Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1.3 Plan of the topic
he rest of the topic is devoted to a critical evaluation of a broad range of issues relevant
to the rural economies of the countries within the Southern African region and the role of
institutional innovation in smallholder agriculture. he second part of this topic consists
of two chapters which take up an important issue that is often ignored in the standard
literature on the subject, and that is, to what extent rural households actually depend on
the agricultural sector for their livelihoods. Very often discussions about rural livelihoods
make the assumption that agriculture is the sole income-generating activity and that there
are no, or limited opportunities, outside that sector. These questions are addressed in this
chapter, drawing from the results of a study designed to explore the baseline situation in the
rural areas around which more focused studies and intervention can be planned. Chapter 2
reviews the literature in respect to the key issues around rural household sources of income
and livelihoods strategies, and broadly examines the institutional constraints in the separate
commodity contexts that constituted the focus of the studies covered in the topic.
Chapters 3 and 4 address the subject matter of rural livelihoods and income inequalities,
making use of the standard measures of the Gini-coefficients and Lorenz curve to draw
some conclusions about the progress thus far in dealing with this matter in South Africa.
Support is sought from the literature to generalize these results for the region.
he third part of the topic examines the Socio-economic and institutional factors implicated
in commodity marketing among small farmers. This part consists of four chapters, namely
Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8. Chapter 5 examines the situation of small-scale farmers growing a wide
range of tree and field crops in the Kat River Valley of the former Ciskei homeland area of
South Africa. The range of challenges faced by these farmers in accessing alternative market
channels are analysed by means of descriptive statistics and multinomial regression procedures
to conclude that market information, awareness about standards and grades, availability of
contractual agreements, and group dynamics rank among the most important factors to
consider in designing interventions to improve market access for this group of farmers.
Chapter 6 weighs in on this subject in respect to the circumstances of smallholders in
communities that are participating in the promotion of the indigenous Nguni cattle under
an initiative started by the University of Fort Hare several years ago. The questions of how
these farmers are making decisions about livestock off-take and the obstacles they encounter
in operating in formal and informal cattle markets are addressed.
Chapter 7 looks at the experiences of maize producers under different regulatory frameworks
in Swaziland and the implications of regulation for profitability of maize production and
the welfare of maize producers. It is concluded that maize production in Swaziland is a
loss-making endeavour that is supported solely by the cultural value of maize and that much
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