In South Africa and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, market participation of smallholder farmers are rapidly being advocated as a means to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda’s (SDGs): zero hunger and no poverty. Yet little is known about market participation in the sunflower industry. The study therefore, examine market participation of smallholder sunflower farmers in Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa. A quantitative research approach was developed to address the research objectives, and a proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to select 177 sunflower producing households. Respondents information were captured using semi-structured questionnaires, data were then entered and coded using statistical software computer programs (MS Excel, SPSS, and Stata). Socio-economic characteristics, level of market participation, and factors influencing households market participation within the district were analyzed using descriptive statistics, household commercialization index, and probit regression model. Overall, the result indicates that respondents exhibited high level of commercialization (90.1 % market participants). While, the result of the probit regression model shows that eight (8) of the regressors were statistically significant. Variables such as age (Coef = 0.103, p<0.01), gender (Coef = 1.267, p<0.05), market outlet (Coef = 1.351, p<0.01), access to information (Coef = 1.298, p<0.05), and quantity sold in tons (Coef = 0.015, p<0.010) were found to have positive and statistically significant influence, while household size (Coef = -0.409, p<0.01), market distance (Coef = 0.618, p<0.010) and land tenure system (Coef = -1.541, p<0.05) were found to have a negative but statistically significant impact on market participation among respondents. The pseudo R2 of the probit model is 0.5199, indicating that the model matches the dataset and the regressors accurately explains 51.99 % of the variation. The overall goodness of fit measures of the probit model was determined using postestimation test for predictive margin. With a high significant chi-square value of (p<0.0001), the result correctly predicted a 90 % likelihood of respondents to participate in the market. The findings suggests that rural-based initiatives and intervention programs be developed to boost households' access to finance, grants, and diversified markets for effective market competitiveness, while there is a greater need for proper awareness, supports, and partnerships focused on promoting women and youth participation in the sunflower sector across the district. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sci. (Agriculture)

PHDRDV / Institute for Rural Development

PhD (Agricultural Economics) / Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness / The high attrition rate of cooperatives in Limpopo Province is a great concern considering that cooperatives globally and in South Africa have been esteemed to play a role in rural development and poverty reduction. The problem of attrition is a threat in the development of our societies. In response to this, the study investigated the formation of cooperatives, influence of social, human capital and household characteristics. The study also assessed the differences that can be used to discriminate cooperatives earning monthly income and those without a monthly income. The main aim of the study was to develop a framework that could be used to create sustainable cooperatives in the future in Limpopo Province. The study was conducted in five districts of Limpopo Province namely: Sekhukhune, Waterberg, Mopani, Capricorn and Vhembe. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from 146 cooperatives. Key respondents were cooperatives leaders. Focus group data from Mopani district cooperatives was used to provide a background to the researcher in the development of the framework. Focus group discussion information was only used by the researcher in order to understand the cooperative member’s views. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 146 cooperatives due to the availability and accessibility of the cooperatives. SPSS analytical tool was used to analyse the data. Models used in the study were Binary logistic, Multinomial and Discriminant analysis. The findings of the study revealed that household characteristics such as gender, member affiliation affected the formation of legitimate cooperatives. Social capital indicators such as access to information and benefits derived by relatives encouraged the need for funding. However human capital indicators were found not to influence the need for external funding. The study also discovered that there were major differences between cooperatives earning a monthly income and those without the income. There were various benefits derived from the cooperatives by members. The study concluded that for cooperatives to be sustainable, focus should be on human capital, extension services and improvement of the level of education. The notion is that an informed, trained and educated cooperative society is the future.

