Analysis of factors affecting technical efficiency of a1 smallholder maize farmers under command agriculture scheme in Zimbabwe: the case of Chegutu and Zvimba districts.
- Authors: Muzeza, Norman Tatenda
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Food security , Farms, Small , Agricultural extension work
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20826 , vital:46607
- Description: Maize is the most essential cereal crop grown in Zimbabwe. This crop is produced across the country under different conditions and environments. The study focused on analyzing technical efficiency of A1 smallholder maize farmers in Chegutu and Zvimba districts under the Command Agriculture Scheme. Understanding technical efficiency is essential under developing agriculture, especially where resources are limited, and high population growth is quite common. In such a setting, increased output depends on efficiency improvements. The specific objectives of the study focused on estimating the level of technical efficiency, determinants of technical efficiency and the level of productivity among a randomly selected sample of 240 A1 smallholder maize farmers under the Command Agriculture Scheme. Purposive, cluster and random sampling techniques were used to collect primary data from the selected sample. The study applied the single-stage modelling stochastic frontier approach to assess technical efficiency of A1 smallholder maize farmers. The stochastic frontier results revealed that A1 smallholder farmers in Chegutu and Zvimba districts are technically efficient at 85 percent and 94 percent, respectively. The major determinants of technical efficiency varied across each district. In Chegutu district, major determinants of technical efficiency were basal fertilizer, labour and area of land cultivated for maize production, and all indicated a positive relationship with level of significance less than 10 percent and 1 percent (0.012, 0.000 and 0.000) respectively. In Zvimba district, major determinants of technical efficiency were basal fertilizer, topdressing and area of land cultivated for maize production, and all indicated a positive relationship with level of significance less than 5 percent, 10 percent and 1 percent (0.002, 0.021, 0.000) respectively. The study further estimated determinants of technical inefficiency. Main determinants of technical inefficiency in Chegutu district were age, maize farming experience and level of education. In Zvimba district, main determinants were maize farming experience, level of education, marital status, occupation status and other sources of income. The return to scale that measures the productivity level of farmers varied among the two districts in which farmers from Chegutu district had increasing returns to scale (1.43), whilst famers from Zvimba district had decreasing returns to scale (0.54). The study, therefore, argues that despite observed high technical efficiencies, Chegutu farmers could bridge their 15 percent gap between their observed output and the frontier output by focusing more on input usage with increasing returns to scale (1.43 percent). On the other hand, Zvimba farmers could bridge their 6 percent gap between their observed output and frontier output by focusing more on socio-economic drivers of technical inefficiency, given the decreasing returns to scale of their inputs (0.54 percent). , Thesis (MSc) (Agricultural Economics) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
- Authors: Muzeza, Norman Tatenda
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Food security , Farms, Small , Agricultural extension work
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20826 , vital:46607
- Description: Maize is the most essential cereal crop grown in Zimbabwe. This crop is produced across the country under different conditions and environments. The study focused on analyzing technical efficiency of A1 smallholder maize farmers in Chegutu and Zvimba districts under the Command Agriculture Scheme. Understanding technical efficiency is essential under developing agriculture, especially where resources are limited, and high population growth is quite common. In such a setting, increased output depends on efficiency improvements. The specific objectives of the study focused on estimating the level of technical efficiency, determinants of technical efficiency and the level of productivity among a randomly selected sample of 240 A1 smallholder maize farmers under the Command Agriculture Scheme. Purposive, cluster and random sampling techniques were used to collect primary data from the selected sample. The study applied the single-stage modelling stochastic frontier approach to assess technical efficiency of A1 smallholder maize farmers. The stochastic frontier results revealed that A1 smallholder farmers in Chegutu and Zvimba districts are technically efficient at 85 percent and 94 percent, respectively. The major determinants of technical efficiency varied across each district. In Chegutu district, major determinants of technical efficiency were basal fertilizer, labour and area of land cultivated for maize production, and all indicated a positive relationship with level of significance less than 10 percent and 1 percent (0.012, 0.000 and 0.000) respectively. In Zvimba district, major determinants of technical efficiency