Production, postharvest practice, marketing and challenges of smallholder vegetable producers in Tanzania

Abstract

Beside staple crops, the fruits and vegetables subsector contribute significantly to domestic and export markets. Yet, this subsector faces a number of challenges that limits its full growth potential. Through 383 randomly selected farmers’ interviews in selected districts, the study revealed profound information on the vegetable value chain. Findings show that, there is fair participation of men (58%) and women (42%) in vegetable production. Majority of farmers were between 19 and 49 years old (70%), attained primary education (80%) and had more than 5 years in commercial vegetable production (71.8%). Further, 79.4% of farmers had less than 1 ha of vegetable farmland. Farmers cultivate a wide range of nutritious and commercially valued vegetables including broccoli (50.7%), cauliflower (37.3%), white cabbage (34.7%), crisphead lettuce (24.5%), Chinese cabbage (20.6%), zucchini (20.1%), carrot (18.5%), tomato (14.4%), purple cabbage (10.2%), beetroot (9.4%), African nightshade (8.4%), leaf lettuce (7.6%), green/snap bean (6.8%), snow/sugar-snap pea (5%), leeks (5%), spinach (4.2%), green pepper (4.2%), herbs (parsley, fennel and dill) (4.2%) and celery (2.9%). However, sustainable marketing of fresh vegetables is a challenge leading to most farmers opting to wholesale their produce at the farm gate (70.5%) instead of the marketplace, with the price often being set by the wholesale buyers (78.1%). With the exception of gender, household size, and farming experience; a farmer’s location and primary education level had a slightly statistically significant (p = 0.044) influence on opting to use farmgate as the point of sales. The unpredictable market (100%), costly and low-quality inputs (36.4%), pests and diseases (35.2%), and shortage of cold storage facilities (22.9%) were claimed to hamper vegetable production and the producers. In general, vegetables subsector can grow significantly in Tanzania due to the availability of irrigated nutrient-rich land, favorable climate and productive workforce. Thus, good farming practices, marketing and cold chain facilities have the potential to reduce postharvest losses and help realize national sustainable development goals. Key words: Fresh vegetables, postharvest practices, marketing, constraints, cold chains