LILONGWE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION
My name is Peter Mgungwe, a third-year student pursuing bachelor of science in Agribusiness management at
Lilongwe university of agriculture and natural resources. This a questionnaire for my academic research study
which is to assess the roles of agrodealers on the performance of smallholder maize farming enterprise which is
to be conducted in Mitundu EPA.
This questionnaire is intended to collect data on factors influencing performance of smallholder farming
enterprises with respect to the roles of agro-dealers and challenges limiting accessibility of farming inputs in
selected area above. Your identity will be treated confidentially and the information you give will be used for
academic purpose only. If you agree, then kindly sign and respond to all the questions as honestly as possible.
Prior and free informed consent (of interviewee)
Name: ________________________ Date: ________________ Signature: _____
PART A: AGRO-DEALER’S CHARACTERISTICS AND SERVICES
1. Name of agro-dealer and area of operation
Name________________________________
Location______________________________
2. Nature of Agro-dealer Business (tick all that apply):
i. Fulltime stockist YES_____ NO__________
ii. Wholesaler (sales to stockists) YES________ NO______
iii. Mobile Agent YES _______ NO______
iv. Seasonal stockist YES_______ NO __________
v. Other (specify)_____________________________________________________
3. Form of business (tick all that apply):
i. Sole proprietor YES_________ NO ___________
ii. Partnership YES ___________ NO_________
iii. Family YES___________ NO________
iv. Society Company YES______ NO __________
v. Other (specify): _____________________________
4. Is your business registered? YES_______________ NO____________

5. When did you start offering services? (year)______________________

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6. What is the range of product stocked in your enterprise;

PRODUCT YES / NO (tick one)

Seeds
Fertilizers
Crop protection chemicals
Veterinary products (drugs & vaccines)
Equipment’s e.g. spray pumps
Others(specify)____________________________________
_
7. Which products sell the most? __________________________________________________________
8. How much do sell per month? __________________________________________________________
9. Services offered to farmer customers

Service offered YES/NO (Tick one)

Selling of inputs
Transportation of products
Training on products use
Over the counter advice
Credit to customers
Demonstration of products
Purchase of produce
Equipment leasing
Contracted farm labour
Other(specify)______________________________________
_

10. Describe the demand for various products/services over the seasons.
i. Low YES _______ NO______
ii. Moderate YES _______ NO______
iii. Increasing YES _______ NO______
iv. No change YES _______ NO______
11. Approximately, how many individual customers did you interact with per week?
____________________ (estimation)
12. What do you think are some of the constraints your customers/smallholder farmers?
face in trying to access services? (multiple responses)
i. Long distance YES _______ NO______
ii. Lack of cash money YES _______ NO______
iii. Lack of information on improved farm inputs YES _______ NO______
iv. Transportation problems YES _______ NO______
v. High cost of inputs YES _______ NO______
vi. Others(specify)_____________________________________________________

13. I am confident in giving farmer customers advice about how to use the products I sell (indicate the
level of agreement by ticking one).
i. Strongly disagree ____________ iii. Agree___________
ii. Disagree _________________ iv. Strongly agree __________
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14. Business Constraints (rate how the following constraints affect the business) (Tick in the box in
indicating the level of effect of the business constraint)

Constraints Not Mild moderate Severe

applicable
Stock-out due to limited storage
facilities
Stock-out due to supplier stock-out
Transportation cost from suppliers
to store
Farmers doubt benefits of
improved inputs
Farmers not confident in using
improved inputs
Counterfeit products
Expiry of products
Farmers lack sufficient cash for
purchasing inputs
Security/ theft from shop
Seasonality -in sufficient turn over
to keep shop open
Low business capital
Others (specify)

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PART B: CHARACTERISTICS OF SMALLHOLDER FARMING ENTERPRISE AND
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
1. IDENTIFICATION
A. Name_________ C. T/A _____________
B. Village __________
2. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

Family Gender Age Marital Education Annual Farmer club

size (tick status level income affiliation
one) (tick one) (tick one) (yes/no)

