| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT: This study aimed at assessing the contribution of orange production to household income of smallholder farmers in Muheza District. Data collected using structured questionnaires administered to a random sample of 135 households composed of equal sub-samples from three wards. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson Product Moment Correlation) were used to analyze processed data. Results indicate that average orange yield was 12,875 kg/ha with the maximum of 24,500kg/ha and the minimum of 487 kg/ha. The average annual income earned from orange production was TZS 3,840,229 and contributed to 35% to total annual household income among orange producers. Furthermore, the results revealed that annual household income significantly correlated with income from orange production (r = 0.9431, P = 0.000), livestock (r = 0.199, P = 0.021), other crops (r = 0.245, P = 0.009) and income from salaries/wages (r = 0.455, P = 0.0000) while income from petty business was not significant (r = 0.053, P = 0.543). The study concludes that orange yield in kilogram was significantly correlated with the farm size in hectare. The yield of oranges has being decreasing per hectare probably due to the fact that orange tree are too old that cannot produce more oranges per hectare, decline in soil fertility caused by continuous cultivation without replenishment of soil with fertilizers and inadequate application of insecticides/ pesticides among farmers. Also, annual household income significantly correlated with income from orange production. Consequently, the study recommends that strategies to increase orange production in the area should emphasize on optimal application of agricultural inputs including fertilizers, pesticide and
insecticide. Efforts should also be made to encourage the farmers‟ plant new trees to replace the ones that are old with lower yields. | en_US |
