Using learner centered instruction (LCI), a group of beef farmers were guided to design a farm in a layout that would most effectively offer continual learning opportunities for the beef practitioners themselves. Learner centered instruction was used as the primary teaching method for the project's completion. When using LCI, coupled with the correct facilitation of programs, student empowerment, and subject interest, positive experiences are more likely to result.

No description available.

No description available.

Fertilizer plays a major role in the profitability of the farmer’s business, his/her future success as well as the sustainability of his business. Fertilizer is also one of the most expensive farm inputs, and therefore, has the ability to make or break the farmer. The emerging farmer market segment is expanding and holds a great deal of potential for fertilizer companies to supply the growing need of fertilizer in this market. Almost all fertilizer marketing strategies of South African companies have been designed to cater for the commercial farming sector; however, if fertilizer suppliers want to focus on the emerging farmer market segment, they need to understand buying behaviour of emerging farmers as well as their needs when developing strategies to utilize opportunities in this developing market. This study aims to do just that by identifying factors playing an important role in the buying behaviour of emerging farmers in the Free State when purchasing fertilizer. This study was conducted in two phases. During phase one, a literature review was conducted; phase two consisted of an empirical study. Questionnaires were used as a measuring instrument and were filled out by 32 participants to determine emerging farmer buying behaviour. Data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics and correlation analyses. The Coefficient of Cronbach’s Alpha was employed to verify the validity of the data. The results show that four (4) factors; (i) Service, (ii). Brand, (iii) Product and (iv). Learning/Psychological factors highly influence emerging farmers’ fertilizer purchase decision. The study also finally draws recommendations and conclusions for managerial perusal. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Buying behaviour is a complex, wide– ranging field, intricately associated with human mental processes, responding to environmental stimuli. Understanding the customer and being able to predict their behaviour, is of prime importance to all marketers and marketing strategists for two reasons: Firstly because, the overall strategy of the company has to be clearly reflected in the marketing strategy for any meaningful progress. Secondly, to be able to adjust or adapt the marketing effort to changing marketing conditions. The focus of this study is to research the buying behaviour of farmers through the marketing mix paradigm. Although slightly contentious in terms of recent theories and field of application, the dichotomous nature of farmers buying behaviour and the characteristics of the purchase makes this theory a good fit for the circumstances. The marketing mix theory focuses on the controllable external stimuli which reinforces the practical application of this study. The buying behaviour of farmers was researched by asking farmers to evaluate the importance of a statement related to an element of the marketing mix theory by telephonic interview. The answers of the farmers were analysed using various statistical methods and the following salient results were obtained: All the elements of the marketing mix theory are important to farmers when deciding on buying a new tractor. The less experienced farmers rated all the elements of the marketing mix as more important than more experienced farmers. There was a definitive subset of farmers for whom the more changeable part of the marketing mix, price and promotion, had a definite impact on their decision. Price and promotion did not correlate with farmers who viewed the product of high importance. Other results indicated that the farmers in the test sample bought a new tractor every 2.3 years with 54% of farmers buying a new tractor in the past year. The frequency with which farmers buy new tractors shows the importance of the market. The finding that the elements of the marketing mix theory are important to farmers was expected and could serve as an incentive for future research. The marketing mix theory is viewed as highly applicable in this case, due to its relative simplicity and the focus on the more controllable stimuli on the farmer. It was also found that for a significant subset of farmers the more modifiable elements had a definitive impact on their decision when buying a tractor. This offers an opportunity to marketers willing to respond to changing uncontrollable conditions to influence buying decisions in the short term. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Buying behaviour is a complex, wide– ranging field, intricately associated with human mental processes, responding to environmental stimuli. Understanding the customer and being able to predict their behaviour, is of prime importance to all marketers and marketing strategists for two reasons: Firstly because, the overall strategy of the company has to be clearly reflected in the marketing strategy for any meaningful progress. Secondly, to be able to adjust or adapt the marketing effort to changing marketing conditions. The focus of this study is to research the buying behaviour of farmers through the marketing mix paradigm. Although slightly contentious in terms of recent theories and field of application, the dichotomous nature of farmers buying behaviour and the characteristics of the purchase makes this theory a good fit for the circumstances. The marketing mix theory focuses on the controllable external stimuli which reinforces the practical application of this study. The buying behaviour of farmers was researched by asking farmers to evaluate the importance of a statement related to an element of the marketing mix theory by telephonic interview. The answers of the farmers were analysed using various statistical methods and the following salient results were obtained: All the elements of the marketing mix theory are important to farmers when deciding on buying a new tractor. The less experienced farmers rated all the elements of the marketing mix as more important than more experienced farmers. There was a definitive subset of farmers for whom the more changeable part of the marketing mix, price and promotion, had a definite impact on their decision. Price and promotion did not correlate with farmers who viewed the product of high importance. Other results indicated that the farmers in the test sample bought a new tractor every 2.3 years with 54% of farmers buying a new tractor in the past year. The frequency with which farmers buy new tractors shows the importance of the market. The finding that the elements of the marketing mix theory are important to farmers was expected and could serve as an incentive for future research. The marketing mix theory is viewed as highly applicable in this case, due to its relative simplicity and the focus on the more controllable stimuli on the farmer. It was also found that for a significant subset of farmers the more modifiable elements had a definitive impact on their decision when buying a tractor. This offers an opportunity to marketers willing to respond to changing uncontrollable conditions to influence buying decisions in the short term. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Current discourse regarding the use and management of natural resources in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa is inspired by three issues: 1) the growing emphasis on strengthening 'community-based' management of natural resources as a means of combining resource conservation with improvements in livelihoods; 2) continuing debate concerning the replacement of communal forms of land management with systems of private tenure; 3) and the widespread assumption of environmental 'degradation' and 'desertification' caused by the land-use practices of African livestock farmers. The way these areas of debate are interpreted affects policy and development intervention relating to the management and conservation of dryland natural resources. In relation to these issues, this thesis has two primary aims: 1) to analyse patterns and determinants of natural resource-use and management by Khoe-speaking Damara farmers in and north-west Namibia; 2) to assess the ecological implications of this resource-use in the context of the unpredictable variations in primary productivity characteristic of dryland environments. A combination of quantitative and qualitative anthropological and ecological techniques are employed to meet these objectives. The use of gathered non-timber products for food and medicine was monitored in 7 repeat-surveys over an 18 month period for a sample of 45 households comprising 2017 individual 'diet-days'. Statistical analysis suggests that food resources are consumed when abundant rather than as dry season supplements, that wealth is a poor predictor of gathered resource-use and that the use of natural resources is remarkably resilient given the disruptive effects of land alienation during this century. The utilisation of timber for fuel and building-poles was quantified at the household level and compansons with equivalent data from rural societies in more humid environments suggests conservative use of these resources. Qualitative data emphasise the continuing relevance of culturally-informed management practice relating to the use of natural resources. With regard to the second research objective, woody and herbaceous vegetation datasets were compiled, the former comprising 2760 plant individuals in a stratified sample of 75 transects and the latter consisting of 48 qradrats, half fenced to exclude livestock, in which herbaceous vegetation was monitored over two growing seasons. A number of standard ecological variables, including patterns in community floristics, diversity, cover and population structure, were used to explore the prediction that concentrations of people and livestock cause measurable impacts on vegetation around settlements. Statistical analysis suggests that effects of settlement are extremely localised and are within the range of variability shown by these measures over larger spatial scales, and that between-year variability in herbaceous vegetation dominates that measured both between- and within-sites. The research results indicate that current understanding of local resource-use practices in northwest Namibia is constrained by two conceptual influences: 1) a misleading colonial ethnography which continues to inform debate and interventions regarding the use and management of natural resources, operating to deny the present-day validity of local ecological knowledge and practice; 2) a temperate-zone ecology which focuses on density-dependent interactions between the biotic components of ecosystems, and plays-down the role of unpredictable abiotic factors, particularly rainfall, in driving a continuing dynamic of non-equilibrium variability in arid environments.

