IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

Research article
erd

Factors Affecting Farmers` Decision on Crops Selection
with Special Reference to New Technology: Case ofSunflower Seed and Sweet Potato in Ikungi District,Tanzania
RUBASHA MATIKU MUJAMA*
Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
Email: mujamarubasha85@gmail.com

YOICHI IZUMIDA
Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan
Received 15 December 2018

Accepted 27 August 2019(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract The main objective of this paper is to investigate why the sharp decline ofsunflower seed production had occurred just after the starting of modern varieties
promotion policy in Tanzania. Specifically, the study aims to (1) examine the changes inproduction of sunflower seed crop and that of its substitutable crop (sweet potato) for ten
years, (2) determine the differences in profitability between sunflower production withmodern varieties and production of related crops (sunflower seed with traditional varieties,
and sweet potato), (3) examine the effect of relative price changes, (4) clarify other related
factors such as famers’ characteristics in the adoption of new technologies, contract farming,and limited capacities of oil processing sectors. The field study was conducted in Marchand September 2018, selecting 270 farmers from three villages in Ikungi District. Based on
the data obtained in the 2018 field study, profitability of the three types of cultivation wascalculated. The result shows that sweet potato farmers received the highest economic returnin terms of gross profit (545.7 TZS/ha) than sunflower farmers with modern seed varieties(397.0 TZS/ha). Sunflower farmers using traditional varieties received the lowest (273.7TZS/ha). Furthermore, it was confirmed that changes in the farm gate prices over time had
influenced profitability of three types of farming. At the starting time sunflower production
with modern technologies had its advantage against sweet potato production. Farmers’ crop
selection is mostly rational but institutional factors like contract farming and limited
capacity of processing sector were the barrier for the change. Also, it was suggested that
farmers need more education and training for more rational crop selection. Finally, fromthis case policy makers have to know that if the conditions are not well fulfilled thepromotion of new technology may not have the desired result.
Keywords crop selection, new technology, sunflower seed, sweet potato, contract farming,Tanzania

INTRODUCTION
Adoption of modern technologies such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and improved seeds is aneffective pathway to enhance the welfare of farmers through attaining higher productivity (WorldBank, 2008). Following this idea, the government of Tanzania set up new agricultural policy ofpromoting modern seeds for sunflower producers in 2009. Due to its low level of cholesterol,
sunflower oil is highly preferred as edible and safe cooking oil for many households in the country.
The crop accounts 40% of the total national cooking oil requirements (URT, 2014). The country
attempted to reduce the burden of importing edible cooking oil from foreign countries by offering
opportunities of high yield varieties together with aim of income generation to farmers. The
government promoted the adoptions of modern varieties through extension services and contract
farming (URT, 2014). Despite the efforts done by the government of Tanzania to set up newⒸ ISERD80

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

agricultural policy of promoting modern seeds for sunflower producers, the production has been
decreasing.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this paper is to investigate why the sharp decline of sunflower seedproduction had occurred just after the starting of modern varieties promotion policy in Tanzania.
Specifically, the study aims to (1) examine the changes in production of sunflower seed crop andthat of its substitutable crop (sweet potato) for ten years, (2) determine the differences inprofitability between sunflower production with modern varieties and production of related crops(sunflower seed with traditional varieties, and sweet potato), (3) examine the effect of relative pricechanges, (4) clarify other related factors such as famers’ characteristics in the adoption of newtechnologies, contract farming, and limited capacities of oil processing sectors.
METHODOLOGY
The field study was conducted in Ikungi District, one of the three districts of Singida region in
March and September 2018. This region is selected because new technology has been promoted
through extension services and contract farming to sunflower farmers since 2018. Based on theobservation, it was found that there were three types of sunflower seed related farmers; i) sunflower
farmers still using new technology; ii) sunflower farmers with traditional varieties iii) and farmers
who changed from sunflower production using new varieties into sweet potato. Considering thisobservation, a total of 270 farmers from three types of groups were selected randomly from a list of
farmers in the respective three villages: Damankia; Nkwiree; and Ikulume. Among them, 90
farmers from each village were selected from each category of farmers (30 sunflower farmers withnew technology; 30 sunflower farmers with traditional varieties; and 30 farmers who changed fromgrowing sunflower with new varieties to grow sweet potato)
In the field survey in March 2018, production data were collected through interviews withfarmers. Additional information was obtained from the discussion with key informants such as
traders, processors, and extension workers. The major information collected included: farmers’
characteristics, cost and sales conditions of producers, and current problems and future prospects.
The second interview were carried out in September 2018 in order to probe more information on
the processing industries and area of contract farming that promote new technology amongsunflower farmers.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1) Changes in Production of Sunflower Seed Crop and Sweet Potato

Fig. 1 Changes in production of sunflower seed and sweet potato inTanzania (2000-2017)
Source: Country FAO-Statistics, 2018
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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

