Factors influencing smallholder farmers choice of value addition in Gauteng Province, South Africa
Melembe, Tumiso
Melembe, Tumiso
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Abstract
Value addition in agriculture is the process of improving a commodity to increase its worth. A growing number of smallholder farmers sell their products to low-value markets, as they have limited access to high-value markets, attributed to their low output and not the quality of their products. The study investigates the smallholder farmers’ patterns of adding value and socio-economic factors influencing smallholder farmers’ choice of value addition from data collected amongst 102 smallholder farmers producing livestock, grains and crops, randomly sampled in four districts of Gauteng Province. Factor analysis conducted on 15 indicators of value addition revealed that the most performed value addition was washing and abattoir, while the least performed was fortification, labelling, drying and canning. The factor analysis extracted five factors, particularly post-harvest, food preservation, milling, post-slaughter and fortification. This study implies that policymakers must comprehend that smallholder farmers are currently adding value to their products in these patterns to promote rural and agricultural growth. It is therefore, recommended that the current patterns of value adding to various products practised by farmers be retained. Using the Ordinary Least Squares regression model, the study also revealed that access and entry to agro-processing or value-added training, and the number of permanent workers positively influence smallholder farmers to choose post-slaughter value-added and food preservation agro-processing, respectively, while the size of the household negatively influences the post-harvest value-added choice. Generally milling value-added is influenced by farming type (livestock and grain farming) and institutional characteristics, such as access to value-addition information and training. Access to information and training regarding value addition will encourage more smallholder farmers to add value and improve their livelihoods.
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Agricultural Science, Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Science at the Tshwane University of Technology
Date
2021-02
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
agro-processing, factor analysis, ordinary least squares, smallholder farmers, value-added