Assessing the Impact of Outgrower Scheme on Smallholder Farmers’ Income in Tanzania: The Case of Small-scale Tea Producers in Mufindi District

초록

Enhancing income for small-scale farmers in developing countries, is one of the major concerns for governments and many stakeholders. This is attributed by the fact that, a majority of small scale farmers in the region are characterized by low income earners caused by agronomic related chal lenges, such as low productivity of input factors. In addressing this challenge, the purpose of this study was to assess the impact of outgrower scheme on its members’ income, using the propensity score match ing approach. Through this approach the study assessed cross-sectional data, collected from small-scale tea farmers in the Mufindi district, founded in Tanzania. Results of the assessment on the impact of out grower scheme on its members, suggest that the scheme has a negative and insignificant impact on its members’ income. This implies that, the outgrower scheme does not meet its intended objective of rais ing the income of its members, due to failure of improving quality as well as quantity of tea produced in the study area.

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