Agricultural Extension and Rural Resource Management

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/6536

The Agricultural Extension and Rural Resource Management (AERRM) academic programme is designed to build the capacity of extension services through the provision of training and education that is relevant to the urgent issues facing agricultural and rural development. The programme offers a powerful combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in agricultural extension, rural development, project management, agricultural production and farm economics and management. The programme follows a challenging teaching and learning approach as well as a fresh approach to the theory and practice of agricultural extension. Agrometeo

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Agricultural extension and post-settlement support of land reform beneficiaries in South Africa : the case of Ixopo in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2015) Sibisi, Nhlanganiso Bhekisenzo.; Caister, Karen Fern.; Mngomezulu-Dube, Simphiwe.
Land reform is a political project which started after World War II in many countries around the world (Japan, Latin America and Africa). In South Africa it started with the advent of democracy in 1994. Experiences around the globe have been perceived by some as unsuccessful. South Africa is no exception in this, with some farms acquired through the land reform programme never used from the day of transfer. Reasons for lack of production range from insecure land tenure rights to the many challenges which hinder the utilization and production on farms. Furthermore, there is poor co-ordination of institutions responsible for post-settlement support. This study contributes insider perspectives from within the current discussion around how agricultural extension in South Africa can improve sustainable land utilization and production in land reform farms in the context of post-settlement support. The investigation explored the experiences of three beneficiary land owner groups in the Ixopo area of KwaZulu-Natal. Purposive sampling was used to select these farms and the research participants. A total of 29 respondents participated in the study. A qualitative methodology utilising interviews, focus group discussion, Venn diagram and priority ranking as data collection tools contributed to the findings around post-settlement support. The analysis showed that these three land reform farms have a high potential to succeed if agricultural extension could play a pro-active role in the process of land utilization and production. The stakeholders’ analysis has shown that there is poor co-ordination of stakeholders involved in the post-transfer support in the three land reform farms which participated in this study. The participants’ responses showed that when farmers had access to good quality technical services, they can manage the farm/s. Those who accessed mentorship from Department of Rural Development and Land Reform mentors, reported that they tended to manage their farms rather than facilitate skills transfer to beneficiaries. It was also identified that current land utilization and production is driven by the support available to beneficiary farmers, resorting in unplanned land uses when support is unavailable or inaccessible. The findings suggest that agricultural extension should play a pro-active role in co-ordination that ensures communication between various role players relevant to sustainable land utilization and production, and should also enable the farmers to take an active leading role in sustainable land utilization and production.
The contribution of adopting organic farming practices to household food security (a case study of Dovehouse Organics)
(2017) Ndlovu, Angel Silindile.; Caister, Karen Fern.
Adoption of organic farming improves production over time, suggesting that it could be possible to feed the growing world population through food produced using organic farming methods. Globally, the consumer demand for naturally grown and healthier food has been growing, creating an incentive for farmers who are engaged in organic farming. This inquiry set out to investigate the extent to which adoption of organic farming methods or practices contributes to household food security. Analysis compared the food security status of nontrained farmers with farmers who had been trained by Dovehouse Organics (DVO) with a permaculture philosophy and organic farming practices. Data were collected from 100 sampled farming households (53 trained and 47 non-trained households) through the use of a questionnaire. The study used the Household Hunger Scale (HHS) to determine the food security status of the farming households. A linear regression model was used to assess the relationship between adoption of organic farming practices and household food security. Sixty-seven percent of the sampled households were food secure. About 87% of the farming households that adopted organic farming technology are food secure. Of the households that did not adopt organic farming technology, 55% are food insecure. About 89% of the trained farmers believed they were producing more than enough food for their needs, compared to 38% of the non-trained farmers. The results show that a large number of farmers adopted the organic farming practices that were offered at DVO in their daily crop production activities. There were various reasons for adopting the organic farming technologies, including improved production and yield, better pest management, and improved potential for having excess to sell. A positive relationship between adoption of organic farming practices and food security was observed, suggesting that as farmers adopt the organic practices into their farming systems, chances of being food secure increased. Adopting organic farming practices may have improved the food security status of organic farming households in Richmond. Similar studies with a larger sample size need to be conducted to ascertain the contribution of organic farming to household food security. In terms of improving the contribution of organic farming to food security, it is recommended that more training opportunities, production support and guidance be made accessible, particularly for emerging organic farmers who require information and advisors for guidance. Given the high market demand of organically produced products, further research into opportunities that organic farmers have for selling their produce would assist to diversify household income.
Experiences with mechanisation - government tractor service provision and small holder farming in Nkandla and Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2016) Gwala, S'celo S'duduzo.; Caister, Karen Fern.
