Marketing Practices and Coffee Post-Harvest Value Chain Performance among Smallholder Farmers in Moshi District Tanzania

Abstract

Coffee is a dependable source of direct cash income for about four (4) million Tanzanians. Improving marketing practices for smallholder farmers is important in the coffee value chain, especially on the deployment of marketing activities to achieve better coffee post-harvest value chain performance. This empirical study assessed the contribution of marketing practices on coffee post-harvest value chain performance in Moshi District-Tanzania. A cross-section research design was adopted and a sample of 215 coffee smallholder farmers was obtained through multi-stage sampling technique. A questionnaire and key informants' interview guide were used as data collection tools. Qualitative data were analysed through the constant comparison content analysis method. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression. It was revealed that, marketing transaction costs influenced coffee post-harvest value chain performance in terms of profits, output sales and post-harvest losses. Therefore, it is recommended that the Government and other stakeholders should create favourable marketing environment to smallholder farmers, market liberalisation to allow competition and reduction of marketing transaction costs.