This study analyzed smallholder farmers’ socio-economic determinants for inputs use in
major rice producing regions in Tanzania. A sample for the study comprised of 842 rice
farming households from five major paddy (rice) producing regions of Mbeya, Morogoro,
Shinyanga, Mwanza and Tabora. These sample households were drawn from FAO database
extracted from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (2010-2011). Household socioeconomic
and farm production information were extracted from the database. Descriptive analyses
were used to summarize the collected information. Probit model was used to assess
determinants of input use among the farming households. The study found that the
probability of using agricultural inputs increase with education level, quantity of crops
produced, livestock, farm income while it decrease with total number of livestock and
nonfarm income owned by a household. The study also found difference in input use
preferences among regions; in Mbeya more use in maize while in Shinyanga more input use
in rice. Based on these findings, our study concluded that in order to raise the use of
agricultural fertilizer among smallholder farmers, policy makers and development agencies
should put more efforts on developing and implementing sustainable strategies such as
improving market infrastructure that lead to improved access to input and output markets
thereby improving farmers’ incomes. Price policies are also important to increase and
stabilize farmers’ incomes and incentivize use of and investment in improved agricultural
technologies such as improved agricultural inputs, seeds and post-harvest management
techniques