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Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini

Mini Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2022.

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Other Authors: Karuaihe, Selma Tuemumunu
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Karuaihe, Selma Tuemumunu
author_browse Karuaihe, Selma Tuemumunu
author_facet Karuaihe, Selma Tuemumunu
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2022 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 Mini Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2022.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85936
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:39.235Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/85936 Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini Karuaihe, Selma Tuemumunu u19309857@tuks.co.za Mthande, Phumelele UCTD Market participation Commercialisation Mini Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2022. The benefits of market participation are well established and primarily involve income generation and/or profits. Market participation is a farmer's preference for selling crops in the output market, creating opportunities for the commercialisation of production by smallholders. The transformation of subsistence farming to market-oriented agriculture is essential. A major benefit of this transition is that the money generated can be channelled to procure other essential goods and services to improve the livelihoods of farmers and rural families. In addition, if agriculture is market-oriented, then the product will meet the market standard in terms of quantity and quality and therefore improve food security while ensuring a healthy diet. However, while efforts to support agriculture and boost food security have been put in place, smallholder maize farmers in Eswatini have a limited meaningful participation in the market. This shows that other underlying structural constraints limit smallholder maize market participation. Some of the elements influencing farmer market participation are climate, demography and socio-economic characteristics. Eswatini is divided into four agroclimatic regions, i.e. the Highveld, Middleveld, Lowveld and the Lubombo plateau. Of these, the Highveld region has the highest annual rainfall, and is thus reported to have climatic conditions most suited to maize production. The present study examines the dynamics of the participation of smallholder farmers in maize production in Eswatini's Highveld region and identifies factors that are likely to promote such participation. The study used secondary data which is farm household data that was collected from 191 smallholder maize farmers between the October 2016 and March 2017 cropping seasons. The data was collected from six communities in the Motshane rural development area (RDA) in the Highveld agroclimatic region, and a logit regression model was used to determine the factors that influence smallholder farmers' participation or non-participation in market-oriented agriculture. Findings showed that access to farmer groups, the size of planted maize area, the use of fertiliser, access to credit and the availability of market information has a favorable impact and significant influence on the farmers' decision to sell in the market. However, the age of the head of the household had a significant but negative impact. Furthermore, a t-test was used to investigate if there was a difference in the means of the non-market participants and the market participants. The t-test results showed that there was a significant difference between the population means of the participants and non-participants. for variables such as age, maize area planted, surplus produce, member of farmer group, access to credit, availability of market information, use of fertiliser and hybrid seed varieties. Therefore, policies that focus on providing access to land, lowering inputs costs and providing the poor with access to credit should be strengthened to enhance productivity and thereby promote market participation.   Mastercard Foundation Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development MSc (Agricultural Economics) Unrestricted 2022-06-23T12:41:27Z 2022-06-23T12:41:27Z 2022-09 2022 Mini Dissertation * S2022 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85936 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.20037134. en © 2022 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
Market participation
Commercialisation
Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini
title Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini
title_full Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini
title_fullStr Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini
title_full_unstemmed Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini
title_short Identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the Highveld region of Eswatini
title_sort identifying factors that influence participation of farmers in maize marketing in the highveld region of eswatini
topic UCTD
Market participation
Commercialisation
url https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85936
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.20037134.