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Farmers’ Goals and Efficiency in Small-Scale Maize Production: The Case of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

Received: 11 August 2016     Accepted: 22 August 2016     Published: 10 September 2016
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Abstract

Farmers’ goals in complementarity with natural, physical and financial assets are crucial for efficient production and productivity especially for rural development and economic growth. Goals can be defined as aspirations for which a person has decided to undertake for improved well-being. This article examined correlates of farmers’ production efficiency, and their goals and other farmer/farm characteristics. The study was carried out at Qamata and Tyefu irrigation scheme in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, respectively. The study involved about 108 of farmers who were interviewed as source of primary data. This article assumes that farmers’ goals have a greater impact on their production efficiency. The principal component analysis was employed to establish generalized perceived farmers’ goals. Established principal component coefficients were regressed with generated production efficiency scores. A stochastic production frontier analysis was employed to generate the efficiency scores. Generated perceived principal component of farmers’ goals included self-expression (Farm status), business (profit) related goals, social (internal and external network and rules) related goals and independence goals (self-reliance). On average, smallholder farmers were technically inefficient in maize production with a score of about 44%. Farm and farmers’ characteristics found to be significantly related to technical efficiency included household size (at 5% level of significance), years spent in school (at 5% level of significance), access to training on agronomy (at 5% level), crop incomes (at 5% level), and government social grants (at 1% level of significance). The perceived farmers’ goal found to have a positive and significant impact on technical efficiency was farm status at 10% level, while farmers’ goal related to business (profit maximization) had a negative relationship with technical efficiency at 5% level of significance. This study recommends that all stakeholders in smallholder agricultural sector should participate in planning and implementing policies that match farmers’ goals and aspiration, and farmers’ improved formal education and access to farm loans, without changing the existing technology.

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 5, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18
Page(s) 191-201
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Farmers’ Goals, farmers, Technical Efficiency, Factor Analysis, Maize Output

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Douglas Kibirige, Ajuruchukwu Obi, Micah Bheki. Masuku, Ajay Shankar Singh. (2016). Farmers’ Goals and Efficiency in Small-Scale Maize Production: The Case of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 5(5), 191-201. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18

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    ACS Style

    Douglas Kibirige; Ajuruchukwu Obi; Micah Bheki. Masuku; Ajay Shankar Singh. Farmers’ Goals and Efficiency in Small-Scale Maize Production: The Case of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Agric. For. Fish. 2016, 5(5), 191-201. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18

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    AMA Style

    Douglas Kibirige, Ajuruchukwu Obi, Micah Bheki. Masuku, Ajay Shankar Singh. Farmers’ Goals and Efficiency in Small-Scale Maize Production: The Case of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Agric For Fish. 2016;5(5):191-201. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18,
      author = {Douglas Kibirige and Ajuruchukwu Obi and Micah Bheki. Masuku and Ajay Shankar Singh},
      title = {Farmers’ Goals and Efficiency in Small-Scale Maize Production: The Case of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {5},
      number = {5},
      pages = {191-201},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20160505.18},
      abstract = {Farmers’ goals in complementarity with natural, physical and financial assets are crucial for efficient production and productivity especially for rural development and economic growth. Goals can be defined as aspirations for which a person has decided to undertake for improved well-being. This article examined correlates of farmers’ production efficiency, and their goals and other farmer/farm characteristics. The study was carried out at Qamata and Tyefu irrigation scheme in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, respectively. The study involved about 108 of farmers who were interviewed as source of primary data. This article assumes that farmers’ goals have a greater impact on their production efficiency. The principal component analysis was employed to establish generalized perceived farmers’ goals. Established principal component coefficients were regressed with generated production efficiency scores. A stochastic production frontier analysis was employed to generate the efficiency scores. Generated perceived principal component of farmers’ goals included self-expression (Farm status), business (profit) related goals, social (internal and external network and rules) related goals and independence goals (self-reliance). On average, smallholder farmers were technically inefficient in maize production with a score of about 44%. Farm and farmers’ characteristics found to be significantly related to technical efficiency included household size (at 5% level of significance), years spent in school (at 5% level of significance), access to training on agronomy (at 5% level), crop incomes (at 5% level), and government social grants (at 1% level of significance). The perceived farmers’ goal found to have a positive and significant impact on technical efficiency was farm status at 10% level, while farmers’ goal related to business (profit maximization) had a negative relationship with technical efficiency at 5% level of significance. This study recommends that all stakeholders in smallholder agricultural sector should participate in planning and implementing policies that match farmers’ goals and aspiration, and farmers’ improved formal education and access to farm loans, without changing the existing technology.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Farmers’ Goals and Efficiency in Small-Scale Maize Production: The Case of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
    AU  - Douglas Kibirige
    AU  - Ajuruchukwu Obi
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    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
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    EP  - 201
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20160505.18
    AB  - Farmers’ goals in complementarity with natural, physical and financial assets are crucial for efficient production and productivity especially for rural development and economic growth. Goals can be defined as aspirations for which a person has decided to undertake for improved well-being. This article examined correlates of farmers’ production efficiency, and their goals and other farmer/farm characteristics. The study was carried out at Qamata and Tyefu irrigation scheme in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, respectively. The study involved about 108 of farmers who were interviewed as source of primary data. This article assumes that farmers’ goals have a greater impact on their production efficiency. The principal component analysis was employed to establish generalized perceived farmers’ goals. Established principal component coefficients were regressed with generated production efficiency scores. A stochastic production frontier analysis was employed to generate the efficiency scores. Generated perceived principal component of farmers’ goals included self-expression (Farm status), business (profit) related goals, social (internal and external network and rules) related goals and independence goals (self-reliance). On average, smallholder farmers were technically inefficient in maize production with a score of about 44%. Farm and farmers’ characteristics found to be significantly related to technical efficiency included household size (at 5% level of significance), years spent in school (at 5% level of significance), access to training on agronomy (at 5% level), crop incomes (at 5% level), and government social grants (at 1% level of significance). The perceived farmers’ goal found to have a positive and significant impact on technical efficiency was farm status at 10% level, while farmers’ goal related to business (profit maximization) had a negative relationship with technical efficiency at 5% level of significance. This study recommends that all stakeholders in smallholder agricultural sector should participate in planning and implementing policies that match farmers’ goals and aspiration, and farmers’ improved formal education and access to farm loans, without changing the existing technology.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Swaziland, Luyengo, Swaziland

  • Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Fort Hare, Alice-Eastern Cape, South Africa

  • Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Swaziland, Luyengo, Swaziland

  • Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Swaziland, Luyengo, Swaziland

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