Economics of on-farm maize storage in Tanzania: the case of Kilosa District

Abstract

This study describes the technological and economic aspects of traditional and improved farm level storage of maize in Kilosa district of rural Tanzania. A brief review of the maize industry in the country is provided. storage patterns in two survey villages using two different kinds of traditional storage structures are examined followed by a temporal price analysis of the parallel An economic and financial appraisal of farm improvements is presented. Primary data market. storage from the survey villages and secondary data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development are the basis for the analysis. The study reveals that farmers store grain mainly for home consumption with the surplus used for sale, seed and other socioeconomic . obligations. The temporal price analysis shows that parallel market price increases over time resulting from grain supply fluctuations are in excess of storage costs. This provides an opportunity for stores to make profits. It is further noted that farmers are aware of rodent and 'insect pest losses incured in their traditional granaries. Proposed farm level storage inprovements aimed at reducing these losses were found to be profitable in terms of parallel market prices. Benefit-cost ratios (BCR) ranging between 1:1 and 4:1 and internal rates of return (IRR) well above the cut-off rate of 18 percent were estimated. To ensure a stable food supply and restrained prices it is recommended that official prices should be made to vary over time to reflect storage costs. The cost effective improvements proposed in this text may further contribute to the realization of these objectives. To be more effective it is suggested in this study that future on-farm storage improvement programs prefer the multidisciplinary systems approach over the specialists symptomatic approach.