Economic implication of crop loss due to low topping among tobacco farmers in Tanzania

Abstract

This study addresses the problem of low topping practice (LTP) among tobacco farmers in selected tobacco growing areas in Tanzania. It explores economic implications of LTP through investigating whether the observed median topping height in sampled farms is statistically different from the recommended topping height of 16, 18 and 20. The paper estimates the practical significance of the observed difference in terms of unrealised volume of tobacco/Ha by farmers, unrealised ISC/Ha and unrealised district cess/Ha to the government. It used secondary data on crop survey for 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons sourced from TTB while data on topping height were sourced from TLTC and AOTTL. A “one sample sign test” (OSST) was used instead of “one sample t-test” to compare the observed median topping height and the recommended topping height because the latter cannot be used to analyse count data i.e., toping height due to violation of normality assumption. The findings suggest that the observed median topping height of 14.9≈15 is statistically different from the recommended topping heights with p–values of 0.000. The implication is that a substantial volume of tobacco is not realised due to LTP which affects adversely the income of the farmers, financial stability of primary societies and revenue that could be collected as district cess by the government. Thus, government investments in terms of employing more crop development officers for TTB and institutions like TORITA is in dire need in order to increase the capacity of these institutions in conducting researches, trainings and close supervision of good agricultural practices among farmers. It should also ensure on time procurement and logistics for fertilizer importation in order to ensure on time distribution of fertilizers to the farmers.