Thesis (M. Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Small-scale farmers are the drivers of many countries in Africa and play an
important role in livelihood creation among the poor in rural areas (DAFF,
2012). The efficient use of scarce resources in promoting agricultural
production has encouraged a considerable amount of research in determining
efficiency differentials of small-scale farmers (Chiona, 2011); especially those
engaged in maize as a staple commodity in many parts of the world.
The study examined the effect of access to tractor service on technical
efficiency of small-scale maize farmers following the implementation of the
Masibuyele Emasimini programme in the Mpumalanga province. The
objectives of the study were to: (i) Compare and identify the socio-economic
characteristics of small-scale maize farmers in the three selected districts of
the study, (ii) analyse the socio-economic factors influencing small-scale
maize farmers’ access to tractor service, and to (iii) measure technical
efficiency of farmers who have access to tractor service. The data collection
was carried out in three districts of the Mpumalanga province, that is,
Ehlanzeni, Nkangala and Gert Sibande. Farmers producing maize were
purposively selected for the study because maize is the most staple food
produced in the province, especially on a small-scale level. To effectively cover
the study area, a simple random technique was used for sampling with a
semi-structured questionnaire administered to 101 farmers. The three districts
are heterogeneous in technical aspects, and were therefore treated separately
in terms of data collection, analysis and report of findings. The data were
further analysed using descriptive statistics, the logistic regression and
Cobb-Douglas production function model to address objective one, two and
three mentioned above, respectively.
The results of the logistic regression model indicated that out of the 9 (Nine)
socio-economic variables included in the analysis, 6 (Six) of them (Farmer’s
association, irrigation, farmer’s level of education, gender, ownership of land
and household size) were found to be significant and influencing access to
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tractor service by small-scale maize farmers. Technical efficiency levels
revealed that farmers with access to tractor service were more technically
efficient than those without access in all districts of the Mpumalanga province.
For example, the average technical efficiency for small-scale farmers with
access to tractor service in the Ehlanzeni district was 0.68; about 41% higher
than those without access with an average technical efficiency of about 0.27.
The Cobb-Douglas results on the other hand, revealed that farmers in the
Mpumalanga province are experiencing technical inefficiency in maize
production due to decreasing returns to scale. Access to tractor service was
also negatively insignificant towards maize production in both the Ehlanzeni
and Nkangala district, and was found to have a positive but insignificant effect
in Gert Sibande.
Policy implications are that to improve the efficiency of tractor service
(rendered by the Masibuyele Emasimini programme) towards maize
production; government should focus on significant factors influencing the
access of the following by small-scale maize farmers and the factors are
machinery, irrigation, gender, and ownership of land, farmer’s level of
education, farmer’s association, and household and land size per district. / National Research Foundation (NRF)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/3680 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Sechube, Mmakhashu Patience |
| Contributors | Belete, A., Hlongwane, J. J. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xiii, 78 leaves |
| Relation |
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