Assessment of Factors Affecting the Decision of Smallholder Farmers to Use Alternative Maize Storage Technologies in Gatsibo District-Rwanda

Abstract

Storage is an important aspect of food security in developing countries. Therefore, it is crucial for farmers to have access to sustainable storage technologies to cope with storage losses. Maize is an important staple and commercial food in Rwanda, but maize farmers are still being challenged by storage losses due to lack of proper storage facilities. It is in that regard that advanced maize storage technology, notably hermetic maize storage technologyy has been introduced in Rwanda but its adoption is still low among smallholder maize farmers. Empirical evidence on the factors affecting farmers’ choice of maize storage technology to use, is virtually non-existent. Yet, such information is needed by Rwandan policy makers in designing policies and programs aimed at maize loss reduction to enhance food security. This article characterized different storage technologies used by farmers in terms of level of adoption of advanced storage technologies, and constraints using descriptive statistics. It also investigated the factors affecting smallholder maize farmers’ decision to use alternative storage technologies, using the multivariate probit model. The sample size used was 301 smallholder maize farmers from Gatsibo District of Rwanda.