Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Raising cattle in South Africa and any other developing country in the Southern African
region as part of livestock production, is one of the important means through which
people sustain their livelihood. Inadequate efforts have been taken by the government
to improve the marketing system of cattle, particularly to develop small-scale farming in
the Limpopo Province and South Africa as a whole. With that being said, the small-scale
sector has not been developed to the extent it is expected to.
This study examined the factors affecting the participation of small-scale cattle farmers
in livestock auctions in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province. The study had
three objectives, namely; (i) To describe the socio-economic characteristics of the small scale cattle farmers in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province; (ii) To assess the
perception of small-scale cattle farmers in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo
Province towards livestock auction; (iii) To identify and analyse factors affecting the
participation of small-scale cattle farmers in livestock auctions in the Capricorn District
of the Limpopo Province.
The Multi-stage sampling procedure was used in the selection of the representative
sample. Three locations (Lepelle-Nkumpi, Molemole and Polokwane local municipalities)
were selected purposively because a large number of small-scale cattle farmers in the
Capricorn District rely on the agricultural sector economically. The Logistic Regression
Model was used to analyse factors affecting the participation of small-scale cattle
farmers in livestock auctions.
The results showed that, out of the 120 sample size, 42% of small-scale cattle farmers
were auction participants and 58% of small-scale cattle farmers were non-participants .
There were 43 male-headed households of the participants and 61 female-headed
households of the non-participants . An analysis of the farmers ’ socio-economic
characteristics further showed that in order for the farmers to cut the costs of production,
the majority of the small-scale cattle farmers preferred using family labourers or
household labourers in their cattle farming. Farmers were asked a set of Likert type
scale questions about their perceptions on the auctions. The Perception Index score
ii
was skewed to the left and therefore revealed that the small-scale cattle farmers had a
negative perception towards the auction. Farmers who had a positive perception, on the
other hand, often sold their cattle at a higher price compared to the non-participants
who had a negative perception. Furthermore, small-scale cattle farmers who are
participants tend to use the market avenue and through that, their cattle productivity is
higher, resulting in a total revenue compared to the non-participants. Consequently,
small-scale farmers who participate in auctions acquire valuable production information
at the very auctions.
Descriptive statistics such as means, minimum and maximum values, frequencies,
percentages and standard deviations were used to describe the socioeconomic
characteristics of the small-scale cattle farmers in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo
Province. The results revealed that only 4 variables were significant. The total herd size,
distance to the market, gender of the household head and market information were
significant at 1%, 5%, 1%, 5%, respectively and all had a positive effect towards auction
participation.
The study suggested that the government and other policy makers should increase the
marketing information and abilities of small-scale cattle farmers through avenues like
mass media, extension service and other means of capacity building. This will help the
farmers to minimise transaction costs. Furthermore, farmers will not incur more costs
when they participate in the markets, considering that market facilities such as auctions
are often hosted far from the farmers, which results in farmers incurring more costs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/3737 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Mashaphu, Mampa Peter |
| Contributors | Hlongwane, J. J., Gidi, L. S. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | x, 57 leaves |
| Relation |
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