scholarly journals Small-holder farmers knowledge and information on the impact of climate variability & extremes on livestock production in Limpopo & Mpumalanga Provinces

2022 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 854-869
Author(s):  
Azwihangwisi E. Nesamvuni ◽  
Khuthadzo Ndwambi ◽  
Khathutshelo A. Tshikolomo ◽  
Gabriel R. Lekalakala ◽  
Thomas Raphulu ◽  
...  

A study was carried out to investigate the level of awareness, knowledge and information of small-holder farmers (SHLF) on the impact of climatic change (CC) and extremes on livestock production in Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces. At least 366 smallholder farmers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire to elicit responses on vulnerability. Almost all the farmers (96 %) have heard about CC only a few farmers (4 %) did not know CC. The medium for the conveyance of CC information was the main radio (94.32%). Newspapers and television were also efficient mediums in the conveyance of this information, each with the outreach of 16.76 and 32.67%, respectively. Central to the impact of CC was the fact that (90%) of the farmers confirmed that there was a change in grass availability; which contributed to major livestock fatalities of which over half of the farmers (55.19%) attested as the cause. The study found that 86.67% of SHLF who attended awareness meetings indicated that the discussions prioritized adapting to CC. However, SHLF (80.77%) did not have an early warning system. This was coupled with a lack of contingency plans by (84.36%) the farmers to deal with the impact of the said drought on their farms. SHLF (19%) who had facilitated contingency plans indicated that improved aspects of the plan should incorporate the support of their provision feeds, drilling of boreholes, and erection of dams. Based on SHLF perceptions there is a need for strategic shifts from grazing to small scale feed-lots.

Author(s):  
Munyawarara N ◽  
Govender K K

This research presents specific insights on entrepreneurial social capital support on the growth of rural small holder farmers to augment livelihoods in Zimbabwe. The smallholder farmers continue to employ every season of the year. The study sought to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial social capital support on small holder rural farmers’ growth in Honde Valley, Zimbabwe. This was motivated by the need to fillup the academic gap on the entrepreneurial social capital support on the growth of agrarian small holder rural farmers. In order to achieve the study objective, a crosssectional survey was carried out using questionnaires and a purposive random sampling technique of 50 rural small holder farmers was considered reliable. The data was collected and analyzed using the statistical packages for social sciences software (SPSS). The findings were presented using both tabular and graphical presentations. Statistics in the study demonstrate that entrepreneurial social capital support augment Livelihoods in Zimbabwe and it’s a means of raising small holder farmer working capital and contribute to their growth. The main reason for entrepreneurial social capital support was for expansion and growth of small holder farmer businesses. This method explains why most rural small holder farmers do not rely on formal borrowing. Finally the businesses that received social capital reported growth .The study recommended that government should set a policy to promote entrepreneurial social capital support systems. From research, it is clear that there exists a large unexploited method of social capital mobilization and its utilization is potential for the growth of agrarian Small Holder rural Farmers.


Author(s):  
Priscilla Munzhelele ◽  
James W. Oguttu ◽  
Folorunso O. Fasina

The majority of small-holder pig farmers in Mpumalanga had between 1- and 10-sow herds. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the current government agricultural intervention (supply of 10 sows and a boar) in terms of technical and economic feasibilities and ascertain whether the small-scale pig value chain system alleviates poverty. Data were obtained from 220 randomly selected small-holder pig farmers using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results showed that 58% farrowed ≤ 10 piglets/born/sow/litter, 44.2% practiced no weaning method and many fed swill and leftovers alone (41.6%). Pair-wise association revealed that the feeding of commercial feeds had a relationship with pigs in relatively good to very good body condition. Pigs in poor body condition were positively correlated with the feeding of swill alone. The economic models for the 10-sow unit proved that pig farming is unprofitable if the current management and feeding systems that operate in the commercial industry are utilised. However, only through a combination of cooperative systems, benefits of economies of scale, reduction of preweaning mortalities and structured government inputs can pig production be profitable at this scale of production.Keywords: piglets; market; profit; economics; feeds


2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110588
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Ndhlovu

The socio-economic characterisation of resettled small-holder farmers under the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in Zimbabwe has blind spots in relation to the emergent transformative social policy features such as ‘social cohesion’, ‘cooperation’, ‘protection’ and ‘accumulation’ which are equally important among land beneficiaries. Using the Sangwe farm, this article departs from the conventional use of the political economy, sustainable livelihoods, human rights-based and neo-patrimonial approaches to experiment with the transformative social policy approach. Using both quantitative and qualitative data in an exploratory research design, the article shows that viewed from the transformative social policy approach, the FTLRP was neither a resounding success nor a complete disaster. The programme actually produced mixed results. The article thus, recommends the use of in-depth, ideologically free and neutral approaches in its analysis so as to reveal its detailed outcomes. Additional studies in which existing land reform policies can be considered in the collective efforts of improving the transformative agenda of the FTLRP across the country are needed.


