Adoption and impact of improved bean technologies among the bean growing households in Southern Highlands of Tanzania

The data are part of the outputs of a survey conducted in Southern Tanzania Highlands between November 2016 and January 2017 by CIAT-PABRA team in collaboration with socio-economics team at Agricultural Research Institute – Uyole. The objective of collecting the data was to assess the adoption of improved bean varieties that have been developed over time by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) through Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in Tanzania and evaluate in ex-post the impacts of their adoption on crop productivity, farm income, crop commercialization and food security. Information on ex-post impacts could provide important lessons for researchers and a basis for development agencies and policy makers when deciding on resource allocation. In line with this point, the study went beyond investigating impacts on the outcomes mentioned above and looked at others indicators of breeding performance and the interventions in seed systems that sought to address challenges of inaccessibility of improved seed by disadvantaged groups such as the poor, women and those in far remote locations. (2016

Adoption and impact of improved bean technologies among the bean growing households in Southern Highlands of Tanzania

The data are part of the outputs of a survey conducted in Southern Tanzania Highlands between November 2016 and January 2017 by CIAT-PABRA team in collaboration with socio-economics team at Agricultural Research Institute – Uyole. The objective of collecting the data was to assess the adoption of improved bean varieties that have been developed over time by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) through Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in Tanzania and evaluate in ex-post the impacts of their adoption on crop productivity, farm income, crop commercialization and food security. Information on ex-post impacts could provide important lessons for researchers and a basis for development agencies and policy makers when deciding on resource allocation. In line with this point, the study went beyond investigating impacts on the outcomes mentioned above and looked at others indicators of breeding performance and the interventions in seed systems that sought to address challenges of inaccessibility of improved seed by disadvantaged groups such as the poor, women and those in far remote locations

Farm level adoption and spatial diffusion of improved common bean varieties in southern highlands of Tanzania

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important crop mainly for smallholder farmers in Tanzania, for home consumption and cash income. Its productivity has been low due to a number of factors, including environmental stresses and limited input use. The socio-economic environment calls for development and dissemination of improved bean varieties that are well adapted to multiple constraints, in order to improve and stabilise bean productivity on smallholder farms. The objective of this study was to assess the adoption and spatial distribution of improved common bean varieties in Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The study used a bivariate probit model to account for possible correlation between the disturbances. Results show that the improved varieties have extensively diffused in the study area, with new improved bean varieties replacing old ones. A host of factors at plot level (e.g. perceptions about soil fertility status and plot distance from residence), household level (e.g. agricultural wealth, number of dependents, access to off farm income and years of experience in bean growing), and village level (e.g. distance from the village to main road, agricultural credit), significantly influenced the adoption of the improved varieties. Farmers who adopted new improved varieties attached a higher weight to agronomic attributes. Market attributes partly explained continued cultivating of old improved bean varieties. Results support investment in market hard and soft infrastructure in form of roads, financial services, farmer cooperatives and integration of ICT in seed dissemination.Keywords: Bivariate Probit Model, Phaseolus vulgari