Smallholder farmers' perceptions of drought tolerant maize crop in cork village in Mpumalanga province

Abstract

The study explored smallholder farmers’ perceptions of drought tolerant maize in Cork village, Mpumalanga Province. The study analysed the factors that pushed smallholder farmers to grow drought tolerant maize crops. It examined the maize varieties farmers grow and investigated the benefits and the challenges of growing drought tolerant maize crops. The review of literature found that no similar studies have explored the smallholder farmer’s perceptions of drought tolerant maize. The study was guided by a pragmatic research philosophy and it used mixed research methodology to collect data on the research objectives of the study. Purposive sampling was used to select primary respondents and snowball sampling was used to select key informants. The study found that drought and agro-ecological conditions have pushed farmers to grow drought tolerant maize crops and these crops are improving farmer’s agricultural yields and food security. However, drought tolerant maize crop varieties are inaccessible at shops and they are very expensive to buy given the socio-economic status of people living in rural areas of this village. The study recommends that the price of drought tolerant maize seed varieties should be subsidised, availability and easily accessibility to the market should be improved and future studies could investigate the contribution of drought tolerant maize varieties on household food security.Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 202