A factor analysis of access to and use of service infrastructure amongst emerging farmers in South Africa

While many studies have identified infrastructure as a constraints to production in agriculture in South Africa, few have attempted to investigate the extent to which emerging farmers are able to access and utilise infrastructure services. This paper uses data collected from 500 emerging farmers across the nine provinces of South Africa to determine the accessibility and use of infrastructure by emerging farmers. Factor Analysis was applied on fifteen indicators of infrastructure. The principal components extraction method extracted four factors, namely distance to services infrastructure, tarred road conditions to the services infrastructure, visitation to general services infrastructure and agricultural support services infrastructure. The results show that services infrastructure is generally more accessible to emerging farmers than before. The factors that determine the accessibility to infrastructure services include the distance of the nearest town from the villages, the state of the roads that farmers use and the frequency of visits to the nearest town. The distance to services infrastructure is segregated from condition and usage. The results indicate that all services are in a more or less similar location and in similar condition in terms of access. The implication of this study is that policy should address farmers’ access to services, which are sometimes in bundles, and the role of locating services in centres is pertinent as it stimulates agricultural and rural development.Farm Management,

Unpacking the ‘Emergent Farmer’ Concept in Agrarian Reform:Evidence from Livestock Farmers in South Africa

South Africa has historically perpetuated a dual system of freehold commercial and communal subsistence farming. To bridge these extremes, agrarian reform policies have encouraged the creation of a class of ‘emergent’, commercially oriented farmers. However, these policies consider ‘emergent’ farmers as a homogeneous group of land reform beneficiaries, with limited appreciation of the class differences between them, and do little to support the rise of a ‘middle’ group of producers able to bridge that gap. This article uses a case study of livestock farmers in Eastern Cape Province to critique the ‘emergent farmer’ concept. The authors identify three broad categories of farmers within the emergent livestock sector: a large group who, despite having accessed private farms, remain effectively subsistence farmers; a smaller group of small/medium-scale commercial producers who have communal farming origins and most closely approximate to ‘emergent’ farmers; and an elite group of large-scale, fully commercialized farmers, whose emergence has been facilitated primarily by access to capital and a desire to invest in alternative business ventures. On this basis the authors suggest that current agrarian reform policies need considerable refocusing if they are to effectively facilitate the emergence of a ‘middle’ group of smallholder commercial farmers from communal systems

Market Participation Decision of Emerging Farmers Under the Land Restitution Programme in Limpopo Province, South Africa

This paper examined the factors influencing market participation decisions and the level of the emerging farmers under the land restitution programme in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study used stratified and purposive sampling to sample 200 emerging farmers. The results of the descriptive statistics revealed that approximately 33% of emerging farmers participated in the markets. The double-hurdle results indicated that age, post-settlement support, training, irrigation, market information, transportation, credit access, extension services and farmer association membership positively influenced participation decisions and level. In contrast, non-farm businesses, sources of income and enterprises negatively influenced participation decisions and levels. This paper recommends providing support services entailing credit, training and marketing cooperatives to improve and strengthen market participation by emerging farmers in Limpopo Province

A factor analysis of access to and use of service infrastructure amongst emerging farmers in South Africa

While many studies have identified infrastructure as a constraints to production in agriculture in South Africa, few have attempted to investigate the extent to which emerging farmers are able to access and utilise infrastructure services. This paper uses data collected from 500 emerging farmers across the nine provinces of South Africa to determine the accessibility and use of infrastructure by emerging farmers. Factor Analysis was applied on fifteen indicators of infrastructure. The principal components extraction method extracted four factors, namely distance to services infrastructure, tarred road conditions to the services infrastructure, visitation to general services infrastructure and agricultural support services infrastructure. The results show that services infrastructure is generally more accessible to emerging farmers than before. The factors that determine the accessibility to infrastructure services include the distance of the nearest town from the villages, the state of the roads that farmers use and the frequency of visits to the nearest town. The distance to services infrastructure is segregated from condition and usage. The results indicate that all services are in a more or less similar location and in similar condition in terms of access. The implication of this study is that policy should address farmers’ access to services, which are sometimes in bundles, and the role of locating services in centres is pertinent as it stimulates agricultural and rural development