In 2011, sunflower seed production increased significantly to more than 790,000 tons from 380,100
tons in 2010. But, from next year sunflower seed production had sharply declined continuously toless than half in 2017, comparing its peak in 2011 as shown in Fig. 1.
2) Features of the Farmer-Respondents
From the field study it was found that sunflower farmers with traditional varieties was older (45.2years) compared to sunflower farmers with modern varieties (39.4 years) and sweet potato
producers who transformed production from sunflower producing (37.3 years). Furthermore, withrespect to the farm size, traditional sunflower producers were relatively small (0.83 ha), sunflower
farmers with modern varieties was (1.21 ha) and farmers who changed production into substitutable
crop (sweet potato producers) was higher (1.52 ha) as shown in Table 1.
The study went further to observe farmers’ educational background because this is one of themost important factors for farmers to manage their farms in smartly move. Educational backgroundof heads of household was grouped based on the education system of the country. There was highimprovement in education for heads of household producing sweet potato whereas more than(80%) have reached to high school level and university level. Also, more than (8%) of sunflower
farmers with modern varieties have reached to high school level and university level. But, majorityof heads of household (98%) producing sunflower using tradition varieties have reached to primarylevel and secondary level only (Table 1).
Table 1 Features of the farmer-respondents
Tradition sunflower
varieties producers(n=90)
MeanSD

Modern sunflower
varieties producers(n=90)
MeanSD

Sweet potato
producers(n=90)
MeanSD

Characteristics
Age of heads ofhousehold (years)
Averagecultivatedarea (ha)Genderoffarmers
MaleFemale

45.20

8.0939.40

7.81

37.30

6.53

0.83
Numberof
farmers74
160.42
Percentage
offarmers
82.2
17.8

1.21
Numberof
farmers58
320.64
Percentage
offarmers
64.4
35.6

1.52
Numberof
farmers67
230.71
Percentage
offarmers
74.4
25.6

Farmers' education
Primary level
Secondary level
High school level
College level
University level

87
2
1
00

96.7
2.2
1.1
0.0
0.0

40
423
4
1

44.4
46.8
3.3
4.4
1.1

1360
8
63

14.5
66.7
8.9
6.7
3.3

Source: Field survey, 2018
Note: (1) SD refers standard deviation (2) Primary level is seven years of schooling (3) Secondary level is four years ofschooling (4) High school level is two years of schooling (5) College level is two years of schooling (6) University level isthree to four years of schooling.

Concerning the gender of the household head, the study shows that heads of householdproducing sunflower seed with tradition varieties (82.2%) were male and (17.8%) were female. In
the cases of other two types, more participation of female in new sunflower varieties (35.6%) isbigger than in sweet potato production (25.6%). This suggest that more participation of female tend
to move to new technology adoption; that may be because farmers` education was higher than othertypes of farmers.

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

3) Differences in Profitability
In order to understand the profitability of two crops, the gross income and gross profit werecalculated based on the data obtained in the field survey 2018. Gross income is calculated as agross revenue minus total production cost excluding family labor cost. Gross profit is calculated asgross income deducting family labor cost. With respect to the estimation of family labor cost,
opportunity cost was applied. In the cost calculation depreciation were not considered since farmers
in the studied area did not use modern machinery in agricultural activities. The result revealed that,
there were significant differences in income and profit among the three types of farmers. The sweet
potato farmers receive the highest economic return in terms of gross profit (545.7 TZS/ha) thansunflower farmers with modern sunflower seed varieties (397.0 TZS/ha). Sunflower production
using traditional varieties received the lowest (273.7 TZS/ha) (Table 2).
Table 2 Profitability comparison of sunflower seed and sweet potato in 2017
Item
Head of household
Yield (tons/ha)
Seeds cost
Chemical fertilizer cost
Pesticide cost
Hired labor cost
Total variable cost
Family labor cost
Total labor cost
Total production cost
Gross Revenues (GR)Gross Income (GI)Gross Profit (GP)

Tradition
sunflower
varieties
users (a)(n=90)
1.2
10.6
22.7
0.0
23.4
56.7
41.6
65.0
98.3
372.0
315.0
273.7

Modernsunflower
varieties users(b)(n=90)
1.8
18.237.9
10.8
27.9
94.9
50.1
78.0
145.0
542.0
447.1
397.0

Sweet
PotatoProducers(c)(n=90)
2.0
10.3
0.0
9.3
23.7
43.3
45.8
69.3
89.1
634.5
591.4
545.7

Source: Survey, 2018

Comparison

(b-a)

(c-b)

(c-a)

0.6
7.6
15.2
10.8
4.5
38.2
8.5
13.0
46.7
170.0
132.1
123.3

0.2
-7.9
-37.9
-1.5
-4.2
-51.6
-4.3
-8.7
-55.9
92.5
144.3
148.7

0.8
-0.3
-22.7
9.3
0.3
-13.4
4.2
4.3
-9.2
262.5
276.4
272.0

Unit of cost: `000TZS/ha

Table 3 Farmgate price changes of sunflower seed and sweet potato (100 =2007)
Year

