Constraints To Women Smallholder Farmers In Ensuring Food Security At Household Level

Most of rural women are smallholder farmers, they are the main food producer andplay a great role in ensuring food security as a poverty reduction strategy in the area, althoughtheir efforts are faced with a number of barriers that deprive them from fulfilling theirpotential as farmers, food provider, producer, and sometimes entrepreneur. The study aim toevaluates the constraints on WSFs toward ensuring food security at household level as apoverty reduction strategy by focusing on variables such as the women’s level of education,access to resources, technology, farm size, and the agro-inputs. The study will provideinformation that could be helpful for the community to recognizing the constraints to womensmallholder farmers’ efforts in ensuring food security and improving livelihoods athouseholds and hence create conducive environments for WSFs so as they can ensure thathouseholds are food secured with good living condition.This thesis mainly used a combination of standard and empirical research methods.Based on the systematical review of related food security theory and international anddomestic research literature were reviewed, analysis was done on the role WSFs play inensuring food production, domestic matters and non farming income generating activitiesdone by women so as to ensure food security in their home. Almost222WSFs wereinterviewed from Msowero ward of the Kilosa in Morogoro region-Tanzania as the samplepopulation. Using theoretical analysis as the basis, the Logistic model was used to analyze thevariables that restrict WSFs efforts to ensure food security at their households. From thisanalysis, the main influencing factors were obtained. From these results, countermeasures andsuggestions were proposed.The Logistic regression analysis as an econometric analysis was conducted as anapproach to examine the constraints to WSFs in ensuring food security at households. Thelogistic regression model was set as the function of set of variables such as farm size, familysize, farm’s productive resources and other services. The result showed that five out of eightvariables analyzed were significant at the5%level (p<0.05), two were significant at the10% level and one variable were not significant. The variables significant at the5%level werefarm size, family size, access to modern technology, basically in irrigation service andagricultural extension education/training, access to agro inputs like seeds, fertilizers andpesticides and access to resources such a land and capital, while food storage facilities and thecost of food production, were significant at the10%level (p<0.1). WSFs participation inrural co-operative group was not significant. Women as the main food producer in the area arefaced with a number of constraints which restrain their efforts. Since WSFs do participate infarming, they supply a large percentage of the labour force (almost more that80%of thelabour force) in agriculture sector; they participate in local food processing activities and doconduct almost all the household chores/works. But they are the more constrained group andalways lack access to potential services which could smooth their agricultural productionactivities. Therefore, in order to reduce the barriers to WSFs and make sure that they haveaccess to modern irrigation service technology, training/education, capital/credit, land, labour,markets as well as the agro inputs like improved seeds and fertilizers, the government incollaboration with public and private development sector have to support/integrate short andlong-term development initiatives that could create conducive/supportive environment tofarmers, also have to make sure that the initiatives are conceived and implemented withspecial consideration of women as smallholder farmers and main food producers.