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Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland
Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2012.
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University of Pretoria
2013
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| author2 | nhlengethwasibusiso@yahoo.com |
| author_browse | nhlengethwasibusiso@yahoo.com |
| author_facet | nhlengethwasibusiso@yahoo.com |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2012 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria |
| description | Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2012. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/30891 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:51.914Z |
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| publishDate | 2013 |
| publishDateRange | 2013 |
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| publisher | University of Pretoria |
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| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/30891 Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland nhlengethwasibusiso@yahoo.com Dr L Rugube Nhlengethwa, Sibusiso Benedict UCTD Komati down-stream development project (kddp) Swaziland Small-scale irrigation farmers Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2012. The main aims of instituting the Komati Downstream Development Project (KDDP) by the Government of Swaziland were to overcome rural poverty and to increase the contribution of Communal Titled Land (CTL) towards the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was to be achieved through the intensification and commercialization of small-scale sugarcane irrigation farming in the rural areas. Subsistence farmers were encouraged to pool their resources and form farmers’ association (FAs) or co-operatives. This enabled the farmers’ associations and co-operatives to have access to financial assistance, technical assistance and quota contracts from the millers, government and partners. However, there are noted disparities in the success of the farmers’ associations and co-operatives under KDDP because some of them were successful while others were not. In essence this implies that some of the farmers’ associations and co-operatives were able to maximise their profits while others failed to attain that. The primary concern of this study was to identify the factors that cause these disparities and hence identify the factors that influence the success of small-scale sugarcane irrigated enterprises under KDDP in the process. It also encompassedidentifying the economic irrigation performance indicators influenced by these factors. Henceforth, it was imperative to analyse the degree/scale of the influence of these factors on the economic performance indicators. The study found broad results redeemingthe hypotheses; the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in KDDP was inclined to intrinsic (leadership skills, group coherence, perceptions and needs of the membership) and extrinsic (education and experience level) factors. The correlation analysis found that education shows a high correlation to the economic performance indicators (93% to profits, 80% to sucrose value and 86% to asset value) while tertiary training was found to show an average correlation to the economic performance indicators (54% to profits, 61% to sucrose value and 52% to asset value). Experience shows a relatively low correlation to the economic performance indicators. This implies that both education and tertiary training are crucial to influencing the success of the farmers’ associations. The OLS regression analysis established that all the factors are statistically significant at a 5% level of significance in explaining the success of the farmers’ association and co-operatives. The leadership styles, coherence and the extrinsic factors explain 80%, 72% and 77% respectively of the variation of success of the farmers’ associations and co-operatives. The results corroborated that the participative style of leadership was found to be superior to the other two styles (authoritative and delegative) hence it is the one recommended by SWADE to the farmers associations and co-operatives. These factors are therefore pivotal for the success of the farmers’ associations and co-operatives; this is echoed by the statistically significant F-statistic at a 5% level of significance. The perceptions and needs of the membership of the organization were influenced by their education background; higher education levels assist in the cultivation of perceptions and needs that are aligned to the development of the project, thus supporting the strategic plan of the scheme. Education level, profit and sucrose value were statistically significant at 5% in distinguishing between the participative and delegative styles of leadership. The profit and asset value were statistically significant at 10% in distinguishing between the participative and delegative styles and between the authoritative and delegative styles of leadership. Profit was found to be significant at 10% in distinguishing between authoritative and delegative styles of leadership. The sucrose value and profits were statistically significant at 5% in explaining the importance of coherence within a farmers’ association. The results also corroborated that only four farmers’ association and co-operatives lacked unity (were not united) and this affirmed that lack of unity within the organizations has detrimental effects on their economic performance. The logit regression analysis depicted the degree/scale of influence the extrinsic factors (education and experience level) have on the economic performance indicators. These results indicate that increasing a unit of tertiary training of the farm manager has a 49% chance of increasing profits/ha and an 87% chance of increasing the sucrose value/ha. A unit increase of the experience level of the farm manager has a 63% chance of increasing profits/ha and a 48% chance of increasing the sucrose value/ha of the business entity. The results also indicate that a unit increase of the education level of the Board of Governors has a 94% chance of increasing the asset value/ha and a 73% chance of increasing the asset-liability ratio (solvency). A unit increase of the experience level has a 70% chance of increasing the asset value and a 91% chance of increasing the asset-liability ratio (solvency) of the enterprise. The study concludes that the success of small-scale sugarcane irrigated enterprises is greatly enhanced by hiring tertiary trained and well experienced farm managers and that it is also influenced by electing well educated and experienced members to the Board of Governors. From this study it can be deduced that the benefits of incorporating and practising the participative style of leadership offsets the benefits of using the other styles of leadership in the KDDP. Group coherence is also pivotal to the attainment of success for each and every farmers’ association or co-operative.It also emphasises the importance of having a well-educated membership in order to cultivate perceptions and needs that are in line with the development of the project. These findings are significant for policy-makers to draw up strategic plans to develop the commercialized small-scale sugarcane irrigation farming sector. These strategies should address: access to land titles, education programmes for the membership of the farmers’ associations and co-operatives, harmonization of the roles played by the government and partners and pertinent research on this sector of the sugar industry. Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development MSc (Agricultural Economics) Unrestricted 2013-09-09T07:46:59Z 2013-06-10 2013-09-09T07:46:59Z 2013-04-10 2012-06-10 2013-06-03 Dissertation Nhlengethwa, SB 2012, Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06032013-123118 / > E13/4/539/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/30891 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06032013-123118/ en © 2012 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Komati down-stream development project (kddp) Swaziland Small-scale irrigation farmers Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland |
| title | Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland |
| title_full | Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland |
| title_fullStr | Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland |
| title_short | Factors influencing the success of small-scale irrigation farmers in the Komati Down-stream Development Project (KDDP) in Swaziland |
| title_sort | factors influencing the success of small scale irrigation farmers in the komati down stream development project kddp in swaziland |
| topic | UCTD Komati down-stream development project (kddp) Swaziland Small-scale irrigation farmers |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/30891 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06032013-123118/ |