Abstract            Volume:10  Issue-2  Year-2022         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

This study aimed at understanding factors causing the yield gap among smallholders in the study area and propose possible interventions to increase coffee productivity from the current level of 300 kg ha^-1for Arabica coffee to optima level of 2000 kg ha^-1for improved and 1000 kg ha^-1for traditional coffee varieties. The primary data were collected from 122 adopters and 198 non-adopters of improved coffee varieties using a semi-structured questionnaire. The Soil Analysis for Fertility Evaluation and Recommendation on Nutrient Application to Coffee (SAFERNAC) model were used to analyse the coffee yield gap while linear regression (OLS) model was used to determine factors influencing coffee yield. The adoption rate of adopters of improved coffee varieties is 38 %. The average yield attained by adopters is 1235 kgha^-1and non-adopters is 513 kg ha^-1. The yield gap from farmers' records is 2286 kg ha^-1and 791 kg ha^-1non-adopters. The yield gap from research data and farmers' records was 765 kg ha^-1and 487 kg ha^-1for adopters and non-adopters respectively. However, the finding from the SAFERNAC model showed that actual yield for Igamba and Ihanda wards are above the model. The main factors positively influencing coffee yield and statistically significant were type of coffee variety planted, plant population, access extension services, fertilizer applications, pruning and amount of fertilizer applied (gmtree^-1). The factors that negatively influencing coffee yield and statistically significant is an expansion of a new coffee farm. It is therefore recommended that farmers should be provided with right training by extension officers on coffee farming so as to minimize the coffee yield gap and increase productivity.

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