This research explores the experiences that smallholder farmers have had when implementing the government’s tractor services provision (mechanisation) programme. The objective was to understand the programme’s contribution towards improving farming activities. A convenient respondent group of beneficiary farmers was drawn from the selected villages of Nkandla and Ixopo, in KwaZulu-Natal. Members of the government involved in the implementation of the programme were also purposefully engaged in the study. Semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, and observation in the field, were used as data collection tools. The findings suggest that the programme contributed towards an increase in ploughed land which enabled farmers to plant more cash and food crops. The challenges that were found, ranged from high input costs which meant partially planted fields, to ill-timed services coupled with frequent mechanical breakdowns and tyre punctures. This led to problems such as temporary interruptions of ploughing action, squabbling between people and conflict over servicing of farmers’ sequence characterised by poor planning and management of the programme. The results of the study therefore recommend a gradual scaling-up of production potential through the classification and the evaluation of each farmers’ unique capabilities. The introduction of an appropriate set of equipment a farmer can independently afford to obtain, to maintain and to sustain, is also recommended.
ICT use in agricultural extension service delivery: a case study of the edo state agricultural development program (ESADP), Benin-City, Edo state, Nigeria.
(2022) Uahomo, Courage Efeomo.; Caister, Karen Fern.
Due to the ever-evolving nature of ICTs, studies have continuously shown that their use plays a very significant role in a country’s economic development, and the agricultural sector is not left out. This survey describes perceptions on using ICTs by field-level and office-based agricultural extension workers at the Edo State Agricultural Development Program (ESADP), Benin-City, Edo state, Nigeria. This research investigates the awareness, roles, benefits and challenges of using ICTs among office-based and field-level agricultural extension personnel employed by the ESADP. An online questionnaire was pre-tested and released to the target group using Survey Monkey. Responses were digitized, and descriptive analysis was used to identify patterns in the data. The target group was a non-random purposive target of 100 extension staff meeting the criteria of access to and utilization ICTs in their line of work. Ninety-five of those responded. The results indicated that most (98%) of field-level and (94%) office-based respondents were aware of using ICTs for agricultural extension service delivery. Ease of use and access to timely and accurate information were the main reasons why extension workers use ICTs. However, the study observed that the challenges encountered were erratic power supply, delayed response from the service providers, and discrepancies between the desire to use and the provision/maintenance of the resources needed for access. Based on the findings from this study, a need to fill the gap between the desire to use ICT devices and accessibility gave rise to the following recommendations: that more agricultural extension workers be recruited and trained to balance the farmer:extension worker ratio and to address the technological gap that currently exist in the system, that best practice is to provide an enabling environment that will encourage and support software licensing, provide suitable hardware, and that infrastructural development should also be given immediate attention in order to alleviate the issue of poor services rendered to the people.
Livelihoods and natural resource management dynamics in fast track land resettlements, Kwekwe District, Zimbabwe.
(2014) Mumanyi, Farai.; Caister, Karen Fern.
The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate an Agricultural community and its system of Natural Resource Management (NRM) in the post–Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) era in Zimbabwe. The study contributes to understanding issues facing Agricultural Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) set ups in two resettlement models. The aim was to establish the influence that the FTLRP had on emergent practice and use of the natural resource base. The main task was to explore the patterns of natural resource use within the dynamics of culture, vulnerability and governance issues. The researcher deliberately enriched the case study with interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussions and participatory observations to promote triangulation (confirmation) of results. The field work for the study was carried out in Kwekwe District in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. The main part of the district falls in Agro ecological zone III and the smaller part in zone IV. Agro ecological zone III is a semi-intensive farming area prone to sporadic seasonal droughts, long-lasting, mid-season dry spells and the unpredictable onset of the rainy season. Agro ecological zone IV is subject to drought and dry spells in summer, rendering the area unsuitable for arable farming but favourable for semi-extensive beef production. The study specifically targeted FTLRP beneficiaries. The results showed that in terms of impacts on NRM, the exploitation of natural resources for survival has become normal practice. This is a shift from the previous farming practice and NRM of the agrarian space before FTLRP as well as a shift from the indigenous knowledge system of NRM found in traditional communal settlements prior to FTLRP. The background of farmers had notable effects on the current farming practices. Governance of NRM was in conflict with farmers’ needs, the harsh economic climate, dwindling NRM institutions and erosion of the authority of traditional community leaders.
Moving beyond substence : systemic integrity in commercialising homestead agriculture, with the Ezemvelo Farmers Organisation, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2012) Caister, Karen Fern.; Green, Jannette Maryann.; Modi, Albert Thembinkosi.
