CAN GM-TECHNOLOGIES HELP AFRICAN SMALLHOLDERS? THE IMPACT OF BT COTTON IN THE MAKHATHINI FLATS OF KWAZULU-NATAL

Analysis of a survey of the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons for the same 100 smallholders in the Makhathini Flats region of KwaZulu-Natal shows that Bt cotton has performed better than other varieties. Having two years of data for the same farmers allows innate efficiency differences, due to factors such as farm size, to be separated from the effects of the new technology, which is not normally possible. Farmers who adopted Bt cotton in 1999-2000 benefited according to all the measures used. Higher yields and lower chemical costs outweighed higher seed costs, giving higher gross margins. These measures showed negative benefits in 1998-99, which conflicts with continued adoption, but stochastic efficiency frontier estimation, which takes account of the labor saved, showed that adopters averaged 88% efficiency, as compared with 66% for the non-adopters. In 1999/2000, when late rains lowered yields, the gap widened to 74% for adopters and 48% for non-adopters.KwaZulu-Natal, Bt cotton, Stochastic Frontiers, Efficiency, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The structure of South African milk production technology : a parametric approach to supply analysis

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document Copyright 2000, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Beyers, L 2000, The structure of South African milk production technology: a parametric approach to supply analysis , MScAgric dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd H128/thDissertation (MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2007.Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmentunrestricte

MANAGERIAL ABILITY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SIZE ECONOMIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN DAIRY PRODUCTION

Managerial ability, albeit an illusive concept, is related to analysis of size economies in South Africa's dairy production sector. Data from the 1997 production cost survey of 394 farms was used in econometric estimation of long run average cost (LAC) functions for different levels of (a proxy of) managerial ability. Results show that the LAC curves are U-shaped with greater economies than diseconomies of size. Also, better managers are shown to profitably produce any level of output at lower average cost per litre than other managers. In addition their optimum levels of output are between two and four times as large as firms with average or low levels of management. The better-managed enterprises are on average operating below their optimum levels, but low and average managed firms are producing output well in excess of their optima. Thus the hypothesized vertical and horizontal displacement of the LAC curve holds in the case of the South African dairy sector, as represented by the data set

THE STRUCTURE OF SOUTH AFRICAN MILK PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY: A PARAMETRIC APPROACH TO SUPPLY ANALYSIS

A parametric approach was followed in this study to analyse milk production and supply systems based on farm level production cost data from a cross-section of dairy farms in South Africa for the 1997/1998 production year. Both single equation and system estimation techniques were applied to Normalised Quadratic, Normalised Translog and standard Translog specifications of the profit and derived output supply and input demand functions. Estimated functions were evaluated for adherence to structural properties. Results showed that convexity of the profit function in all prices holds in South African milk production. Uncompensated and compensated price elasticities of supply and demand were calculated. The results indicated that milk production and livestock trading activities are complements in the production activities of the observed multi-input, multi-output dairy farms. Both activities were intensive in the use of purchased and self-produced feed inputs, with a higher intensity in purchased feed use. The variable inputs are gross complements in the long-run and net substitutes in the short term. The long-term expansion effects overshadow short-term substitution between inputs. The results from this study suggest that dairy producers in South Africa are rational profit maximisers who use resources efficiently to the point where the marginal returns are zero. They allocate bought and self-produced feed components as substitutes in the short-run but treat both inputs as complements in the long-run

CAN GM-TECHNOLOGIES HELP AFRICAN SMALLHOLDERS? THE IMPACT OF BT COTTON IN THE MAKHATHINI FLATS OF KWAZULU-NATAL

Analysis of a survey of the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons for the same 100 smallholders in the Makhathini Flats region of KwaZulu-Natal shows that Bt cotton has performed better than other varieties. Having two years of data for the same farmers allows innate efficiency differences, due to factors such as farm size, to be separated from the effects of the new technology, which is not normally possible. Farmers who adopted Bt cotton in 1999-2000 benefited according to all the measures used. Higher yields and lower chemical costs outweighed higher seed costs, giving higher gross margins. These measures showed negative benefits in 1998-99, which conflicts with continued adoption, but stochastic efficiency frontier estimation, which takes account of the labor saved, showed that adopters averaged 88% efficiency, as compared with 66% for the non-adopters. In 1999/2000, when late rains lowered yields, the gap widened to 74% for adopters and 48% for non-adopters