Do agricultural research and rural extension organizations satisfy households’ agricultural demands? Evidence from maize growers in sussundenga district, mozambique

    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Come, Sérgio Feliciano (author), Neto, José Ambrósio Ferreira (author), and Cavane, Eunice Paula Armando (author)
    Format:
    Journal article
    Publication Date:
    2021-06
    URL:
    https://academicjournals.org/journal/JAERD/article-full-text-pdf/3685ED167137
    Published:
    Academic Journals
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D12346
    Journal Title:
    Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development
    Journal Title Details:
    V. 13, N. 2
    Subject Term:
    agricultural technology, demand, needs assessment, rural families, agricultural, maize, Mozambique, agricultural marketing, production agriculture, rural extension, and farmers attitudes
    Notes:
    9 pages, This paper compares the supply and demand of agricultural technologies related to maize crop in Sussundenga district, Mozambique. The field work was carried out in February and March 2018 and comprises of a survey of 140 households’ maize growers, interviews with 15 agricultural technicians and six focus group meetings (four with maize growers and two with agricultural technicians). Data analysis was done using Bardin’s content analysis and descriptive statistics. The results reveal that agricultural research and rural extension focus more on supplying technologies related to maize production. But farmers have holistic expectations that go beyond production technologies to include the entire marketing chain. It makes the technical support provided with little use to maize growers. Besides it, there are also farmers’ unanswered demands and the supply of non-demanded technologies. It means that there is a mismatch between supply and demand of maize farming technologies. Agricultural research and rural extension organizations are suggested to supply not only agricultural technologies that maximize crop yield, but also services that help households improve their ability to store agricultural products and to sell it when prices are high. These actions have the potential to improve agricultural market performance and make the agricultural technologies more useful to maize growers.

    Tools