Author(s):  
Forbes Chiromo ◽  
Goodwell Muyengwa ◽  
Joseph Makuvaza

AbstractThis study investigates the extent to which tenants in a jewellery incubator in the Limpopo Province of South Africa network. Since 1994 SEDA has set up more than 31 incubation centres in furniture making, construction, chemicals, jewellery, ICT, metal fabrication, agriculture and small scale mining. This study was done through a survey conducted on tenants in the SEDA Limpopo Jewellery Incubator (SLJI). Information was obtained through a structured questionnaire. The study revealed how tenants benefit from networking around exhibitions and collective purchasing of raw material. Through the Incubator institutional mechanisms, the study explains how tenants share expertise, experiences, technology and resources. Unfortunately the tenants do not initiate the own networking programmes. They lose out on benefits associated with collective effort in other areas such as advertisements, lobbying the government for industrial stands, organising an newsletter, hiring of consultants, and organising joint training programmes. Lastly the study identified opportunities that the tenants could collectively exploit in order strengthen and sustain their businesses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Wambua ◽  
Bernard M. Gichimu ◽  
Samuel N. Ndirangu

Despite the increase in area under coffee in Kenya in the last decade, productivity has been on the decline. Numerous production technologies have been developed through on-station research but there has been limited on-farm research to assess the impact of these technologies at the farm level. On the other hand, smallholder farmers are endowed differently and this would positively or negatively affect the adoption of recommended technologies and hence coffee productivity. This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of socioeconomic factors and technology adoption on smallholder coffee productivity at the farm level. The study employed stratified random sampling where 376 farmers were randomly sampled from six cooperative societies which had been preselected using probability proportional to the size sampling technique. The effects of socioeconomic factors and technology adoption on coffee productivity were analyzed using the stochastic Cobb-Douglas production function. The study revealed that off-farm income, access to credit, type of land tenure, and land size had significant positive effects on coffee productivity. Therefore, coffee farmers should be encouraged to diversify their income sources and to embrace credit financing, as the government reviews land use policies to avail adequate agricultural land. The study further revealed that the adoption of recommended application rates of manure, fungicides, and pesticides had significant positive effects on coffee productivity. The adoption of these technologies should therefore be enhanced among small-scale farmers to improve coffee productivity at the farm level.


Author(s):  
Mafuse Never ◽  
Munyati Vincent Tinashe ◽  
Gadzirayi Christopher ◽  
Muhau Edgar ◽  
Manyumwa Dadirayic

This study sought to identify factors that influence learning during training among small holder farmers on the new moisture conservation innovations (conservation farming) by Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) and the objectives of the study was to identify the training methods used by AGRITEX officers in training  Conservation agriculture and to find the effectiveness of the training methods in transferring knowledge The study took the form of a case study. Six small holder farmers trained on the new moisture conservation innovations were researched on. The study showed that AGRITEX to certain extent gave farmers some chance to participate during training especially in carrying out demonstrations, field days and during look and learn tours.  The look and learn tours were appreciated most by many farmers as they were saying they can learn much by visiting other farmers. However, AGRITEX can further improve its training to improve learning among farmers through participatory course design which can help in the improvement of training for farmers to improve on practicing what they have trained.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-277
Author(s):  
Louis Nkembi ◽  
Njukeng Jetro Nkengafac ◽  
Tankou Christopher Mubeteneh