were basal fertilizer, topdressing and area of land cultivated for maize production, and all indicated a positive relationship with level of significance less than 5 percent, 10 percent and 1 percent (0.002, 0.021, 0.000) respectively. The study further estimated determinants of technical inefficiency. Main determinants of technical inefficiency in Chegutu district were age, maize farming experience and level of education. In Zvimba district, main determinants were maize farming experience, level of education, marital status, occupation status and other sources of income. The return to scale that measures the productivity level of farmers varied among the two districts in which farmers from Chegutu district had increasing returns to scale (1.43), whilst famers from Zvimba district had decreasing returns to scale (0.54). The study, therefore, argues that despite observed high technical efficiencies, Chegutu farmers could bridge their 15 percent gap between their observed output and the frontier output by focusing more on input usage with increasing returns to scale (1.43 percent). On the other hand, Zvimba farmers could bridge their 6 percent gap between their observed output and frontier output by focusing more on socio-economic drivers of technical inefficiency, given the decreasing returns to scale of their inputs (0.54 percent). , Thesis (MSc) (Agricultural Economics) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
Knowledge and attitude towards mastitis, culling and mortality among dairy farmworkers, and factors associated with culling and mortality among dairy cattle in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Diniso, Yanga Simamkele
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Food security , Dairying--Economic aspects , Milking
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20686 , vital:46425
- Description: Globally, food security is under threat from escalating population growth, new variants of diseases, climate change and livestock loss. Africa is vulnerable to food insecurity, with majority of the estimated 800 million suffering from hunger based in Africa. Intensification of production is a common strategy to counter the increasing demand for nutritional food to maintain and improve food security. The dairy industry is one of the leading agriculture sectors that has adopted intensification of production. The current study had two specific objectives; the first objective was to evaluate the dairy farmworkers’ knowledge and attitude towards mastitis, culling, and mortality in the southern part of the Eastern Cape Province. The data was collected from 106 dairy farm workers of different farm hierarchy in 5 out of 6 districts using questionnaire. In cases whereby a majority correctly answered a question, a point was awarded and a zero for incorrectly answered questions by the majority. A less than 50 percent pass rate was considered a poor level of knowledge, 51-69 percent pass rate was considered an average level of knowledge, and anything higher than that considered a good level of knowledge. The majority of the participants (64.2 percent) indicated that they consume unpasteurised milk even though they know its risks. There was no association (P>0.05) between workplace position, educational level, work experience, and consumption of unpasteurised milk. This study found that participants had a deficient level of knowledge of mastitis causing pathogens by attaining a pass mark of 1.60 out of a possible 10 (16 percent), and educational level was significantly associated with knowledge of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus spp. However, the participants (64.9 percent) showed good knowledge of clinical signs of mastitis, and this was attributed to the regular mastitis detection with California Mastitis Test (CMT, 60.4 percent) and a strip cup (83.0 percent). The participants had varying perceptions and limited knowledge (28.3 percent pass rate) about the major contributing factors of culling and mortality. The lack of dairy training courses and minimal use of other sources of information such as the internet might contribute to this poor knowledge and perceptions. The second objective involved identifying and describing the factors responsible for culling and mortality in dairy farms in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. The factors were grouped into seven (7) major factors namely lameness and poor growth (2.33 percent), reproduction problems (35.86 percent), health factors (6.72 percent), production factors (7.11 percent), udder-related factors (3.42 percent), voluntary culls (4.86 percent) and miscellaneous factors (26.03 percent). The most frequent reason for culling dairy cows was reproduction problems which was mainly made up of infertility (7.9 percent), reproductive failure (89.9 percent), and dystocia (1 percent). Miscellaneous factors which mainly consisted of indigenous breeds (8.2 percent), and age (2.7 percent) accounted for the second most prevalent factors for the culling of dairy cows. All the farms recorded stock-theft as part of involuntary culling and accounted for 3.6 percent dairy cows that were culled. Poor milk yield and health-related factors such as red-water (33.8 percent), milk-fever (23.3 percent), and heart-water (6.8 percent) were amongst the major factors responsible for the culling of dairy cows. There were 1774 (13.67 percent) dairy cows that died in the study farms from 2015 to 2019 and causes of death were not specified except for drowning (0.01 percent) and snake bite (1 percent). This study exposed a gap in knowledge about the causes of mastitis, culling and mortality among dairy farmworkers in the southern part of the Eastern Cape Province. Furthermore, this study provided with a baseline information on the leading causes of culling and mortality. There is a need for further research on strategies of enhancing the knowledge of dairy farmworkers about pathogens of mastitis and specific causes of culling and mortality to mitigate the challenge they pose to food security. , Thesis (MSc) (Animal Science) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
