Benimana Gilberthe Uwera, Ritho Dr Cecilia, Irungu Dr Patrick
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 29053, 00625 Nairobi, Kenya.
Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), KG 563 Street #7, Kacyiru, P.O. Box 1269, Kigali, Rwanda.
Heliyon. 2023 Mar 14;9(3):e14592. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14592. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Rapid population growth has increased the global demand for food. However, some studies have revealed that more than one-third of the global food production is lost during postharvest operations along the food supply chain. Managerial and technical limitations such as a lack of proper storage facilities, poor handling practices and, associated knowledge are among the main causes of food losses particularly in Africa. Maize is among the most important staple food and cash crops across sub-Saharan Africa. In Rwanda, most of the maize produced incurs losses during storage. Hermetic storage technologies (HST) have been proven to be effective in the control of post-harvest storage losses in maize. However, their adoption in maize storage has been low with farmers continuing to use less effective technologies. Therefore, this study assessed the impact of hermetic maize storage technologies adoption, on the income of 301 randomly selected smallholder maize farmers in Gatsibo District of Rwanda, using the endogenous switching regression (ESR). The results revealed that household size, post-harvest training, access to credit, distance to input provider, and the household head's experience in maize production were the major factors influencing farmers' decision to adopt HST. The occupation of the household head, number of plots reserved for other crops, training, household size, age of the household head, and household maize self-sufficiency goal significantly influenced income for both HST adopters and non-adopters. Overall, the adoption of HST had a positive and significant impact on income from stored maize, among those who adopted it. The study recommends that the government of Rwanda and other stakeholders should support the dissemination of HST to facilitate access. Thus, increased access to institutional support services such as post-harvest training, credit access, and agricultural input supply, should be a major part of efforts aimed at promoting the effective use of hermetic maize storage technologies among smallholder maize farmers in Rwanda.
人口的快速增长增加了全球对粮食的需求。然而，一些研究表明，全球超过三分之一的粮食产量在粮食供应链的收获后操作过程中损失掉了。管理和技术方面的限制，如缺乏适当的储存设施、不良的处理方法以及相关知识，是造成粮食损失的主要原因，在非洲尤其如此。玉米是撒哈拉以南非洲最重要的主食和经济作物之一。在卢旺达，大部分生产的玉米在储存期间都会遭受损失。密封储存技术已被证明在控制玉米收获后储存损失方面是有效的。然而，它们在玉米储存中的采用率很低，农民们继续使用效果较差的技术。因此，本研究使用内生转换回归（ESR）评估了采用密封玉米储存技术对卢旺达加齐博区随机挑选的301名小农户玉米种植者收入的影响。结果表明，家庭规模、收获后培训、获得信贷的机会、到投入品供应商的距离以及户主在玉米生产方面的经验是影响农民采用密封储存技术决策的主要因素。户主的职业、预留作其他作物种植的地块数量、培训、家庭规模、户主年龄以及家庭玉米自给自足目标对采用密封储存技术者和未采用者的收入都有显著影响。总体而言，对于采用密封储存技术的人来说，采用该技术对储存玉米的收入有积极且显著的影响。该研究建议卢旺达政府和其他利益相关者应支持密封储存技术的推广，以便利获取。因此，增加获得诸如收获后培训、信贷获取和农业投入供应等机构支持服务的机会，应成为旨在促进卢旺达小农户玉米种植者有效使用密封玉米储存技术的努力的重要组成部分。
