Groundnut market participation in Zimbabwe: A case of Makoni District

Abstract

Groundnut production and marketing contribute substantially to food and nutrition, livestock feed, soil fertility amendment, and income diversification for the majority of poor smallholder farmers in rural Zimbabwe. However, one of the challenging issues affecting the benefits from groundnut farming continues to be the low market involvement of smallholder farmers. Research on the factors preventing smallholder farmers from effectively participating in local markets remains inadequate and inconclusive. Hence, this study examined the market participation of smallholder groundnut farmers in Zimbabwe and assessed the key factors influencing their decision to participate. A survey was conducted among 234 randomly selected smallholder groundnut farmers in the Headlands area of Makoni district, Zimbabwe. This study employed a combination of data analysis methods, comprising descriptive statistics and econometric tests. The results suggest that groundnut market participation is fairly low in Makoni District. Logit model results indicated that the decision to participate in the local groundnut market was positively influenced by membership in a farmer organization, quantity harvested, off-farm income, and access to credit. Additionally, household characteristics such as family size, gender (being female), and marital status (being divorced) had a negative relationship with the farmers' market participation decision. These findings provide insight into why smallholder groundnut farmers in Zimbabwe select themselves out of remunerative markets. To increase smallholder groundnut farmers' market participation, the government and concerned stakeholders need to focus on strengthening extension services and farmer organizations, which are key to improving smallholders' access to production information and credit facilities.