O papel da informação na produção e comercialização de hortaliças ao produtor rural na região sul de Moçambique

Abstract

Vegetables are agricultural products, which can be eaten fresh or even processed; and their production may constitute a strategy to obtain income and guarantee food security for rural / family farmers in Mozambique. The objective of this work was to analyze the role of information in the production and commercialization of vegetables from family production in southern Mozambique. Methodologically, the study was applied; follows a quali-quanti approach; as for the type of research, it was descriptive and explanatory. The work was carried out in the southern region of Mozambique, in the provinces that have the largest fraction of vegetable production, Maputo and Gaza. The target community was a total of 166,867 producers who live in nine districts of the listed provinces and who are dedicated to the production and marketing of vegetables in a stratified probabilistic sample of 384 producers. The survey was carried out between the months of February to June 2019. Primary and secondary data were used. The primary data were obtained by applying a questionnaire composed of an Open/Closed question, which was filled out by the interviewer who questioned the producers. Secondary data were consulted in the literature on aspects related to information, production and marketing of vegetables, as well as documents from official agencies of Mozambique and FAO. Data analyzes were descriptive and econometric. As for the econometric analysis, the binary logit econometric regression model was used. The independent variables were quantitative and qualitative related to socio-economic, psychological, organizational and demographic factors. Data analysis was performed using the statistical packages SPSS and Eviews, at a significance level of 5%. As a result, it was found that 85% of the population Mozambican woman lives from agriculture and has her life based on activity, being the main source of income in communities living in rural areas. The profile of the practitioners involved in the research was made up of people aged between 19 and 85 years, of which 50% have no school education, composed of men (46%) and women (54%) who cultivate in small areas 0.1 to 20 hectares intensively. The 19-year-olds, due to the country's economic situation, develop the activity of producing vegetables as their sole occupation, generating income to guarantee their livelihood. The survey unanimously identified that the producers pointed out as obstacles to the production and commercialization process the climatic conditions, pests and diseases, the cost of inputs in the market, the price received in the sale for being in constant fluctuation and the interference of intermediaries . The explanatory variables that were statistically significant and determinants of information were: age, participating in a cooperative / association of producers, time or experience in production, satisfaction with financial return, technical assistance, access to credit, yield produced by harvest, use of telephone in negotiation, route used to commercialize production, production management. It is worth mentioning that only the variable production yield per crop showed a negative sign, contrary to expectations. The information on vegetable production becomes relevant because it is what keeps the producer connected with events of a productive and commercial nature, creating knowledge and knowledge, facilitating communication between market participants, and making the activity economically sustainable.