M.B.A. / A general increase in price elasticity on farming inputs as well as increasing pressure on South African subsidiaries of international companies makes it important for a well-planned pricing strategy. This is accentuated by the fact that pricing is normally done only once a year in seed companies in South Africa, and customers are unlikely to accept more frequent price changes. The aim of this study is to determine a suitable pricing strategy for hybrid maize seed for Monsanto in South Africa. The study has the following objectives: To determine through a literature study the factors influencing the decision to buy hybrid maize seed in South Africa. To determine the price range that producers would be willing to pay for typical hybrid maize seed products. To evaluate Mark-up Pricing, Target-Return Pricing, Perceived-Value Pricing, Value Pricing and Going-Rate Pricing and to determine the best method or combination of methods for the pricing of hybrid maize seed. To formulate a pricing strategy for hybrid maize seed for Monsanto in South Africa. Of the typical product characteristics, yield is the most important factor influencing the decision to buy a product. Products that are priced very high signal high quality to the customer. No significant price elasticity exists for low, medium or moderately high priced products. Grain quality and growth season length characteristics are of little importance in influencing the decision to buy a specific product. Customers want to have first-hand experience of a product, before being willing to buy a substantial amount of it. They need to confirm the potential of a new breakthrough product on their own farms and conditions, before buying it. The most important source of information is own experience, which consists of some form of farmer trial, followed by large plot trials conducted by seed companies. If an independent large plot set of trials is made available, it would be preferred over the large plot trials conducted by seed companies as a source of information to farmers. For products of average quality, farmers are willing to pay between R453.13 and R565.79, with an inelastic zone between R483.33 and R525.68 per unit of seed. For products of superior quality farmers are willing to pay between R555.56 and R686.36, with an inelastic zone between R591.67 and R652.27 per unit of seed. Monsanto employees generally underestimate the price customers are willing to pay for products of average quality, but there is a danger that they could overestimate the prices customers are willing to pay for products of superior quality. Sealed bid and negotiated pricing methods are not very suitable for pricing hybrid maize seed. Perceived-value pricing and going-rate pricing should be used for products of superior and average quality. For new breakthrough products, a market skimming approach should be followed and products should be priced very high, since an inflated price signals very high quality to customers. Monsanto needs more structured benchmarking with regards to competitor productions costs. A structured benchmarking approach for evaluating hybrid performance, pricing and market share is also discussed.

D.Litt. et Phil. / The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the ostensible structural deterioration of the socio-economic position of the South African maize producers since the start of the eighties as a consequence of the low and erratic rainfall, the relatively high cost of finance, the worsening terms of trade of the industry and the secular decline in the real price of maize on the world market. The constant pressure of the four factors on the profit position of the maize industry compelled producers to pay less attention to the maintenance of soil fertility, technology and the remuneration and training of their workers. The need to succumb to exploitative practices in order to survive became a strong feature of the industry since the late eighties when the potential for the further improvement of productivity by economising on fertilizer and other inputs and using capital assets such as tractors and harvesters more intensively had run its course. The South African maize producer is faced by an adverse production or cost function, mainly as a consequence of the very erratic climatic and poor soil, environment in which he is finding himself. The grain producing industries all over the world are still closely governed by soil and climatic conditions, compared to the meat, dairy, poultry and horticultural industries, which have increasingly assumed characteristics of manufacturing industry. Technological developments in the grain industries such as hybridisation and the advent of the modern fertilizers, weed and pest herbicides and the tractor and mechanical harvester did not free the industry from the constraints imposed on it by the poor South African soils and erratic weather patterns. The production of grain, especially maize, is still subject to the cost constraint imposed by the law of decreasing returns. Co-incidental to the difficult production function is the more pronounced tendency of production to fluctuate and the growing disparity between supply and demand, not only in the South African market, but globally. This behaviour as well 'as the price support measures, by especially the USA and the European Union, are responsible for the constant weakening of the terms of trade of the industry and the secular decline of the global real maize prize.

Maize is the most important cereal crop grown in South Africa. This crop is produced throughout the country under diverse conditions and in diverse environments. The study only focuses on technical efficiency because it is an important subject in developing agriculture where resources are limited, but high population growth is very common. In such a setting, increased output will depend more on efficiency improvements and assessing the scope for such efficiency improvements within the system is a crucial need. The objective of the study was to determine the level of technical efficiency and to identify the socio-economic and institutional characteristics as well as the entrepreneurial spirit that influence the technical efficiency of small-scale maize producers in the Tsolo magisterial district. Purposive and Snowball sampling techniques were used to collect primary data from 120 small-scale farmers. The stochastic frontier model was used to determine the level of technical efficiency. The Multivariate OLS was used to analyze the socio-economic factors and institutional characteristics that have influenced the technical efficiency of maize production. A similar linear regression model was used to estimate the influence of positive psychological capital and entrepreneurial spirit on the technical efficiency of maize production. The stochastic results revealed that small-scale farmers in Tsolo are technically efficient at 98 percent in maize production and experience increasing return to scale (1.37), which means that increase in the use of inputs, will as well increase their productivity and efficiency. The inefficiency model results indicated that age, years in farming, household size and extension contact significant and 3 variables, namely, as years in farming, extension contact and farm size are significant in the OLS model. Lastly the results of the linear regression indicated that, out of the 4 variables estimated in the entrepreneurial spirit, self-efficacy and resilience were significant with respect to its responsiveness to total maize output.