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School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences

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Browsing School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences by SDG "SDG1"

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    Access to irrigation and its impact on vulnerability to poverty and food security amongst South African farming households.
    (2023) Adetoro, Adetoso Adebiyi.; Ngidi, Mjabuliseni Simon Cloapas.; Danso-Abbeam, Gideon.
    The significance of participating in irrigation technology in eliminating vulnerability to poverty and improving farming households’ food security status cannot be overemphasized. Numerous studies have empirically examined the influence of farm management practices, including irrigation, on poverty reduction and overall household well-being. However, a notable gap exists in the literature concerning the specific impact of irrigation farming on vulnerability to poverty, multidimensional household poverty, and the welfare of rural farming households. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the nuanced relationship between irrigation participation and key welfare indicators within the context of rural communities. The study consists of four main objectives, each of which is an article and chapter of this thesis. In each of the articles, the significance, methods, data, findings and policy implications are detailed, and these are presented in the below sections. In the first objective, the study employed the documentary analysis approach and bibliometric technique to mine and analyse relevant documents for evaluating facts and evidence, which largely concurs with the method of information gathering used in the qualitative study method. In the analysis period (1991-2022), the most published articles on impacts of irrigation on household poverty appeared to be in 2022, indicating the growing concern on depleting food resource access. Overall, the findings revealed that irrigation adoption produced better yields and increased farm incomes thereby reducing rural household poverty as well as vulnerability to poverty. The study, therefore, suggests that more sophisticated and innovative methods, such as the proposed multi-level framework, conglomerate approach, and community-led solutions, should be developed and implemented to promote household food dynamics, food system resilience, and governance in the context of South Africa. The second segment of the research focuses on the effect of participation in irrigation farming on food security among rural farming households. The study employed an endogenous treatment effect with ordered outcome to achieve its objectives. The empirical findings indicate that the engagement of rural households in irrigation farming has a higher probability of mitigating food insecurity. This is attributed to the enhanced productivity and improved food accessibility that irrigation farming provides, particularly in the face of severe weather-induced shocks like drought. The findings also showed that the gender of the household head, the size of the household, unemployment status, access to market outlets, remittances and crop diversification (CDV) factors increase the likelihood of rural farmers’ involvement in irrigation farming, as well as reduces their food insecurity. Based on the findings, the study suggested that government intervention policies and a restructuring of rural operations to include more technological innovations such as advanced irrigation systems be reviewed. The third segment of the study focuses on the vulnerability of smallholder farmers to multidimensional poverty, which was carried out using the Alkire Foster multidimensional poverty index developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. The findings showed that the deprivation indicator ranges from 5% to 90%, where about 66% and 55% were deprived of food security (SDG2) and education (SDG4), respectively. The results of the probit analysis reveal that gender, remittances, crop diversification (CDV), education, seasonal farming and market outlets significantly influence the multidimensional poverty and vulnerability to multidimensional poverty of rural households in the study areas. The last part of the study examines the factors that influence farmers’ participation in irrigation farming, as well as how it affects farmers’ welfare (proxy by food consumption expenditure per capita) and household poverty (indicated by the poverty gap index, poverty severity and poverty vulnerability). The endogenous switching regression (ESR) model was employed to account for selection bias that could be caused by both observed and unobserved household factors, including observed and unobserved farm-level factors. The empirical results show that gender, household size, educational attainment, crop diversification and market outlets, among others, influenced farmers’ decisions to practise irrigation farming. Farmers engaging in irrigation farming have their food consumption per capita increased by 44%, while nonparticipants would have increased their consumption expenditure per capita by 23% if they had participated. Moreover, the participating farmers reduced their poverty gap index by 20% and poverty severity by 22%, whereas non-participating farmers could have reduced their poverty gap index and poverty severity by 5% and 17%, respectively had they engaged in irrigation farming. Participation in irrigation farming also reduced poverty vulnerability by 25%, while non-participants may have reduced poverty vulnerability by 3% had they participated. Overall, the study suggests that the household food dynamics and food system resilience and governance in the context of South Africa need to devote more time to reliable and innovative methods, such as the conglomerate approach, community-led solutions and appropriate strategies, which need to be implemented in order to mitigate the collapse of the nation’s food systems. In addition, the study recommend that enhancing farmers’ access to irrigation is crucial for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to eradicate poverty in all its manifestations everywhere. Lastly, the study suggests that improving policies related to improving education and increasing crop diversification among other factors, could contribute to reducing the multidimensional poverty and the households’ vulnerability to poverty.
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    An assessment of the maize structure, channel choice and market participation by the smallholder maize farmers in Zimbabwe: a case of Mazowe district=Ukuhlolwa kwesakhiwo semakethe yommbila, ukukhethwa komgudu kanye nokubamba iqhaza emakethe ngabalimi abancane bommbila eZimbabwe: ucwaningo ngesifunda saseMazowe.
    (2023) Munyati, Vincent Tinashe.; Mudhara, Maxwell.; Sinyolo, Sikhulumile.
