided by different NGOs through the CCBs influenced increase in farm productivity to more than half of the smallholder farmers. 82% managed to increase annual income due to services received from the CCBs and 59% of them were women. However, CCBs relied on few sources of income used as capital to support provision of mandated services. While offering better prices to smallholder farmers for their cereals, for the purpose of fulfilling their social obligations to the community; they ended up benefiting the farmers while deteriorating their working capital. Selling at high season what they purchased from the farmers during low season at discounted rate, unknowingly put CCBs out of the business in the next season. Their capacities in business management remain to be one of the major setbacks to be addressed.

Keywords: Community Cereal Banks, Smallholder Farmers, cereals, central Tanzania, lean period, Income.