The transformation of South Africa’s rural communal spaces into an economically viable, socially stable and harmonious sector is currently on the political agenda, the efforts of the public sector to achieve this however have fallen far short of the intended goal leaving subsistence and emerging farmers with little or no support. A current decline in agricultural activity in South Africa’s rural areas threatens to weaken even further the strength of rural economies. Calls for the return of ‘peasant’ agriculture to the political and academic agendas and a clarion call for South African farmers to rewrite their history lie within the problem of sustaining humanity with the economic, social, environmental and temporal dimensions as a driver for development. This thesis interprets the activities and behaviours that defined the innovative response of small-scale commercial farmers in KwaZulu-Natal who role model ‘farming’ as a ‘way of life’ in communal land spaces. The focus of the research was to interpret a useful meaning in the re-negotiation of power relationships between producers and their market. It conceptualised the process of individuals who had determined, and continue to define, their future. The events observed over the three years of field work, offered the possibility of generating an emergent solution to re-inventing farming as a way of life as season by season, decisions were made at the individual homestead level, collectively at community level and between internal and external decision-makers for market oriented agriculture as an additional farming strategy. A constructivist epistemology, relying on a pragmatic approach to using grounded theory methods within a participatory process, constituted the study design. The research focussed only on emic issues as the ‘culture’ or social and material priorities of the agronomic system in transition. For this reason, sensitising concepts were drawn from within the context to limit the scope and analysis of the study. Following the field work and write up, the literature of agrarian change was used to locate the study and consider the practical contribution of the study. This research identified that ‘successful’ commercial homestead agriculture was the result of changes in mind-set that allowed for new norms and behaviours for farming practice and for relationships. These shifts provided leverage points for overcoming resistance between producers and markets in accommodating a sustainable market oriented agronomy. Influencing the change was the impact of informed decision making, which brought the stakeholders together through the sharing of values and beliefs. Success was interpreted as using the market-orientated production of amadumbe to tap into the factors that sustained and created social cohesion, as well as those that stimulated agricultural activity. This emphasis encouraged the capacity for development and cultivation of sustainability. The research proposes that deliberate interdependence between producers and markets creates the incentive for development that is self-determining, sustainable and derives economic benefits from agricultural activity. This research contributes towards understanding how to re-define commercialisation as an inherent characteristic of traditional agricultural practice and, within this, a meaningful description for stakeholders of the social impact of a deliberate and mutually determined reconstruction of livelihood reality through a farmer-market researcher relationship. The research introduces the need for a new way of engaging over agriculture in communal spaces; how Discourse is defined and managed; for whom the results of evaluation and monitoring are aimed; and to whom the results of research belong. The research raises consciousness of the need for a space within which dialogue and support for sustaining social agriculture and the role that research institutions could play. The product of this research is a theory whose core variable defines successful commercial homestead agriculture as a dimension of systemic integrity between internal and external economic interactions. Systemic integrity has been defined as the process by which commercialisation of traditional agriculture has been demonstrated through tapping into the motivations that stimulate agricultural activity and nurturing social cohesion as the framework for legitimate development partnerships. The findings contribute to the discussion of how to unlock the technological and productive potential of rural communities within the images of supportiveness, solidarity, and communalism that produce food for the survival of humanity in a contemporary and dynamic world.
The role of community and social development project in improving rural livelihoods, Kebbi State, Nigeria.
(2021) Hassan, Shehu Usman.; Caister, Karen Fern.
Between the years 2010 and 2013, the Nigerian Government established a transforming structure called the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP). This research explores the influences of that project on livelihoods through the perceptions of participants located in Local Government Area (LGA), Danko/Wasagu of Kebbi State, Nigeria. Four (4) of the twenty-four (24) communities in Danko/Wasagu involved in the CSDP partnership between communities and Government were targeted as an accessible case to investigate. One objective of the study was to identify perceived influences of the CSDP using the programme data. Permission for the researcher to extract (200) individual records from the CSDP data base was approved. Two hundred records (50 for each of the four communities) were identified as a random sample from the project survey data. These records provided livelihood information and perceptions from beneficiaries of the CSDP through data collected before and after the project. Descriptive statistics and Paired Sample t-test were tools used to look for perceived influences between project delivery and post project availability of livelihood resources. To provide a snap shot of perceptions three years after the Programme Project ended, a second objective used a Focus Group approach in 2016 to explore current livelihood options within these communities. Field visits included a purposeful selection of (12) respondents from each of the four target communities. For each community, group discussions were carried out in two (3-4 hour) sessions. Session 1, carried out in the morning, used participatory activities to reflect on the past, present and future. Session 2 in the evening, revolved around discussion and consensus on current livelihoods against an adapted livelihoods framework. In general, communities depended on multiple strategies and combined community effort to achieve livelihood goals. The CSDP sample data inferred improved access to resources particularly in health and transport across all communities. Improved access to water however, was only significant in two communities. Three years later, the focus group discussion revealed that development efforts continued by the LG were not perceived as providing sufficient economic opportunity. To encourage entrepreneurship, mobilisation of the community for collective decision making needs to be reactivated and Local Government needs to continue facilitating the delivery of infrastructure as originally tasked. Further research of actual and potential asset based micro-enterprise would benefit an understanding of innovative livelihood options alongside economic policy agendas.

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