This thesis examines farm-level efficiency of rice farmers in the High Barind region of Bangladesh by estimating technical, allocative and economic efficiency using farm level cross section survey data. Two contrasting methods for measuring efficiency are applied: the stochastic econometric frontier and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). These measures are used to investigate the factors associated with technical, allocative and economic inefficiency. First, technical efficiency is computed by estimating the translog stochastic frontier in which technical inefficiency effects are modelled as a function of socioeconomic, infrastructure and environmental degradation factors in a single stage estimation technique using maximum likelihood method. Technical and scale efficiency are calculated by solving output- and input-oriented constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS) DEA frontiers. A Tobit model is used to evaluate factors associated with technical and scale inefficiency from both input-oriented and output-oriented CRS and VRS frontiers. Same factors are analyzed as in the translog stochastic frontier. The translog stochastic frontier results show that farm households are, on average, 79 per cent technically efficient. The output-oriented DEA frontier results show that the average technical efficiency estimates are 79 and 86 per cent under CRS and VRS assumptions and the average scale efficiency is 92 per cent. The average values for technical efficiency measures and scale efficiency from the input-oriented CRS and VRS frontiers are 79, 85 and 93 per cent respectively. The translog stochastic frontier exhibits decreasing returns to scale, whereas the DEA frontier exhibits decreasing, constant and increasing returns to scale. The technical inefficiency effects model in the translog stochastic frontier and Tobit analysis for DEA frontier show that irrigation infrastructure and environmental degradation are significant factors in determining technical inefficiency. We then measure technical, allocative and economic efficiency by estimating the Cobb- Douglas stochastic frontier following the Kopp and Diewert cost decomposition technique and by running input-oriented CRS and VRS DEA frontier models. We estimate the Tobit model to analyze the factors associated with technical, allocative and economic inefficiency from the DEA frontiers. In addition, we compare the results obtained from both the Cobb- Douglas stochastic frontier and DEA frontiers. The results from the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier shows that the average technical, allocative and economic efficiency of farm households are 80, 77, and 61 per cent respectively. The input-oriented CRS frontier results show that farm households have, on average, 86, 91 and 78 per cent technical, allocative and economic efficiency and the corresponding VRS frontier shows that farm households are, on average, 91, 87 and 79 per cent technically, allocatively and economically efficient. An evaluation of factors associated with technical, allocative and economic inefficiency from both the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier and DEA frontier reveals that irrigation infrastructure and environmental degradation are the most statistically significant factors affecting technical, allocative and economic inefficiency. This implies that diesel-operated pumps and environmental degradation are not only reducing output from given inputs but are also causing sub-optimal cost-minimizing input decisions. Assessing efficiency suggests that there is a considerable amount of inefficiency among farm households and there is room for enhancing rice production through the improvement of technical, allocative and economic efficiency without resort to technical improvements. Farm households could reduce their variable production costs, on average, between 21 - 31 per cent if they could utilize their inputs in a technically and allocatively efficient manner. An evaluation of factors associated with inefficiency concludes that government electrification programmes which convert diesel pumps into electricity-operated pumps for irrigation in rural areas and policies which lead to reduced environmental degradation would reduce inefficiency, thereby increasing rice production and the welfare of farm households.

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The author employs a life story interview approach to examine how one farmer, participating in a local food system, constructs an identity as a food producer that reflects their practices, beliefs, and values. Farmers' markets have grown significantly in the past twenty years. Interest in these local food systems has shifted from the original counter-culture, back to the earth movement of the 1960's-80's to focus on issues of safe, healthy, and tasty food produced using natural methods that emphasize economic and environmental sustainability. Embedded in these issues are the social relationships that shape peoples identities. One person's particular story contributes to the understanding of the motivations and meanings involved in the various roles of individuals participating in farmers' markets. Findings from this study support the argument that people, including the food producer, and the production process are vital components that create a taste experience within a local food system.