Smallholder farmer agricultural productivity in developing countries is more often diverse and limited by diverse constraints. For optimal agricultural production and income crops for diversification must be carefully selected and the constraints properly addressed. The objective of this study was to establish a list of the major crops planted in the Bamboutos mountain landscape and the constraints faced by the smallholder farmers. During a survey, 261 household heads responded were randomly selected and the questions administered to them. A majority of the household heads were men and were literate and most of them were younger than 55 years. Crop and livestock production were the main income generating activities of the respondents. Most of the farmers` land sizes were less than 5a and land ownership was through inheritance, purchase or rent. The small holder farmers in the study area planted a variety of both annual and perennial crops. These crops were sold, consumed or had ornamental/cultural values. The farmers faced a number of problems in animal and crop production with the most cited constraints being lack of inputs, lack of capital, bad roads and climate change. The results of this study suggest that crop diversification should be encouraged within the study area, policy and stakeholder intervention should concentrate on solving the cited constraints for sustainable food production and conservation of biodiversity. Keywords: Crops, Constraints, Diversification, Smallholders.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-317
Author(s):  
Oluwakemi Obayelu ◽  
Oluwatomi Fakolujo ◽  
Bola Awotide

Maize production in Nigeria has not been able to meet the needs of people owing to drought, low productivity and lack of access to improved varieties by the farmers. Increased agricultural yield is a potential means for increasing household income, which tends to lower the poverty status of small-holder farmers. This study assessed the impact of Drought-Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) on the yield and poverty status of farmers in the northwestern region of Nigeria. The study used the dataset from Adoption of DTMA Survey by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, with 293 respondents from northwestern Nigeria (90 adopters and 203 non-adopters of DTMA). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, binary regression and propensity score matching methods. Results showed that small-holder farmers were more likely to adopt DTMA than bigger farms. Adopters had an increase in DTMA yield of 9,262.77kg/ha while the counterfactual non-adopters had an increase of 3,807.74kg/ha. The adoption of DTMA reduced the probability of being poor by 60 percent for the treatment group while poverty incidence was reduced by 35% among the non-adopters. The general conclusion is that DTMA adoption program improved maize yield and reduced poverty incidence among rural households.


2021 ◽  
Vol 892 (1) ◽  
pp. 012081
Author(s):  
S H Suhartini ◽  
E Gunawan ◽  
J F Sinuraya ◽  
N Ilham

Abstract Increasing food production can be done through increasing productivity and increasing business scale, both of them need an additional cost. Meanwhile, capital for small-scale farmers is relatively limited, so financial support is needed. At present, the Government financing support in the form of loans program is the People’s Business Credit (KUR). The objective of the study is to analyze the role of KUR in beef cattle business and the effect on increasing livestock production. The research was conducted in 2020 in Central Lampung District with a survey method of 60 farmer respondents. The study revealed that at the national level, the participation rate of beef cattle farmers in the use of KUR was only 2.71%, and in Lampung Province, it reached 7.72%. Beef cattle farmers in the study locations used KUR funds for on-farm farming. Most of the farmers (84.4%) used the funds to purchase brood stock. The KUR program has an impact on increasing the productivity of cattle for fattening 0.2 kg live weight/head/day, increasing the scale of cattle breeding, and fattening two cows and eight cows respectively per farmer. The impact of KUR on enhancing production due to increased productivity and business scale is significantly determined by the level of farmer participation in the use of KUR. It is needed to increase farmer participation in the use of KUR and the use of KUR funds to adopt recommended technology. So that, KUR has impact on increasing livestock production.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-188
Author(s):  
Joseph Masinde Wabwire

The main aim of this research was to establish the effect of socio-economic factors on utilization of formal financial services among smallholder farmers in Kenya. Farmers in low-income counties encounter a number of challenges among them limited access to finance. Financing agriculture, therefore, becomes a critical service to enable the full realization of the sector’s potential. In Kenya, the advent of  innovative banking models through commercial banks such as Equity bank have seen a higher proportion of the rural population who were previously unreached being reached by financial services. That said, the subscription to formal financial services by small holder farmers is still low and many of them either shy away from formal financial institutions or are simply ineligible for the services due to lack of a banking profile with the institutions. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The target population for this study were smallholder farmers from Nakuru, Busia and Kirinyaga Counties in Kenya. The study sample was determined using simple random sampling. The sample size was 560 smallholder farmers. The questionnaire and secondary information were the key instruments for data collection. Quantitative data was analysed using multiple linear regression equations with the aid of SPSS software. The study established that the socio-economic factors significantly affected utilization of formal financial services by the smallholder farmers in the country. Policy Makers should therefore, encourage small holder farmers by way of incentives to disclose their annual income so as to improve their chances of accessing formal financial services that can expand their enterprises.


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