CROP PRODUCTION

1. Poor crop animal husbandry – Due to low level of education the conservative farmers do not practice the recommended husbandly practices. They thus plant late, fail to control pests, plant poor seeds and as a result yields obtained are very low compared to the yield obtained in developed countries.

2. Poor marketing facilities- Sometimes the transport system is inefficient or unavailable thereby leading to spoilage of produce due to delay in delivery to the market. Some times the middlemen involved in marketing of the farmers produce take too large profit. As a result the farmer receives too low prices for his produce hence he has no incentive to produce more.

3. Lack of capital-Every farmer requires capital to invest in the development of his farming e.g. installment of piped water in the farm, buying fencing materials, fertilizers etc.

Mostly farmers obtain capital or loans. Source of these loans include Commercial bank or AFC which is a government credit agent.

Security is required for one to get a loan and mast farmers don’t have security hence the level of investment in their farms is low.

4. Psychological and sociological factors: poor Attitude towards Agriculture as an occupation has seen many people migrate in urban areas in search of white color jobs leaving behind the old and the less educated to attend to the land.

5. Poor tools – In most rural areas the farmers still use the traditional hand tools e.g. fork, pangas etc which are rather inefficient consequently critical operation such as seedbed operation and planting are often completed late and the quality of the same is poor. This leads to low yields and poor income to the farmer.

6. Pest and disease: The tropical climate in Central Africa encourages a wide range of pests and disease.

- The pests and diseases multiply much more rapidly here than in the cooler temperature countries hence farming is a constant battle between the farmer and the pest and diseases.

7. Fluctuations of commodity prices: Due to the change in supply and demand prices of most Agricultural products keep on changing from time to time with the unsettling effects on farming.

8. Aridity: - Large trucks of land receive very little rainfall per annum and are therefore either marginal for economical farming or are semi-deserts.

9. Land tenure: This is the state of ownership of land and conditions governing that ownership. The land tenure problem facing East Africa is that most of the land is owned either by a community or by a clan and therefore an individual has no real incentive to look after such land.

10. Poor storage: - This is a common problem amongst small scale farmers. Much spoilage is experienced via pest damage which results to considerable waste.