Abstract:
Introduction of the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) in Tanzania was targeted at
facilitating the creation of conducive marketing environment. The system was meant to
enable farmers to sell their farm produce directly at auctions so as to reduce the
middleperson’s margins and increase farmers’ incomes through price appreciation at
auctions. However, the level of farmers’ access to the WRS services is low and therefore
effectiveness of the WRS is questionable. This study assessed the effectiveness of the
WRS in creating coffee marketing environment in Mbinga District. The specific objectives
were to identify factors influencing farmers’ participation in WRS; to determine farmers’
perceptions on the WRS achievements in facilitating provision of storage, credit, and
market services; and examine effectiveness of the WRS in creation of good marketing
environment and improving farm productivity. A cross-sectional research design was
used, and data were gathered from 390 households using a questionnaire. Focus group
discussions, and key informant interviews were used also. Quantitative data regarding
factors influencing farmers’ participation in the WRS marketing channel were analysed
using a binary logistic regression model while qualitative data regarding farmers’
perceptions of effectiveness of the WRS were analysed using thematic content analysis. In
addition, the effect of agro-inputs credit through the WRS on coffee farm productivity was
analysed using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method. The study shows that age of
respondents, access to marketing information, sex and distance from coffee farms to the
Agricultural Marketing and Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) or farmers’ group (FGs)
centres where coffe is collected were significant factors that influenced coffee farmers’
decisions to participate in the WRS. The WRS was perceived to be effective by farmers in
provision of storage services and facilitation of access to agro-inputs through AMCOS and
FGs. However, coffee marketing was perceived by farmers to be ineffective due to inadequate availability of marketing information regarding coffee prices offered at
auctions. Furthermore, the influence of credit in the form of agro-inputs accessed through
WRS marketing channel had a significant impact on the productivity of coffee farms
(p<0.05). Conclusively, farmers perceived storage and credit services to be effective,
henceforth there was a general effectiveness of the WRS. The study recommends that
stakeholders in coffee sector should ensure that farmers access WRS coffee marketing
information transparently by facilitating institutionalisation of market information.
