African Eggplant Value Chain And Market Linkage Project for Sustainable Economic Development of Farmers at Ulaya Village in Kilosa District

Kirhima, Daniel Marco Karenga (2018) African Eggplant Value Chain And Market Linkage Project for Sustainable Economic Development of Farmers at Ulaya Village in Kilosa District. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This dissertation describes the potentialities of horticulture value chains and importance of linking its producers to competitive markets. The researcher and the community through STETIANA CBO have jointly implemented the “African Eggplant Value chain and Market linkage project” and it was noticed that improved horticulture value chain systems contributes towards improved economic wellbeing of smallholder farmers and their families. The researcher had to critically learn from literature reviews value chain and market linkage approaches to successfully implement the project. Among many the market linkage approaches includes building mutual trusts, strengthening bargain and market information powers between producers and buyers. More than 200 farmers are collectively benefiting from the project with capacity of weekly supply of 14 tons of eggplant produce to Dar es Salaam markets. Data were collected by interviewing farmers in households using structured questionnaires with closed ended questions as a main tool. The checklist questionnaires with open ended questions were also used for focus group discussions and key informant interview. Descriptive and frequencies analyses using SPSS were employed to describe the factors that contributed to the improvement of economic condition of small-scale horticulture farmers in Ulaya community of Kilosa District. Results revealed that among several options, the establishment of African eggplant value chain and market linkage project was ranked as priority for community economic development. Project monitoring and evaluation stages have shown the great impact of project towards the improved lives of small holder’s farmers.

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