Abstract

Among the most common food crops produced worldwide, maize can be considered as among the global leading cereals in terms of production and consumption. It is produced across variety of regions and climatic conditions. However, majority of production worldwide, especially in the developing countries is carried out by smallholder farmers who encounter challenges in accessing formal markets. This also provide challenges for maize millers in accessing quality and enough quantity from the smallholders farmers spread across various regions. This research aimed at investigating the effect of maize stock procurement practices on the unpredictable prices of maize flour in Rwanda, taking a case study of Minimex Ltd. It was guided by three specific objectives, namely, to investigate the effect of procurement assessment on unpredictable price of maize flour in MINIMEX Ltd; to investigate the relationship between procurement strategies and unpredictable price of maize flour in Minimex Ltd. and to investigate the effect of procurement forecasting on the unpredictable price of maize flour in Minimex Ltd. Descriptive research design and analytical design were used where primary data were collected using questionnaire and interview guide. The study population was 83 respondents who also made up the sample size. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 21 which facilitated the presentation using tables and graphs. Further, Pearson’s coefficient correlation and regression analysis were carried out to find the relationship among the study variables. The research findings showed that procurement assessment is important to determine the amount of materials to procure from the suppliers, 93.1% of the respondents agreed and 6.9% strongly agreed. 75% of the respondents agreed that Minimex uses different strategies in securing contracts with suppliers with a mean score obtained was 3.75. In addition, Minimex always forecast the future procurement needs in order to plan for its operation. 70.8% of the respondents agreed with the statement on whether the forecasting of procurement needs is conducted based on the demand of maize flour in the market. The regression analysis conducted to determine the relationship between the study variables gave an R-squared of 0.79 clearly indicating that 79% of the pricing of the maize flour is influenced by procurement assessment, procurements strategies and the procurement forecasting conducted in Minimex Ltd. All the three variables, namely, procurement assessment, procurement strategies and procurement forecasting were found to have positive and statistically significance influence to maize flour pricing at 5% level of significance. The researcher was able to draw a conclusion based on these findings that there is need to emphasize the procurement of maize stock as a way of stabilizing maize flour prices in the market. Different recommendations were provided to the policy makers, regulators, Minimex, suppliers, smallholder farmers and other key parties in the maize market. For policy makers, it was recommended that they should regulatory bodies should see to it that standardized agricultural inputs are available in the market for the maize farmers.