Male 0<20yrs Single Primary

female 21-30yrs married Secondary

31-40yrs other Tertiary

41-50yrs

51-60yrs

Above
60yrs

3. INPUT ACQUISITION AND PERFORMANCE OF MAIZE VALUE CHAIN

A. Do you engage in Maize production? YES_______ NO ________
B. Why did you choose maize production over other crops?
____________________________________________________________________________
C. How much land do you own? _____________________________________________________
D. How much land do you use for maize production? ________________________
E. Do you use improved farm inputs?
F. How did you acquire inputs used in production of your cash crop? (multiple responses)
i. Buying from agrodealers______ iv. Farmers organisation(specify)_____________
ii. FISP ________ v. from relatives ____________
iii. Recycles_________ vi. Others(specify)__________________
G. if inputs were acquired from agro-dealers, what were these inputs? (multiple response)
i. Fertilizer _____________
ii. Seeds _________________
iii. Spray pumps_________
iv. Crop protection chemicals_______
v. Others (specify)_________
H. How often do you purchase these inputs? Annually………... other frequency…………
I. Complete the table with information on inputs acquired from agrodealers

Type of input Quantity purchased Unit price (MK) Total costs

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J. Did you receive any advice on the use of the inputs? YES_____________ NO ________________

K. What other services or products do you get from agrodealers of your area?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
L. Do you have confidence in the services provided by agrodealers?
i. Strongly agree
ii. Disagree
iii. Agree
iv. Strongly agree
M. Fill in the table by ticking in the column that best represents how the agrodealers roles in our area
have impacted the performance of your maize production.

Maize value chain performance extent of agrodealers roles impact on maize production
measure
No impact Small extent Medium Great
(0) (1) extent (2) extent (3)

Reduced transport costs of

inputs/output

Reduced material costs

Improved information accuracy on

input use

Increase product varieties

Improved quality of maize output

Improved productivity

Reduced uncertainty over prices

Improved use of resources

Improve in timeliness in delivery

Improved loan/credit access

Reduced production costs

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 N. What do you wish agrodealers should improve or add to their mode of service delivery?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
O. How far is the distance to the nearest agrodealers store? ______________________(KM)

P. What are the challenges you face in order to access services from agrodealers?
i. Long distance YES _______ NO______
ii. Lack of cash money YES _______ NO______
iii. Lack of information on improved farm inputs YES _______ NO______
iv. Transportation problems YES _______ NO______
v. High cost of inputs YES _______ NO______
vi. Others(specify)_____________________________________________________
4. MAIZE YIELD AND PRODUCTION COSTS
vii. In the past three growing seasons, how much of these crops were produced and sold and how
much income was generated?
2016/17
Crop Area (ha) Amount Amount Selling Income
produced sold (Kg) price per generated
(Kg) B2 kg (MK) B4
B3
Maize

2017/18

Crop Area (ha) Amount Amount Selling Income

produced sold (Kg) price per generated
(Kg) B2 kg (MK) B4
B3
Maize

2018/2019

Crop Area (ha) Amount Amount Selling Income

produced sold (Kg) price per generated
(Kg) B2 kg (MK) B4
B3
Maize

2019/2020

Crop Area (ha) Amount Amount Selling Income

produced price per generated
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 (Kg) B2 sold (Kg) kg (MK) B4
B3
Maize

Q. Where do sell your maize output

Buyer Quantity sold(kg)

Agrodealers

Consumers

Retailers

Others(specify)

R. Is the price of maize affected by the cost of inputs or scarcity of output? _______________________
S. What Other crop enterprises do you engage in?
______________________________________________________________________
T. How did you produce? 2017_________2018__________2019__________
U. How much did you sell? ________________________________________________
V. What was the per unit selling price? __________________________________

Period Area seed Inorganic Organic pesticide Labour Marketing Miscellaneou Total
fertilizers fertilizer s & s cost
s transport costs
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20