The Role Of Seed Money Approach In Influencing The Adoption Of Metal Silo Technology Among Smallholder Farmers In Kondoa District

ABSTRACT

Most Developing Nations suffer from hunger due to excessive grain’s Post-Harvest Loss (PHL) Hence, ensuring food security in Africa is among the 2030 Sustainable development goals (SDGs). To achieve that, it is necessary for farmers to adopt modern and improved grain storage technologies to minimize PHL. However, due to financial constraints, smallholder farmers use traditional methods due to their limited income. Therefore, financing initiatives are needed to enable them to adopt modern grain storage technologies. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of financing through the seed money approach in influencing the adoption of metal silo technology. A cross-sectional research design is used with a total sample size of 227 smallholder farmers who are enrolled in VICOBA groups. The study found that more than fifty percent of the farmers interviewed from intervention wards own at least one metal silo while none of the farmers from nonintervention wards owns one. Most of the farmers acquired metal silo through the seed money approach. Both the LPM and Logistic model revealed that the seed money approach has a positive and statistically significant effect on the adoption of metal silo technology. Also, the results revealed that social networks have a statistical impact on the adoption of metal silo technology. This is consistent with the diffusion of innovation theory which argues that the adoption of modern technology is influenced by social networks. The key lesson learned from this study is that, access to credits is a vital factor in improving the adoption of modern Postharvest Technologies (PHT) among smallholder farmers in Tanzania.