Determinants of the market channel choice by smallholder maize farmers in Zimbabwe: a case of the Mazowe District

Marketing is crucial in alleviating poverty and achieving food security and sustainable agriculture goals, especially among smallholder maize farmers. Household demographics and transactional costs are critical in understanding the smallholder farmers’ choice of specific market channels. This paper aimed to determine which marketing alternatives are being used by the smallholder maize farmers in the Mazowe District, the relative extent of their use and what personal characteristics of the respondents may affect their choice of a market outlet. Data were collected from 382 smallholder maize farmers in the Mazowe District, one of Zimbabwe's main maize-producing districts. The study used a structured questionnaire for data collection. The Multinomial Logit Model was used as the analytical tool. Three distinct maize marketing channel options were identified: the farm gate, the local market and the Grain Marketing Board. The results indicated that the factors that significantly influenced the market choice by the smallholder farmers are the age of the household head, extension contacts, market information, the distance to the market and the maize market price. An increase in the number of visits by extension workers significantly increased the likelihood that a maize producer will choose the local market when selling the maize produce. The distance to the market significantly influenced the probability of selecting the local market to the farm gate. As the distance to the local market increases, the smallholder farmers in Mazowe will prefer the farm gate for selling their produce. The producer’s price was also statistically significant in determining the smallholder farmers’ channel choice. In this study, the farm gate was the popular marketing channel for smallholder farmers. However, the price offered is often not competitive; the farmers opt for it due to a lack of storage facilities and low transaction costs.