Download Perspectives on Enhancing Agricultural Productivity

INTRODUCTION
Efforts to fight poverty and promote food security in
developing countries including Tanzania need to take
into account that agriculture remains the main
livelihood for large number of poor farmers and rural
families. Agriculture is the main source of food and
income in many developing countries. While
agricultural development interventions enhancing
technologies uptake can lead to improvements in
productivity and contribute to farm output growth,
converting product intensification into a sustainable
source of farm income means that attention also
needs to be paid to the promotion of market access.
Given the predominant role of agriculture in
the livelihood of most Tanzanians, any
strategy for reducing poverty in the country
must centre on rapid growth in the
agricultural sector through reliable market
access. It is perceived that improvement in
market
access
increases
agricultural
productivity first by facilitating specialization
and exchange transaction in rural areas, and
secondly
through
intensification
of
technologies.
Also there is widespread perception that, while
agricultural development intervention enhancing
technology uptake can lead to improvements in
productivity and contribute to farm output
growth, this means that attention must be given
to the constraints
smallholder farmers face
especially fostering smallholder farmers access
to; productive technology, efficient input markets
and better paying and efficient output markets.
Market access help to alleviate poverty through
commercializing agriculture and result in uniform
distribution of incomes and improvement in
household welfare.
Agriculture is an important sector in developing
countries and Tanzania in particular due to its
contribution to the national income. It has a
contribution of about 31.5% of the total Gross
Domestic Product. Traditionally, agricultural
commodities such as cotton, tobacco, cashew
nuts, tea, sisal and coffee have been the main
exports. However, production of these crops has
gone down mainly due to market problems.
It is often asserted that agriculture in Tanzania
is on the decline since productivity is still low.
The evidence often addressed in support of this
is the quite evident decrease in sector’s
contribution or share in the Gross Domestic
Product. Another assertion as evidence to the
decline of agriculture is that agricultural growth
is low standing to about 4% so this is an
indication that the sector is growing at a very low
pace. However, there are challenges which have
been
observed
to
constrain
agricultural
productivity including:
Low adoption of agricultural technologies
 Lack of reliable market for the produced crops
 Poor
physical infrastructure such as roads,
storage facilities
 Unreliable policies
 Climate change
 High prices of agricultural inputs
There are so many problems confronting
agriculture. However, these few constraints can
help to strategize how to enhance sustainable
growth and development of agriculture in
Tanzania.

As observed, there are so many constraints in the
agricultural sector which have resulted into low
agricultural productivity. On the other hand, low adoption
of agricultural technologies has impacted productivity in
the farm sector. But, it is perceived that if market access
problem is solved it is likely to solve the other problems. If
there is reliable road network, storage facilities,
processing facilities, proper contract farming, reliable
policies and other related market access entities it is
possible to solve some of the problems in agriculture.
Reliable road network will simplify transportation of inputs
and outputs. On the other hand roads will reduce the cost
of production to some extent.

Farmers will be able to store their crops at times
when the price is low and wait for attractive
prices. Furthermore, it is perceived that when
there are reliable roads the prices of inputs is
likely to be affordable by most farmers. Thus,
most farmers will be able to use inputs in their
farms. Due to attractive prices, in turn farmers
would like to produce more and therefore
increase productivity. Thus, in order to attain
high productivity as a result of improved market
access farmers will adopt recommended
agricultural technologies including application of
improved seeds, fertilizers and insecticides.
Agriculture remain an important sector to the
economy of Tanzania despite of its low
contribution to the GDP. Again the sector
employs more than 70 percent of Tanzanians
and there is high potential for growth. So
strengthening this sector means improving
the livelihood of most Tanzanians and the
economy.