    Marketing plays a crucial role in alleviating poverty, as well as in achieving food security and sustainable development goals, especially among smallholder maize farmers. Maize marketing has the potential to improve the resilience of households against food insecurity, which is caused by multiple factors which may be natural factors, socio-economic and institutional factors. Smallholder maize farmers find it difficult to participate in the maize market because of a range of limitations, such as poor transport facilities, information asymmetry and the lack of a market infrastructure, which reduces their motivation to partake and which may be echoed in concealed expenses that make it challenging to enter the markets and productive resources. This study ascertained the factors that determine the likelihood and intensity of smallholder maize farmers participating in the maize markets, and it also assessed the market choices made by the smallholder farmers in the Mazowe District of Zimbabwe and analysed the maize marketing structure and its effects on the maize marketing performance. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 382 smallholder farmers and 27 agro-dealers in the Mazowe District. The study adopted a mixture of tools for data collection, including a questionnaire, observations and discussions. The Heckman Selection Model was used as the main analytical tool to estimate market participation and the intensity of this participation, while the Multinomial Logit Model was used to assess the market choices of the farmers and the Herfindalf-Hirschman Index and Gini coefficients were used to measure the concentration of maize traders in the Mazowe District. Due to the narrow index of the maize marketing options in the country, only three distinct alternatives were isolated, namely, the farm gate, the local market and the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), a government parastatal. The results indicated the significant factors that were associated with the likelihood and intensity of the farmers’ market participation, namely, the age of household head, the number of maize buyers at the district level, their extension contacts, membership of a marketing association and the distance to the output market. Contrary to the apriori expectations, the distance to the market had a positive and significant impact on their intensity to participate in the maize market. Other factors that significantly influenced the market choice selection of the smallholder farmers were the age of household head, the extension contacts, market information, the distance to the market and the price offered to maize producers at the market. The number of visits by extension workers significantly increased the likelihood that a maize producer would sell his produce at the local market, rather than at the farm gate. The distance to the market significantly influenced the probability of choosing the local market over the farm gate. As the distance to the local market increases, the smallholder farmers in the Mazowe District preferred the farm gate for selling their produce. In this study, the popular marketing channel for the smallholder farmers was the farm gate; although the prices offered here were often not competitive, the farmers opted for it because of the low transaction costs. The results also indicated that the number of buyers in the maize grain market is too small to make it competitive. The few traders exhibited collusive behaviour with regard to price-setting. The local market channel and G.M.B had a lower Shepherd Marketing Efficiency Index. While both indices were low, when they were compared to the standard in literature, the GMB channel was the least efficient. Most farmers indicated that selling their grain to the GMB involved bureaucracy and late payments, which have negatively affected the marketing efficiency. These late payments have short-circuited the ability of small-scale farmers to generate a cash-flow with which to fund their agriculture activities. The study recommends that there should be mechanisms for developing the capacity of farmers to access marketing information, in order for them to make an informed decision regarding which marketing channel to choose. Governments need to think about how to help smallholder maize farmers to engage better with the existing profitable market channels. Being a member of an association increases the probability of a farmer selling to more lucrative markets. Farmer groups have the advantage of bulking and hence increasing the economies of scale. There is need for farmers to invest more in collective action. It is also easier and cheaper for traders to enforce quality and grade requirements by reaching farmers groups, rather than individual farmers. Iqoqa Abalimi bommbila abancane bakuthola kunzima ukubamba iqhaza emakethe yommbila ngenxa yohlu lwemikhawulo, njengezindawo zokuthutha ezingezinhle, ulwazi olungaxhumani, kanye nokuntuleka kwengqalasizinda yemakethe, okunciphisa ugqozi lwabo lokuhlanganyela futhi okungase kuzwakaliswe ngezindleko ezifihliwe ezenza kube yinselela ukungena ezimakethe kanye nezinsiza ezikhiqizayo. Lolu cwaningo lwaqinisekisa izinto ezinquma amathuba nokujula kwabalimi bommbila abancane ababambe iqhaza ezimakethe zommbila, lwaphinde lwahlola ukhetho lwemakethe olwenziwe ngabalimi abancane eZimbabwe. IHeckman Selection Model yasetshenziswa njengethuluzi eliyinhloko lokuhlaziya ukulinganisa iqhaza lemakethe kanye nokujula kwalokhu kubamba iqhaza, kanti iMultinomial Logit Model yasetshenziselwa ukuhlola ukukhetha kwemakethe futhi iHerfindalf- Hirschman Index yasetshenziselwa ukulinganisa ukuhlanganiswa kommbila. Ngenxa yenkomba encane yezinketho zokumaketha ummbila, kwatholakala izindlela ezintathu kuphela ezihlukile, okungukuthi, isango lepulazi, imakethe yendawo kanye neBhodi Lokumaketha Okusanhlamvu. Imiphumela ikhombise izinto ezibalulekile ezihambisana namathuba nokujula kokubamba iqhaza kwemakethe yabalimi, okungukuthi, iminyaka yenhloko yasekhaya, inani labathengi bommbila ezingeni lesifunda, abaxhumana nabo ukwandisa, ubulungu benhlangano yokumaketha kanye nebanga eliya emakethe yokudayisa. Imiphumela ikhombise ukuthi inani labathengi emakethe yommbila lincane kakhulu ukuthi lingayenza ibe nokuncintisana. Ucwaningo luncoma ukuthi kufanele kube nezindlela zokuthuthukisa amandla abalimi okuthola ulwazi lokumaketha, ukuze benze isinqumo esinolwazi mayelana nokuthi yimuphi umgudu wokumaketha okufanele bawukhethe. Ukuba yilungu lenhlangano kwandisa amathuba okuthi umlimi athengisele izimakethe ezinenzuzo. Kunesidingo sokuthi abalimi batshale imali eningi esenzweni esihlangene. Kulula futhi kushibhile kubathengisi ukuphoqelela izidingo zekhwalithi nebanga ngokufinyelela emaqenjini abalimi, kunabalimi ngabanye.