Economic evaluation of improved grain storage technology in Tanzania

United States Agency for International Developmen

Economic evaluation of improved grain storage technology in Tanzania

United States Agency for International Developmen

Effects of compliance with food safety standards on costs, benefits and organization of Nile Perch Export Supply Chain in Tanzania

Thesis 2010Trading in high-value agro-food and fishery products like Nile perch represents one of the main possibilities for reducing poverty in Tanzania. Nile perch earner foreign exchange and provides employment to communities around Lake Victoria. However, Tanzania has experienced challenges in maintaining and expanding her share of global markets given stringent food-safety requirements in the European Union (EU). Following the three EU Nile perch export bans in the 1990s, several efforts have been made to conform to EU food safety standards in the Nile perch supply chain. This study it analysed levels of conformity to standards, costs and benefits associated with compliance with food safety standards at various stages along the chain; and their effects on the organization of Nile perch supply chain. Secondary data were obtained from different sources including the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries and fish processing plants. Primary data were collected from 239 Nile perch chain actors including processors, traders, boat owners and fishers. The data were analysed using accounting method and categorical logit regression model. Despite inadequate finance and human capacity constraints, the Nile perch industry conformed successfully to HACCP, ISO 9000, ISO 22000 and BRC standards to access to EU market. Compliance was found to be higher at processing stage of the chain than fishing stage. It was associated with high costs depending on the existing quality standards, availability of required equipment, understanding of compliance requirements and common practices in the industry. The benefits associated with compliance accruing to the different actors in the chain and nation exports were higher than the associated costs. Several changes occurred in the organization and governance of the Nile perch supply chain since late 1990s when compliance with food safety standards started. However, these changes could not only be attributed to compliance with the standards. Decline in fish stock also contributed to the observed changes. Notable changes were greater investments, increased fishing efforts and contractual agreements emergence between actors in the supply chain. Results of the logit model suggested that business location, scale of investments, negotiation power and extent of integration along the chain were main factors influencing changes in the Nile perch vertical structure. The government needs proactively to sustain compliance with standards and fishery resources by strengthening Beach Management Units (BMUs), regulations enforcement, food safety standards training and improving actors‟ access to financial services

Effects of compliance with food safety standards on costs, benefits and organization of nile perch export supply chain in Tanzania

PhD ThesisTrading in high-value agro-food and fishery products like Nile perch represents one of the main possibilities for reducing poverty in Tanzania. Nile perch earner foreign exchange and provides employment to communities around Lake Victoria. However, Tanzania has experienced challenges in maintaining and expanding her share of global markets given stringent food-safety requirements in the European Union (EU). Following the three EU Nile perch export bans in the 1990s, several efforts have been made to conform to EU food safety standards in the Nile perch supply chain. This study analysed levels of conformity to standards, costs and benefits associated with compliance with food safety standards at various stages along the chain; and their effects on the organization of Nile perch supply chain. Secondary data were obtained from different sources including the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries and fish processing plants. Primary data were collected from 239 Nile perch chain actors including processors, traders, boat owners and fishers. The data were analysed using accounting method and categorical logit regression model. Despite inadequate finance and human capacity constraints, the Nile perch industry conformed successfully to HACCP, ISO 9000, ISO 22000 and BRC standards to access to EU market. Compliance was found to be higher at processing stage of the chain than fishing stage. It was associated with high costs depending on the existing quality standards, availability of required equipment, understanding of compliance requirements and common practices in the industry. The benefits associated with compliance accruing to the different actors in the chain and nation exports were higher than the associatedcosts. Several changes occurred in the organization and governance of the Nile perch supply chain since late 1990s when compliance with food safety standards started. However, these changes could not only be attributed to compliance with the standards. Decline in fish stock also contributed to the observed changes. Notable changes were greater investments, increased fishing efforts and contractual agreements emergence between actors in the supply chain. Results of the logit model suggested that business location, scale of investments, negotiation power and extent of integration along the chain were main factors influencing changes in the Nile perch vertical structure. The government needs proactively to sustain compliance with standards and fishery resources by strengthening Beach Management Units (BMUs), regulations enforcement, food safety standards training and improving actors‟ access to financial services

Policy imperatives for control of market exchange failure in the cashew nut industry

NAF-International Working Paper Series, 2014This study examined the root causes of incessant market failure problem facing Tanzanian cashew nut industry. The overarching hypothesis was that the industry challenges are both structural and institutional. Competition status and economic coordination in the industry were thus duly scrutinized. Key informant and questionnaire interviews were carried out with key industry stakeholders and cashew farmers respectively. Data analysis entailed operationalizing the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, the DFID Competition Assessment Framework and estimating the Stochastic Frontier Production Model. Results showcased a systematic positive effect of the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) on indicative and final producer prices over the years. Concentration ratio results professed the industry as being fairly concentrated and hence oligopolistic. Farmers’ input use efficiency was calculated at 51% on average suggesting that majority could be high cost producers. The WRS was vindicated as an effective system for the industry though its high transaction costs due to hiked administrative costs, weak institutional arrangements along the value chain, cooperative monopoly and inadequate enforcement of underlying regulations counteract its strength. Fair competition in the industry is stifled by clandestine buyer collusion and predatory pricing at the expense of local processing. Production cost would overstate indicative price if used as a basis for its setting given inefficient farmers. For better results the industry needs to depoliticize, change warehouses’ ergonomics, eliminate unnecessary WRS administrative costs, break cooperative monopoly to accommodate private buyers’ participation, strengthen regulatory enforcement mechanisms, restore export parity pricing procedures and establish an advisory to sieve conflicting scholar recommendations.Funded by iAGR

cost efficiency of watermelon production in Tanzania

ABSTRACT This study was designed to assess the cost efficiency of watermelon production in Rufiji and Mkuranga Districts. Specifically the study determined cost efficiency level of watermelon farms, determined variation in cost efficiency between farms of different size and capital and examined sources of cost inefficiency. Two stage random sampling was used in selecting 200 farmers from the two Districts who were used to collect information required in achieving the major objectives of the study. Cost efficiency (CE) for farms in Mkuranga ranges from 0.10 to 0.99 with the mean CE of 0.73. Results for Rufiji show that the CE for the farms ranges from 0.89 to 0.99 with the mean CE of 0.90. Findings also revealed that farms with small farm size and capital size had higher mean CE than farms with large size and capital size in the study area. As for the sources of cost inefficiency, education level, farm size, capital size and logistic services were found to have significant influence on cost inefficiency. Apparently, these results suggest that watermelon production is generally cost efficient and the efficiency is influenced by capital size and farm size in the selected areas of study. Recommended in this paper is the encouragement of farmers to consider size of capital and farms when producing watermelon to ensure maximized efficiency. Keywords: Watermelon, Smallholder Farmers, cost efficiency, Tanzania. Acknowledgement : This work was supported by the University of Dodoma under Higher education loans board (HELSB) of the government of Tanzania. The authors would like to thank the reviewers in advancefor their constructive comments on improving this paper