Inaccessibility of Road Transport to Farmers

Tanzania economy depends on agriculture as its main stay, but still rural farmers suffer from poor road transport and high cost of transport of products to markets. Problems in transport sector affect agricultural production in two ways. Firstly, the time and energy spent on transport related activities reduce labour productivity because the transport charges have led the price of fertilizers to be very high, hence reduces the profits which labour could get. Secondly, increased market costs as a result of inadequate and poorly maintained roads that are passed on to farmers in terms of low farm –gate price. In many food-growing areas, crops are carried in many kilometers by head to the assembly markets or roadsides. Despite the efforts made by the government concerning road transport, still there is inadequate agricultural production in rural areas. Because of this structure of human settlement and production, road transport system assumes an extraordinarily important role in the economic development of an area. The study evaluates the impact of road transport on agricultural production. It was conducted at Mikese, Kiroka, Kinole and Mkambarani wards located in Morogoro District.