No / The ‘Modified UNIDO Approach’ to economic analysis of projects is described. It was used in Tanzania when no national parameters were available for shadow pricing. The main features are: the choice of a domestic price numeraire; the use of cost breakdowns rather than composite conversion factors, and their application on a year-by-year basis rather than to present values; the treatment of the shadow exchange rate as an unknown and the presentation of results as a matrix of NPV values relating to different combinations of parameters; and calculation of the domestic resource cost of foreign exchange to rank the efficiency of projects in earning or saving foreign exchange.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Development Studies in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Zululand, 2019. / The South African government’s target was to ensure a significant growth in rural economies through appropriate prioritisation of the agricultural sector. This study analyses the sustainability of agricultural projects in enhancing rural economic development in Msinga Local Municipality. This study employed mixed methods approach with a convergent parallel design to analyse the sustainability of agricultural projects toward enhancing rural economic development. The participants of this study consisted of households (n=180), key informants (n=6) and focus groups (n=5). Data were collected through the use of document analysis, questionnaires, focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews. Content analysis and SPSS with descriptive statistics and cross tabulation were used to analyse and categorise the data in order to obtain the objectives of the study. The study found that there is high level of community participation in subsistence agricultural sector within the study area. However, subsistence agriculture has shown to be unsustainable due to low productivity caused by adverse climate change conditions. Some aspects of the results specified that MLM is mostly dominated by subsistence farming. Subsistence farming is facing challenges that puts its sustainability in jeopardy. While on the one hand subsistence farming sector does not allow farmers to sell their produce to the market. On the other hand, it usually serves as a source of ensuring food availability at a household level. The issue of climate change have a negative impact on the productivity of agricultural projects due to the inadequate rainfall and water scarcity for irrigation. The deficiency in infrastructural services has turned to be a constraint to small scale farmers in their quest to access the market. There is poor availability of transport facilities and market place where farmers can sell their produce. The results also showed that lack of skills, knowledge and information amongst farmers is a problem that destructively impacts on the ability of agriculture to contribute in improving rural economic development. It is recommended that the Department of Agriculture provides adequate training to assist rural small scale farmers in order to maintain the sustainability of agricultural projects. The study also recommends that both local municipality and Department of vii Agriculture should motivate subsistence farmers to engage in agricultural activities as corporations, so that these farmers cannot struggle in scouting financial resources. Lastly, further research should analyse challenges that constrain the transformation of rural subsistence farming sector to reach the level of small scale farming sector.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Community Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014 / Rural economic development is a priority for every government in the world, whether the country is developed, developing or Third World. In South Africa, 45.8% of the population lives in rural areas and are regarded as lower social class. Here unemployment is high and the educational level is low. As a result people rely heavily on government grants for their household income. Many factors contribute to this dependency, mostly the legacy of apartheid policies. The effect of the apartheid ideology tended to put economic development beyond the reach of black people through stripping them of resources and blocking advancement in their knowledge and capacities. Hence, the developmental efforts in the new democratic era has a focus on economic empowerment of women and people with disabilities, improvement of health standards in rural areas, bettering education using agriculture as the tool to achieve the proposed development. Many policies that are based on agriculture have been implemented to better people’s situation in South Africa. They include Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR), Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP), Integrated Development Plans (IDP) and Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS), to mention but a few. The study aimed at assessing the impacts of government agricultural projects in rural economic development while identifying proper strategies for effective agricultural project implementation in the rural areas. The results revealed that there has been creation of additional employment opportunities in agriculture which have also contributed to improvement of household food security, infrastructural development, informal and formal education. Measures promoting smallholder agricultural growth can be an effective strategy to reduce rural poverty, income inequality and can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation by raising rural incomes through agricultural productivity. Investing in agricultural development benefits the communities through better roads, storage, transport and other marketing infrastructures which generate farm and non-farm employment thus benefiting not only the project participants but also the community as a whole. However, the study concludes that local regional agricultural policies are needed for land access and use by women and youth especially, in order to enhance land market development and agriculture investment. These policies should include bettering financial credits available for project participants through simplifying the application processes and low interest payments.