- Authors: Diniso, Yanga Simamkele
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Food security , Dairying--Economic aspects , Milking
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20686 , vital:46425
- Description: Globally, food security is under threat from escalating population growth, new variants of diseases, climate change and livestock loss. Africa is vulnerable to food insecurity, with majority of the estimated 800 million suffering from hunger based in Africa. Intensification of production is a common strategy to counter the increasing demand for nutritional food to maintain and improve food security. The dairy industry is one of the leading agriculture sectors that has adopted intensification of production. The current study had two specific objectives; the first objective was to evaluate the dairy farmworkers’ knowledge and attitude towards mastitis, culling, and mortality in the southern part of the Eastern Cape Province. The data was collected from 106 dairy farm workers of different farm hierarchy in 5 out of 6 districts using questionnaire. In cases whereby a majority correctly answered a question, a point was awarded and a zero for incorrectly answered questions by the majority. A less than 50 percent pass rate was considered a poor level of knowledge, 51-69 percent pass rate was considered an average level of knowledge, and anything higher than that considered a good level of knowledge. The majority of the participants (64.2 percent) indicated that they consume unpasteurised milk even though they know its risks. There was no association (P>0.05) between workplace position, educational level, work experience, and consumption of unpasteurised milk. This study found that participants had a deficient level of knowledge of mastitis causing pathogens by attaining a pass mark of 1.60 out of a possible 10 (16 percent), and educational level was significantly associated with knowledge of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus spp. However, the participants (64.9 percent) showed good knowledge of clinical signs of mastitis, and this was attributed to the regular mastitis detection with California Mastitis Test (CMT, 60.4 percent) and a strip cup (83.0 percent). The participants had varying perceptions and limited knowledge (28.3 percent pass rate) about the major contributing factors of culling and mortality. The lack of dairy training courses and minimal use of other sources of information such as the internet might contribute to this poor knowledge and perceptions. The second objective involved identifying and describing the factors responsible for culling and mortality in dairy farms in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. The factors were grouped into seven (7) major factors namely lameness and poor growth (2.33 percent), reproduction problems (35.86 percent), health factors (6.72 percent), production factors (7.11 percent), udder-related factors (3.42 percent), voluntary culls (4.86 percent) and miscellaneous factors (26.03 percent). The most frequent reason for culling dairy cows was reproduction problems which was mainly made up of infertility (7.9 percent), reproductive failure (89.9 percent), and dystocia (1 percent). Miscellaneous factors which mainly consisted of indigenous breeds (8.2 percent), and age (2.7 percent) accounted for the second most prevalent factors for the culling of dairy cows. All the farms recorded stock-theft as part of involuntary culling and accounted for 3.6 percent dairy cows that were culled. Poor milk yield and health-related factors such as red-water (33.8 percent), milk-fever (23.3 percent), and heart-water (6.8 percent) were amongst the major factors responsible for the culling of dairy cows. There were 1774 (13.67 percent) dairy cows that died in the study farms from 2015 to 2019 and causes of death were not specified except for drowning (0.01 percent) and snake bite (1 percent). This study exposed a gap in knowledge about the causes of mastitis, culling and mortality among dairy farmworkers in the southern part of the Eastern Cape Province. Furthermore, this study provided with a baseline information on the leading causes of culling and mortality. There is a need for further research on strategies of enhancing the knowledge of dairy farmworkers about pathogens of mastitis and specific causes of culling and mortality to mitigate the challenge they pose to food security. , Thesis (MSc) (Animal Science) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
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