MRDV / Institute for Rural Development / See the attached abstract below

MENVSC / Department of Ecology and Resource Management / Rodents can quickly respond to land use changes whether the change positively or negatively influences their life. In the case of positive influence, rodents exploit the additional food resources and increase their numbers to potential pest level, especially in the absence of predators. Such a population increase can potentially be harmful to humans due to the diseases that rodents carry and the costs due to damage to crops, stored foods and personal possessions that they may cause to small holder farmers. Small holder farmers live in a mixed landscape that is constantly changing. Such changes are changes in land use and they do not only affect rodent population dynamics and species composition, but also their ecosystem services and integrity. Understanding how rodents respond to these land use changes (crop, grazing and settlement) will not only improve the implementation of Ecologically Based Rodent Management (EBRM), but might also enable the monitoring of ecosystem integrity. Rodent trapping was conducted in two different study sites which experience different rainfalls during wet and dry season. A 70 m x 70 m grid was set in three different land uses (crops, grazing and settlement) per study site. A mark-recapture technique was applied and all captures were processed on a temporal station on site. In all grids at a distance of 30 m a line of 20 snap traps were set. With the tapping effort of 1470 trap nights per season for both seasons in this study we captured 839 rodents and 2 shrews, which represented 469 individual rodents and 1 individual shrew. At Vyeboom, cropping land use had the highest number capture (210) and the highest in species richness (9) rodent species and 1 shrew. The settlement land use was second at 144 captures for 8 rodent species and lastly the grazing land use at 80 captures with 7 rodent species. On the other hand, at Ka-Ndengeza also cropping land use had the highest capture (186) with highest richness at 7 rodent species. When it comes to settlement and grazing, settlement was second (129) to cropping in terms of the number of capture but last in terms of richness (5) whilst grazing was last in terms of number of captures 92 and second in terms of richness (6). Despite the high diversity of rodents, only Mastomys natalensis, Gerbilliscus leucogaster, Steatomys pratensis and Rattus rattus were captured in meaningful sample sizes to allow for robust density estimation. Similarly there were strong seasonal effects on rodent captures, with almost no captures during the wet season.

Text in English / The study analysed the effects of conservation farming in Zimbabwe using a mixed methodology approach. This analysis comes against the background of the recognition that climate change, as characterized by severe droughts, has played a significant role in reducing agricultural productivity, in the process leaving smallholder farmers and the nation of Zimbabwe exposed to recurrent food insecurity. Conservation farming was introduced as a climate adaptation strategy that was aimed at improving crop yields. The study focused on assessing the association between the adoption of conservation farming and a concomitant increase in agricultural productivity. This was key in understanding if there are benefits of using conservation farming as opposed to making use of the conventional method of farming. The study also investigated the nature of conservation farming being practiced in Umguza District; this was done in order to understand whether smallholder farmers are implementing all the key principles underpinning the use of conservation farming. The study further assessed the challenges and opportunities that exist through the use of conservation farming with the aim of coming up with sustainable solutions to the challenges affecting smallholder farmers. The study went on to assess the factors that determine the adoption and maximum utilization of conservation farming. Identification of these key variables was instrumental in the design of a localized conservation farming model. Study results revealed that conservation farming is an effective method of increasing agricultural productivity. The study also established that smallholder farmers are not implementing all the key principles of conservation farming and this was attributed to the failure to include the smallholder farmers in the design of conservation farming models. It was further revealed that smallholder farmers face various challenges that include access to inputs and limited support from the government. Implications of the study highlight the need for the community to be actively involved in the design of a conservation farming model localized to the unique context of smallholder farmers. A prototype for implementing a sustainable conservation farming model was developed in collaboration with the smallholder farmers as part of a solution based approach to dealing with the challenges affecting smallholder farmers. / School of Agriculture and Life Sciences / Ph. D.

