Social-Economic Factors Influencing Ginger (Zingiber Officinale) Productivity among Smallholders Growers in Tanzania - Case of Same District

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the social economic factors influencing ginger productivity among smallholders growers. A cross sectional research design was adopted; the sample size of 251 respondents was obtained through purposive and non-purposive sampling techniques. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods for data analysis. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) and Excel software were used to analyze the data. The data revealed that the factors included in the model explain the variation obtained in ginger yield with determination coefficients R² (adjusted) indicates that 78.3% of the variation in ginger yield obtained by farmers is explained by the variable included in the estimated model. Generally It can thus be concluded that farmer’s education level, the use of fertilizer, land size under ginger production and  frequency of contacting extension services had significant contribution to ginger farming  and hence productivity. It is recommended that to expand extension services to ensure that smallholder ginger farmers have access to high-yielding ginger seed varieties and improved farm inputs, storage and marketing facilities and encourage ginger farmers to increase land under cultivation. Smallholder farmers own small parcels of land but still cultivate only small portions of it. Smallholder farmers need to be assisted to expand the area under cultivation. This may help transform the current farming system from smallholder farming to larger scale. Hence, it is important to create public awareness on the potential for the ginger crop to contribute to the household income by using labor saving technologies and improved varieties.

Keywords: Ginger production   extension farming yield