Value congruence, the success of group farming in Agricultural Extension

Group farms are schemes involving multiple individuals not related by kin or employment relationships, who share resources for the purpose of farming. Successive group farming endeavours dictates group functioning with converging individual goals. Group farming in South Africa is common but not always successful and there is evidence that social factors are a key, but research investigating the relationship between social factors and the functioning of group farms in South Africa is lacking. This study examines value congruence as a social attribute that affect group work. Values are that which is regarded as important and pursued as goals, with values ranked in order of priority making up a value system. Value systems are both attributes of group and of the individuals making up the group. Of importance is the degree of congruency between the individual member’s value and that of the group.Evidence from organisational sociology indicates that in high performing groups the gap between group and individual value is narrow. The objective of the study is to determine the degree of value congruence between group and individual value, in group farm schemes and to link this to the functioning of the group farm

Sharing the water: institutional and organisational arrangements at Dzindi irrigation scheme in South Africa

The paper investigates institutions and organisations dealing with the sharing of water at Dzindi, a smallholder irrigation scheme in Limpopo Province where water supply is inadequate for full irrigation. Since its establishment, Dzindi has lived through several important political changes, which were accompanied by a gradual withdrawal of state authority. This has provided the community of plot holders at Dzindi with opportunities to internally modify the content and enforcement of existing watersharing rules. The paper documents the institutional and organisational changes that have occurred in the sharing of water among farmers and explores related perceptions among the different actors. Keywords: sharing water, institutional/organisational arrangements; irrigations schemeSouth African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 34(1) 2005: 34-4

Risk Factors of Porcine Cysticercosis in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

There is a high prevalence of Taenia solium taeniosis/cysticercosis in humans and pigs in the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) of South Africa. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors of porcine cysticercosis in select districts of the ECP. Data were collected in 2003 by interviewing 217 pig producers from the area. Blood samples were collected from 261 of their pigs, which were tested using two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for the presence of antibodies to cysticercosis. Frequencies of both owner- and pig-level characteristics were determined. For pig-level analysis, all bivariable and multivariable associations were determined using the surveylogistic procedure of the SAS/STAT® software to accommodate for the intraclass correlation that exists for clusters of pigs within one owner and for clusters of owners within a district. All tests for significance were performed at the α = 0.05 level, and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were determined. Among the respondents, 48% of their households lacked a latrine, 98% slaughtered pigs at home, and 99% indicated that meat inspection services were not available. On bivariable analysis, there was a significant association between porcine infection and district (p = 0.003), breed (p = 0.041) and the absence of a latrine (p = 0.006). On multivariable analysis, the absence of a latrine was the only variable significantly associated with porcine infection (aOR = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.07, 3.35) (p = 0.028). The increased odds of porcine infection with households lacking a latrine contributes to our understanding of the transmission of this parasite in the ECP. Determining and addressing the risk factors for T. solium infection can potentially lower the very high prevalence in humans and pigs in this endemic area