Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Potentially, smallholder agriculture remains a significant sector in the South African economy because of its central role in developing a healthy economy in terms of improving poor people's earnings, employment opportunities, and protecting natural resources. However, access to agricultural in...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Agriculture and Food Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154323002223 |
| _version_ | 1797385074083102720 |
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| author | Edilegnaw Wale Eliaza Mkuna |
| author_facet | Edilegnaw Wale Eliaza Mkuna |
| author_sort | Edilegnaw Wale |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Potentially, smallholder agriculture remains a significant sector in the South African economy because of its central role in developing a healthy economy in terms of improving poor people's earnings, employment opportunities, and protecting natural resources. However, access to agricultural information that informs smallholder farmers’ decisions remains important bottleneck to this sector. Recognizing the scarcity of empirical evidence on the quality of information supplied to smallholder farmers, this study seeks to assess farmers’ satisfaction with the content of agricultural information and their preferences among the various sources. Ordered probit model was employed using data from 458 smallholder irrigation farmers around four irrigation schemes in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The results revealed that the decision to use different information channels is affected by institutional factors and farmers’ attributes. The key factors behind their satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information include gender, occupation, group membership, access to credit, community meetings, and influence from fellow farmers. It is recommended that relevant partners and stakeholders should make concerted efforts to improve the delivery, access, and use of up to date and relevant agricultural information. Moreover, farmers should be encouraged to be members of local informal groups as it is found to enhance their access to information. Finally, extension policies, strategies, and programs should be designed accounting for farmers’ information needs and preferences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:48:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3767aadf1e294bf6b0a062dfc2d38a6d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-1543 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:48:53Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Agriculture and Food Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-3767aadf1e294bf6b0a062dfc2d38a6d2023-12-20T07:37:07ZengElsevierJournal of Agriculture and Food Research2666-15432023-12-0114100715Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaEdilegnaw Wale0Eliaza Mkuna1Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaCorresponding author.; Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaPotentially, smallholder agriculture remains a significant sector in the South African economy because of its central role in developing a healthy economy in terms of improving poor people's earnings, employment opportunities, and protecting natural resources. However, access to agricultural information that informs smallholder farmers’ decisions remains important bottleneck to this sector. Recognizing the scarcity of empirical evidence on the quality of information supplied to smallholder farmers, this study seeks to assess farmers’ satisfaction with the content of agricultural information and their preferences among the various sources. Ordered probit model was employed using data from 458 smallholder irrigation farmers around four irrigation schemes in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The results revealed that the decision to use different information channels is affected by institutional factors and farmers’ attributes. The key factors behind their satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information include gender, occupation, group membership, access to credit, community meetings, and influence from fellow farmers. It is recommended that relevant partners and stakeholders should make concerted efforts to improve the delivery, access, and use of up to date and relevant agricultural information. Moreover, farmers should be encouraged to be members of local informal groups as it is found to enhance their access to information. Finally, extension policies, strategies, and programs should be designed accounting for farmers’ information needs and preferences.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154323002223Quality of agricultural informationIrrigation schemesSmallholder farmersInformation channelsSouth Africa |
| spellingShingle | Edilegnaw Wale Eliaza Mkuna Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Journal of Agriculture and Food Research Quality of agricultural information Irrigation schemes Smallholder farmers Information channels South Africa |
| title | Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_full | Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_short | Smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information, and their preferences among the sources: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_sort | smallholder satisfaction with the quality of agricultural information and their preferences among the sources empirical evidence from kwazulu natal south africa |
| topic | Quality of agricultural information Irrigation schemes Smallholder farmers Information channels South Africa |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154323002223 |
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