Price index ofsunflower seed

Price index ofsweet potato

20072008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017

100.0
99.4
102.9
113.2
102.9
102.6
102.1
97.1
91.2
88.2
87.6

100.0
106.7
100.0
103.3
120.0
121.7
123.3
124.0
124.0
125.0
127.3

Source: SDC, 2018

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Relative price index ofsunflower seed
100.0
93.2
102.9
109.6
85.8
84.4
82.8
78.3
73.5
70.6
68.8

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2Of course, the significant differences in profitability among three types in Table 2 were basedon the data in 2017. Prices of sunflower seed and sweet potato had changed as shown in Table 3.
Relative price of sunflower seed comparing with sweet potato has been declining as indicated inTable 3. At the starting year 2010, the profitability of sunflower seed might be better than sweetpotato. In order to check this, the study simulated the comparative profitability of sunflower seed tosweet potato in various years with the following assumption: Farmers cultivated sunflower seedand sweet potato by using same technologies as in 2017 (then the cost and yield same as that in2017), but the selling prices differ. The economic return in each year were calculated by replacing
the farmgate price of 2017 by the price of corresponding year. The result shows that if the output
price level was the same as that in 2010, the sunflower production with modern varieties ranks firstin profitability (gross income and gross profit) and sweet potato production ranks in the secondplace. Profitability of sunflower production with traditional varieties was the lowest. In 2011, theprice of sunflower seed sharply declined as in Table 3 and the sunflower production with modern
technologies lost its advantage against sweet potato production.
4) Other Related Factorsi) Limited absorption capacity of processing sector:
Capacity building of various institutions especially in agriculture is important factor to ensure
efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. In Tanzania sunflower oil processing sector isfacing a big challenge of limited capacity to absorb farmers’ produce. Direct interviews withsunflower processors revealed that the three processing companies in the studied area only had total
annual absorption capacity of 12,420 tons. However, this capacity could not absorb sunflower
farmers’ produce of 35,700 tons in (2017) in the studied area. This evidence is supported by other
scholars that in Tanzania, absorption capacity of processing sector is limited and most of the local
investors are not moving fast enough to invest in agricultural processing. Meanwhile foreign
investment is not attracted sufficiently (Mpagalile, 2012).
ii) Contract farming:
As noted earlier in 2017, though differences in profitability was apparent among three types offarming, it observed that still some sunflower producers did not change the crop selection.
Sunflower production with new technology is dominated by the production contract that
established in 2010 with specific goal of promoting new technology to sunflower farmers. In thiscontract, the company provides agricultural inputs, agricultural extension services and sometimes
credit to sunflower farmers together with new technology. Likewise, the period of contract is eightyears. Major actors in the governance of sunflower contract farming are sunflower farmers withnew technology, company providing contract, and the government of Tanzania. Based on thefindings through direct interviews with sunflower farmers it observed that on the regularity ofcontract farming, farmers who want to terminate the contract before time must be punished throughthe contract law. This clearly show that sunflower farmers with new technology still continue theproduction because of the existence of contract farming.
iii) Characteristics of sunflower farmers with traditional varieties:
It has been pointed out that, although sunflower farmers with traditional varieties received thelowest profit but still continue the production. Table1 indicated that the sampled sunflower farmers
using local varieties was more aged (45.2 years), relatively small in size, and less educated. Due tothese features, they may be more reluctant to changes in adoption of new technologies. This is
supported by other scholars that young farmers are more knowledgeable on better practices andmay be more ready to adapt to better farming techniques because of their willing to achieve moreproduction in their fields (Abunga, et al., 2012).
CONCLUSIONⒸ ISERD84

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2019) 10-2

The main objective of this paper was to investigate why the sharp decline of sunflower seedproduction had occurred just after the starting of modern variety promotion policy in Tanzania. Itwas found that changes in the farm gate prices over time had influenced the sunflower production
with modern technologies lost its advantage against sweet potato production. In other words,
farmers’ crop selection is mostly rational but institutional factors such processing sector andcontract farming were the barrier for the change.
In relation to the finding and conclusion the following were recommended so as alleviate theexisting challenges by all stakeholders of this sector. First, there is a definite need for thegovernment of Tanzania to consider the area that absorb farmers’ produce after production.
Therefore, policy makers have to know that if the conditions are not well fulfilled the promotion ofnew technology may not have the desired result. Also, farmers need more education and training
for more rational crop selection. Lastly, the area of sunflower contract farming should be revised toenhance its efficiency in new technology provision among sunflower farmers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe would like to express our gratitude to Moritani Memorial Foundation and Graduate Research
Funding Program from Tokyo University of Agriculture Research Institute (NRI) for financiallysupporting this study.
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