Impact of Input Support Schemes on Irrigated Maize in Gokwe South District, Zimbabwe

Alpha Marlvin Manjera¹

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.9 , Issue.1 , pp.1-9, Mar-2021

Online published on Mar 31, 2021

Copyright © Alpha Marlvin Manjera . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
The study analyzed the existing input support schemes and their impact on maize productivity under irrigation in Zimbabwe taking Gokwe south district as a case study. In terms of the methodology, the study adopted case study, and targeted smallholder farmers in 33 wards of Gokwe South district. From 33 wards selected, only ward 5 (Sai ward) was used as a sample to represent the whole district with sub-villages. Sai ward comprise more than 20 villages with approximately 634 smallholder farmers in total and 40 farmers were used as a sample to provide primary data using a questionnaire. Government and non-governmental organizations also be interviewed and so are the service providers such as input suppliers and buyers. The results review that R value of 0, 825 (p<0.05) shown from correlation analysis between maize output and quantity of fertilizer. Furthermore, results revealed that based on the cost of production and input packages offered to small holder farmers in Gokwe South District farmers are realizing income ceteris paribus. Budget A. above showed cost of production under input support scheme while budget B is a comparative budget without input assistance. Smallholder farmers with input support scheme had lowest total variable cost of $339.03 compared to $411.77 without input assistance. In terms of revenue input support scheme had a 45% contributory compared to non-input assisted farmers. Overall in terms of profitability farmers with input support scheme realized a significant profit while those farming without assistance were realizing loss.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Input Support Scheme, maize productivity, smallholder farmers, profit

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