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The aim this study was to assess the impact of training of Extension Officers on poverty alleviation agricultural projects in Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality. It aimed to assess if the skills that the Extension Officers acquired from the training offered to them did have a positive impact on the farmers and their projects. The objectives of the study thus, were: to identify and describe the nature and relevance of the training programs offered to the Extension Officers; to assess the impact of training and development on service delivery; and to suggest appropriate actions or interventions as may be necessary to improve the impact on service delivery. The study was qualitative in design and it sampled 10 projects. Data was gathered from Extension Officers attached to the 10 projects, famers, key informants consisting of community leaders and headmen and Deputy Managers. The study used focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to collect data. The key findings from this study are: computer literacy skills training seems to be the most popular one among the Extensions Officers. Some of them have never been given the opportunity to attend agricultural-related training. The study recommends that the computer literacy should be combined with the technical agricultural subjects so that the Extension Officers could be equipped with more information which will assist them to search for information from the internet and to impart the agricultural information to the farmers so that they could improve their productivity and income. Training in marketing and financial management is imperative for farmers to enhance their productivity and to manage their finances. The study also found out that the Extension Officers are not receiving adequate posttraining supervision in the form of evaluation. The frequent project visits and supervision of the extension officers’ daily duties by their superiors can improve their commitments to their work as well as increase the farmers’ productivity. Farmers lament the fact that they are offered the training theoretically and none of the extension officers make an effort to demonstrate to them practically. The work-related training which the Extension Officers have attended have improved service delivery at their work place because some of the beneficiaries since they started working in their projects, they have been getting their salary every month and their secret is that they cultivate the correct vegetables at the right time and this helps them to manage the three months waiting period easily. The Limpopo Provincial Department of Agriculture should extend the number of the extension officers in their municipality so that they could be available when they need them. The study adds to the knowledge base on the impact of training of extension officers on poverty alleviation agricultural projects.

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo determinar la viabilidad de la instalación de una planta de productora de mango orgánico en frio, que estará a cargo de productores del distrito de Pitipo para ser exportados a Tokio, todo esto a partir de la evaluación de la viabilidad del mercado, tecnológica, económica y financiera. Para la elaboración del producto se utilizará como materia prima principal el mango nacional de máxima calidad y reconocimiento. Este proyecto resulta relevante debido a que en los últimos años el precio de este tipo de productos resulta relevante debido a que en los últimos años el precio de este tipo de productos se ha ido incrementando por la creciente demanda que existe por estos productos. Es por ello que se realizó una investigación previa del mango orgánico, frutas de las cuales elaborará el producto, así como lo referente a la exportación de este producto. Posterior a esto se determinará la organización de la empresa. Para finalmente realizar el estudio económico y financiero del proyecto, mediante el cual se determinó la viabilidad del proyecto con ayuda de indicadores tales como VAN y TIR. A través de los escenarios mostrados poder llegar a un escenario esperado para el proyecto el cual tiene como VAN Económico S/13,862606.61 y el VAN Financiero de S/15,123,434.59 el TIR E de 56.53% y el TIR F de 79.81%, el B/C E de 2.9 y el B/C F de 3.37. Gracias a estos resultados obtenidos podemos concluir que el proyecto es viable y factible. Con el presente estudio se ha obtenido un VAN Financiero de S/14,084,642.55, un TIR Financiero de 79.81% con un COK de 18.17%, por lo que se demuestra que el proyecto es rentable. / The objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of the installation of a cold organic mango production plant, which will be in charge of producers of the district of Pítipo to be exported to Tokyo, all this from the evaluation of market, technological, economic and financial feasibility. The main raw material used to manufacture the product will be national mango of the highest quality and recognition. This project is relevant because in recent years the price of this type of product has been increasing due to the growing demand for these products. That is why a previous research of organic mango, fruits from which the product will be elaborated, as well as the export of this product was carried out. After this, the organization of the company will be determined. To finally carry out the economic and financial study of the project, through which the feasibility of the project was determined with the help of indicators such as VAN and TIR. Through the scenarios shown, we were able to arrive at an expected scenario for the project, which has an Economic NPV of S/13,862,606.61 and a Financial NPV of S/15,123,434.59, IRR E of 56.53% and IRR F of 79.81%, B/C E of 2.9 and B/C F of 3.37. Thanks to these results we can conclude that the project is viable and feasible. With the present study we have obtained a Financial NPV of S/14,084,642.55, a Financial IRR of 79.81% with a COK of 18.17%, which shows that the project is profitable.

Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Thesis (M.Com. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.