The Hindrances to Income Growth of Smallholder Sunflower Farmers in Tanzania: A Market Knowledge Aperture Cause?

Abstract

Income growth for smallholder sunflower farmers is persistently dominating the writing due to the crop’s contribution to the national economy. Ponders are proceeding to divulge challenges going up against smallholder sunflower agriculturists around the globe. This study assesses whether the market knowledge gap hinders the income growth of smallholder sunflower farmers. Kongwa district of Tanzania is recruited as a study area. A Case study is used as a design where data were collected through interviews, Focus Group Discussion and observation from thirty (30) participants. The findings discovered that limited market knowledge attributed to an unfriendly selling system affects the income growth of smallholder sunflower farmers. Also, poverty and lack of a communication platform between the LGA and smallholder sunflower farmers are other discovered factors. The study recommends changing the modality of using middlemen to allow farmers to sell crops directly to the buying companies, establish farmer’s cooperatives and ensure continuous sharing between smallholder sunflower farmers and the LGA.