Abstract:
This research was undertaken to analytically compare the objective and subjective
methods of measuring yields per unit area in the study area. The total number of
34 small scale horticulture farmers were involved in the study. Questionnaire and
interview were used to collect information regarding to size of production fields
and horticulture crop yields through recalling. GPS and crop cutting methods were
used to determine the actual size and yields respectively. Quantitative method of
data analysis was applied such that data were summarized using summary
statistics (frequencies and percentages) with the aid of Microsoft excel software
system and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Also
linear regression analysis was performed to test the relationship between field size
and yields. The findings revealed that 78% of the surveyed farmers overestimated
the size of their horticulture fields while 22% underestimated. The actual size of
fields overestimated ranges from 20m2
to 200m2 and 50m2
to 390m2
for staggered
and simultaneous harvest horticulture crops respectively. Underestimation of filed
sizes ranges from 50m2
to 500m2 and 100m2
to 125m2
for staggered and
simultaneous harvest horticulture crops respectively. On the other hand the
findings reveal that 81% of farmers, overestimated yields and 19%
underestimated. Overestimated of yields range from 22kgs to 881kgs and 52kgs to
297kgs for staggered and simultaneous harvest horticulture crops respectively
while underestimation ranges from 24kgs to 273kgs and 184kgs to 526kgs for
staggered and simultaneous harvest horticulture crops respectively. Additionally,
the findings revealed that there is a weak positive relation between filed size and
the yields of selected horticulture crops under subjective measurement methods.
This has been evidenced by P-values of linear regression models which shows
values greater than 0.05. This implies that field size and yields obtained from subjective methods were either overestimated or underestimated. The study
concluded that measuring field size and yields of horticulture crops by using
subjective methods results into significant distortions. Given this conclusion, it is
thus recommended that scientific investigation should be directed towards
investigating the mechanisms that can be used to improve the accuracy of
subjective methods in measuring agriculture productivity.
