Farm Level Strategic Response to Pesticide Regulations and Its Impact on Performance of Small Scale Vegetable Farmers in Tanzania

Aims: To analyze the impact of different farm-level strategic response to pesticide regulations on farm performance of small scale vegetable farmers.

Study Design: A cross-section survey of 167 small scale farmers was carried out to estimate the impact of pesticide regulations on farm performance. A structured interview was used to obtain descriptive information in the field.

Place and Duration of Study: Data collection for the study took place between January and April 2016 in the selected small scale vegetable farms in Mvomero and Kilosa districts in Morogoro region, Tanzania.

Methodology: The Hirschman’s framework was used to examine the strategic options through which small scale vegetable farmers respond to the private and public pesticide standards focusing on whether the strategy is loyalty, voice, exit and neglect. The logistic regression was used to estimate the impact of loyalty and exit strategies on the income and pesticide expenditure of small scale vegetable farmers. The instrument variable was used to account for endogeneity problem in regression function of pesticide use.

Results: About, 80% of the small scale vegetable farmers responded to pesticide regulations through “loyalty and exit” while 20% of the farmers deployed “neglect” option with no voice response. The regression results revealed that the loyalty and exit strategies are significantly but positively and negatively associated with pesticide expenditure and income of small scale vegetable farmers respectively. The small scale vegetable farmers who opted for loyalty and exit strategies not only have an increased amount spent on pesticides but also earn less income from vegetable production than those with a neglect strategic response.

Conclusion: The loyalty and exit strategies showed no desired impact on farm performance in terms of pesticide expenditure and income for small scale farmers. In an effort to build capacity, the small scale farmers should focus on strategies that exhibit loyalty and voice behavior.