D. Tech. (Department of Information and Communication Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / The agriculture sector is the lifeblood of the economies of the world's least developed countries (LDCs). In Zimbabwe, this sector is considered to be the backbone of Zimbabwe's economy, and as a result, it is the sector that supports the economic growth of the country, food security, and poverty eradication efforts. Furthermore, the use of mobile technology has continued to rise in Zimbabwe, and farmers now can obtain agricultural information through the use of mobile technology. Mobile phones are increasingly being integrated into current agricultural trade businesses, owing to the critical role they serve in facilitating information transmission between farmers and buyers. The potential of mobile phones in agriculture spawned mAgriculture, which is the use of mobile phones to provide agricultural information and services. Variousitechnology companies in iZimbabwe have come up with various mobile farming platforms as innovation, with the aim of improving overall performance among smallholder farmers. In order to find the usefullness of these mobile farming platforms, it imperative to measure the adoption and acceptance of this technology in the farming environment. The study sought to investigate the adoption and acceptance of mobile farming platforms in Zimbabwe through a more comprehensive model based on UTAUT 2 that encapsulates the key factors that influence user adoption and acceptance of mobile farming platforms. The main aim of the study was to inform technology start-up companies and other mobile application developers in the development of mobile farming platforms or applications that can be fully adopted and accepted by users, taking into cognisance all salient factors affecting their adoption and acceptance. The model has been used to investigate smallholder farmers in a developing country such as Zimbabwe. The model explores the effect of attitude as one of the key determinants that affect the behavioral intention to use mobile farming platforms. In addition, the model looked at the moderating effect of Hofstede's five cultural dimensions on the key determinants that influence behavioral intention as well as actual use of mobile farming platforms at individual level. A total of 411 questionnaires were received from smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe's three major provinces who were using mobile farming platforms. Structural Equation Modelling was utilized to test the hypothesized conceptual model. Reliability and validity checks were done to the model instrument. As hypothesized, the findings of this study revealed that performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE) and facilitating conditions (FC) are significant determinants of the newly added variable Attitude (AT). Attitude (AT), together with social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), hedonic motivation (HM), price value (PV), and habit (HB) were found to be significant determinants of behavioral intention and usage of mobile farming platforms for smallholder farmers. The results also showed that cultural dimensions have a moderating effect on user acceptance of mobile farming platforms. According to the findings, attitude and culture are significant factors to consider when analyzing farmers' behavioral intentions and use of mobile farming platforms. The findings of the study contribute to the literature by validating and supporting the applicability of the extended UTAUT 2 for the adoption and acceptance of mobile farming platforms by smallholder farmers in developing countries. The theoretical contribution of the study was through the extension of UTAUT 2 where attitude was added as one of the new key determinants of behavioral intention and cultural dimensions were added as mediators. The other contribution is to the Zimbabwean farming community where the study was conducted.

Social capital, in broad terms, refers to norms, networks, trust and forms of social connections in societies that allows people to gain access to resources. This study involves a reconceptualisation of the concept of social capital. An overview of social capital literature reveals that economic needs are still dominant in both the theory and practice of development efforts that make use of social capital. It would therefore appear that the social capital paradigm is not balanced in that it does not clearly provide for the satisfaction of the diverse range of needs that people, particularly those in the rural communities, often experience. A resource-orientated approach is suggested in broadening the concept social capital to include the satisfaction of a wider variety of needs. An effort is made in the literature study, to capture the manifestations of social capital in different societies globally, with particular emphasis on community life in developing communities of the world. In addition, the discussion of social capital is deepened to include need satisfaction. A matrix of needs, as proposed by Max-Neef (1991), is used to argue that social capital would better be seen as a synergetic resource for the satisfaction of various needs. Instead of understanding social capital as a need, single satisfier, or as a `factor of production', an argument is put forward that such a conception of social capital is incomplete and inaccurate and that, instead, social capital should be understood as a multi-dimensional resource that can be used to service various needs of communities. Extensive fieldwork amongst agricultural producers in the Vhembe district of Limpopo provided ample evidence of social capital, although a precise fit with the mainstream theoretical perspectives was not found. The unusual profile of social capital reaffirmed the argument that social capital is present in different forms in rural developing communities and that social capital can best be seen as multi-dimensional because it has the ability to satisfy a wide variety of needs at different levels. Better use can be made of the concept of social capital by viewing it as multi-dimensional and linked to resources relevant to a wide variety of needs. Further research is needed if social capital is to be used by development planners. / Sosiale kapitaal verwys breedweg na norme, netwerke, vertroue en verskillende vorme van sosiale skakeling. `n Oorsig oor sosiale literatuur toon dat ekonomiese behoeftes die sosiale kapitaal teorie en praktyk domineer, veral tydens ontwilkkelingspogings wat gebruik maak van sosiale kapitaal. Hierdie studie behels `n heroorweging van die konsep sosiale kapitaal. Die sosialekapitaal - paradigma blyk ongeballanseerd te wees aangesien dit nie volkome voorsiening maak vir die verskeidenheid van behoeftes wat mense in landelike gemeenskappe dikwels ondervind nie. Deur die sosiale kapitaal konsep te verbreed, naamlik volgens die bevrediging van `n verskeidenheid van behoeftes, word `n hulpbrongebasseerde benadering tot sosiale kapitaal voorgestel. Tydens die literatuurstudie is gepoog om die manifestasies van sosiale kapitaal in verskillende samelewings van die wêreld vas te lê, met besondere verwysing na ontwikkelende gemeenskappe van die wêreld. Daarbenewens word die bespreking oor sosiale kapitaal spesifiek gekoppel aan behoeftebevrediging. `n Behoefte matriks, soos voorgestel deur Max-Neef (1991), is gebruik om te betoog dat sosiale kapitaal eerder as `n medewerkende hulpbron gesien behoord te word vir die bevrediging van verskillende behoeftes. Volgens hierdie siening word sosiale kapitaal nie beperk tot die bevrediging van enkele ekonomiese behoeftes nie. Hoewel uitgebreide veldwerk genoegsame bewyse van sosiale kapitaal opgelewer het, kon `n presiese ooreenstemming met die hoofstroom sosiaal teoretiese perspektiewe nie gevind word nie. Die ongewone profiel van sosiale kapitaal het die argument bevestig dat sosiale kapitaal as `n multidimensionele hulpbron verstaan behoord te word. Dit het die vermoë om `n wye verskydenheid behoeftes op verskillende vlakke te bevredig. Die konsep sosiale kapitaal kan beter gebruik word mits dit as multidimensioneel gesien word, asook gekoppel word aan hulpbronne wat relevant is aan `n wye verskeidenheid behoeftes. Verdere navorsing is nodig vir sosiale kapitaal om deur ontwikkelingsbeplanners gebruik te word. / Summary in Afrikaans and English / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

