Factors Determining Choice and Impact of Hermetic Maize Storage Technology Adoption on Smallholder Farmers’ Income in Gatsibo District, Rwanda

Abstract

The growing food demand occasioned by the rising global population is a major issue of global concern. It calls for an increase in food production to meet the global food demand. Studies have revealed that over 33% of the food produced globally get lost through post-harvest operations along the food supply chain. Lack of proper storage facilities and food handling practices are among the major causes of food losses. Reducing food losses using appropriate storage technologies is therefore important to curb food losses to ensure food and nutrition security. Thus, this study aimed to examineexamineexamineexamine choices choices choices and and the impact of adopting pact of adopting pact of adopting pact of adopting pact of adopting pact of adopting pact of adopting pact of adopting hermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologhermetic maize storage technologies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallhoies (HST) on smallholder maizlder maizlder maize fe fe farmers’ inarmers’ inarmers’ inarmers’ inarmers’ inarmers’ income income income in the the GatGatsibo district, Rwandao district, Rwandao district, Rwandao district, Rwandao district, Rwandao district, Rwandao district, Rwanda. Specific objectives of this study were to characterize different maize storage technologies used by farmers in terms of the level of adoption, benefits, and constraints using descriptive statistics. It also assessed the factors affecting smallholder maize farmers’ decisions about using alternative storage technologies, using the multivariate probit model. Finally, the study assessed the impact of hermetic storage technologies adoption on maize storage income among smallholder maize farmers, using an endogenous switching regression (ESR) on a random sample of 301 respondents from GatsiboGatsiboGatsibo District of Rwanda. The results revealed that the common maize storage technologies used among smallholder farmers were polypropylene bags, chemicals, hermetic bags, and silos. Only 41% were HST adopters. Membership in farmer groups, access to credit, the quantity of maize produced, access to training, and selling maize immediately after harvest were the major factors influencing farmers’ adoption of alternative storage technologies. The results from the ESR model show that household size, training, access to credit, distance to input provider, and the household head’s experience in maize production influenced smallholder farmers’ decision to adopt HST. Overall, the adoption of HST had a positive and significant impact on income from stored maize among maize smallholder farmers. The study recommends that the government of Rwanda and other stakeholders should support the dissemination of HST to facilitate access. In addition, policies supporting the training of smallholder maize farmers on post-harvest loss reduction and facilitating smallholder farmers’ access to credit are highly recommended.