Abstract:
Participation in farming as well as membership in a cooperative society is voluntary. However, farmers’ decisions to participate are pre-determined by a variety of factors. This paper examines the socio-economic factors which influenced smallholder farmers in Kilombero Valley to participate in sugarcane contract farming, following a shift from the business association model to Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) model in 2017. A cross-sectional research design was used whereby 440 respondents were selected among smallholder sugarcane farmers. The unit of analysis was smallholder sugarcane farmers in the Valley. Data were collected by using a self-administered survey questionnaire, documentary review and key informant interview guide. The data were analysed by using descriptive statistics and binary logistics regression. The findings indicate that farmers’ age, marital status, farming experience, land size and land ownership significantly influenced smallholder sugarcane farmers to participate in contract farming (CF) through AMCOS at p < 0.01. Moreover, market information sharing, improved yields and improved farming knowledge and skills were the key benefits which determined the participation of farmers in CF through AMCOS. It is concluded that participation of the majority of the smallholder sugarcane farmers in the study area is influenced by CF through AMCOS. It is recommended that AMCOS should take advantage of the CF strategy to attract more farmer members through improved market gains. Moreover, AMCOS operations through CF should instil business confidence in both AMCOS members and non-members in the study area.