The study was conducted across the four district municipalities in the Free State province of South Africa. The objective of the study was to determine socio-economic factors that affected livestock numbers among smallholder cattle and sheep farmers in the Free State province of South Africa. The research was qualitative and quantitative in nature. Proportionate random sampling method was used to collect data. The population comprised of smallholder cattle and sheep farmers that kept at least 30 livestock. Data between the 2008 and 2012 farming seasons were collected by administering well-structured questionnaires to 250 smallholder cattle and sheep farmers. Data collected were captured and analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 22 of 2013) to obtain frequency, cross-tabulation, descriptive statistics and ordinary least square (OLS) regression. Descriptive statistics results indicated that lack of camp systems, drought prevalence, increased feed costs, poor veterinary interventions, insufficient breeding stock, high cost of fuel and transportation, lack of equipment, diseases, stock theft and pilfering, and insufficient grazing land were the prevalent factors that affected cattle and sheep farming in the province.The OLS regression results indicated that the variables that significantly affected livestock numbers were district, household size, livestock numbers in 2008, planted pastures, grazing land condition, grazing land acquisition, service, advice / training, veterinary services, purchase of dosing products and sales per year. The results also indicated that the majority (96.8%) of the smallholder cattle and sheep farmers would like to increase their livestock numbers. It was therefore recommended that extension and veterinary services should be strengthened in the study area. In addition, it was recommended that smallholder livestock farmers should be encouraged to plant pastures to reduce pressure on the natural veld and make forage available throughout the year. Lastly, as a recommendation, government should provide subsidies with distribution policies that will ensure that all smallholder livestock farmers can benefit. / Agriculture and  Animal Health / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

Involvement in agricultural activities has generally been the main livelihood strategy for rural people. This was also the case with KwaMbonambi and Sokhulu farmers, especially amadumbe producers. The research was therefore undertaken to explore the marketing opportunities for amadumbe in the Mbonambi Municipality under which KwaMbonambi and Sokhulu tribal areas fall. A research team was formed by five staff members from the Department of Agriculture including the researcher. Five research tools were used to collect data and these were questionnaires for formal retail shops, focus groups for processing centres, a transect walk to assess the land availability, sustainable livelihoods and force field analyses for amadumbe producers, From the findings, the formal retail shops and processing centres did not have a direct link with local amadumbe producers of KwaMbonambi and Sokhulu. Their produce came via agents from Durban and Johannesburg. Amadumbe producers on the other hand were producing amadumbe for their own consumption or to sell either to local communities (from the garden gate) or to hawkers in nearby towns. A recommendation was made that an amadumbe marketing forum be constituted in order to close the gap between formal retail shops, the processing centres and the amadumbe producers of KwaMbonambi and Sokhulu. Farmers felt that they could produce amadumbe of the quantity and quality required by the formal outlets if they improved their production amounts and marketing strategies. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.