Smallholder farmers' adoption of vegetable production technologies in Babati District, Tanzania

Abstract

Agricultural technologies have boosted crop yield increases and household incomes, particularly, during the Green Revolution in Asia and some parts of Sub-Sahara Africa. However, adoption of yield enhancing technologies in the vegetable subsector is still low, particularly within smallholder farms. The Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) has tested and promoted the adoption of external low-input strategies such as 1) using good elite seeds and healthy vegetable seedlings; 2) inorganic fertilizers; 3) good agronomic practices – GAP (i.e., mulching, timely weeding, timely planting, organic manure application, intercropping, crop rotation, etc.); 4) integrated pest management – IPM (cultural, chemical control and biological-using trap crops). Based on a sampled survey of 310 farm households from five villages, we used both qualitative and quantitative methods to describe the dynamics of farmers’ adoption of vegetable technologies and analyse factors influencing technology choice in Babati District located in the Manyara region, Tanzania. Findings show that farmers adopt technologies that are convenient to them and the decision to apply them is influenced by various socio-economic factors. We therefore provide policy-related recommendations that current and future technology scaling programs may consider to increase the adoption and sustainable use of vegetable production technologies among smallholder farmers to address food and nutrition insecurity challenges in developing countries.