Ajuruchukwu Obi

Unlocking markets to smallholders : lessons from South Africa

This book assesses the institutional, technical and market constraints as well as opportunities for smallholders, notably, emerging farmers in disadvantaged areas such as the former homelands of South Africa. Emerging farmers are previously disadvantaged black people who started or will start their business with the support of special government programs. Public support programs have been developed as part of the Black Economic Empowerment strategy of the South African government. These programs aim to improve the performance of emerging farmers. This requires, first and foremost, upgrading the emerging farmers skills by providing access to knowledge about agricultural and entrepreneurial practices. To become or to remain good farmers they also need access to suitable agricultural land and sufficient water for irrigation and for feeding their cattle. Finally, for emerging farmers to be engaged in viable farming operations, various factors need to be in place such as marketing and service institutions to give credit for agricultural inputs and investments; input markets for farm machinery, farm implements, fertilizers and quality seeds; and accessible output markets for their end products. This book develops a policy framework and potential institutional responses to unlock the relevant markets for smallholders

Market access, poverty alleviation and socio-economic sustainability in South Africa

Markets continue to be seen as the means for ensuring that smallholder producers of agricultural products are effectively integrated into the mainstream of national economies, especially in developing countries. For one thing, markets provide the opportunity for farm production to contribute to poverty reduction through the cash income realised from sales of farm produce. In turn, markets drive production as farmers strive to meet the demands of consumers and end-users in terms of quantity and quality. But their very existence, or how effectively they function, cannot be guaranteed in many developing countries. In South Africa, there is a certain urgency to address the real concern that, in spite of considerable investments into restructuring the sector since 1994 and directly tackle agrarian and land reform, poverty is still rife and there is the clear indication that much of this arises from farmers not being able to sell produce at a profit. Unlocking markets for this group of farmers is therefore considered a crucial developmental necessity. Research conducted from 2004 in various parts of the country point to the importance of the market access to smallholders. The aim of this book is to attempt an aggregation of the findings from an investigation into the technical and institutional constraints to smallholders’ market access and how these affect other aspects of community life. Without a doubt, such concerns are not new and have formed part of theoretical and policy work focusing on the gains from trade for several centuries.

Technical constraints to market access for crop and livestock farmers in Nkonkobe Municipality, Eastern Cape province

With democratic rule in South Africa, policies were introduced to redress the extreme inequalities in income, wealth and livelihoods engendered by apartheid rule. There was the expectation that enhanced access to productive resources such as land and technical support would translate into increased agricultural productivity for the black farmers who make up the bulk of the smallholders in the country.

Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

This chapter examines the institutional factors governing the existing patterns of communal rangelands utilization in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The discussion covered various institutional factors particularly those relevant to natural resource management at the communal level. Informal institutions such as customary laws and traditional institutions seem to have gone out of fashion in many places while in a number of communities indigenous institutions still operate but competitions between them and State structures has resulted in conflicts and confusion over definition, responsibilities, management procedures and enforcement mechanisms. A key finding is that lack of government support to communities has resulted in the poor management of resources. The consequence of this has been deterioration of the rangelands and impoverishment of the communities. The indication is that transaction costs and good governance structures are important in the common property institution and high levels of trust and cooperation between members are necessary to reduce these transaction costs. Furthermore, collective action on communal lands enables communities to share ideas on how best to manage their resources to ensure sustainability.

Determinants of household activity choice, rural income strategies and diversification

South Africa’s post-apartheid economy continues to invest in agricultural development but poverty remains endemic among households with agriculture as their main source of livelihood. There are now doubts that agriculture is the dominant income-generating activity. This chapter analyses the potential livelihoods in rural areas of South Africa. Using household and community level data, the chapter develops simultaneous equations to estimate the determinants of both poverty and income from activities practised in the study area. It is expected that these would enable policymakers to identify the weak links in rural poverty reduction efforts and determine whether agriculture should remain a priority for government investment. Despite low returns per capita, own agriculture and wage employment were shown to be the main sources of income and strongly influenced by level of education, labour availability, social capital, physical capital and geographical location. To improve rural income and reduce poverty, urgent improvements in education, capital resources, infrastructure and communication are necessary.

Risk of failure to meet regional and national goals relevant to agricultural development and poverty reduction in South Africa

This study examined whether the Eastern Cape province’s district municipalities are on course to achieve local and regional goals of improving agricultural production and reducing poverty. Results show significant strides towards locally set targets and high uncertainty in meeting the regional targets. Out of seven district municipalities, five municipalities are still about 5% points below the designated 10% of the annual budget to agriculture, and only three district municipalities scored more that the set 6% agricultural growth rate. All the seven district municipalities are not in a position to meet the target of 7% economic growth rate. Econometric simulations using the Hodrick-Prescott filter on data dating from 1995 to 2010 shows that all the seven district municipalities are off-track the set millennium development Goal 1 target with one even retrogressing from that goal. Failure to significantly reduce poverty is largely attributed to the province’s failure to boost agricultural production which is an outcome of low and inefficient public expenditure management, inconsistent and misaligned policies. Regional policies should be built on local policies to bring in the desired impact on local development. This study made a strong case for frequent independent evaluation of set goals.

Factors unlocking markets to smallholders: lessons, recommendations and stakeholders addressed

The book aimed to present results of investigations conducted to ascertain to what extent South Africa’s small-scale farmers can share in the expected gains of integration into the national and international markets. Related to that broad goal, it was also intended to identify what institutional and other reforms are necessary to enhance the effective and profitable participation of these farmers in the regional economy given the constraints that smallholder agriculture is facing in South Africa.

Influence of institutional factors on smallholder farmers ’ marketing channel choices

Smallholder farmers are faced with a range of institutional challenges in produce marketing. In turn, these challenges influence their selection of marketing channels. In this chapter, a multinomial logistic regression model was used to test the significance of institutional factors in marketing. Te results are based on a case study for smallholder farmers in the Kat River Valley, in South Africa. It is shown that the statistically significant variables are access to market information, expertise on grades and standards, availability of contractual agreements, existence of extensive social capital, group participation and reliance on traditions.

Determinants of Commercialisation Level among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Eastern Cape, South Africa: A Case Study of Qamata and Tyefu Municipality

ABSTRACT The paper sought to analyse the socio-demographic features of the smallholder maize farmers; and to determine the commercialisation level of the smallholder maize farmers. The study used quantitative research design to collect data. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency distributions and tables; and the household commercialisation index were used in the analysis. The HCI result showed a low level of commercialisation among farmers, the higher maize yield of smallholder farmers contributed to higher commercialisation level, in addition to higher yield, total revenues and gross margins from maize enterprise, smallholder farmers produce more yields and earn slightly more total revenue. This therefore, implies that smallholder maize farming is lucrative due to its profit-making potentials. Moreover, this is a clear indication that more income and wealth is generated thereby implying that it is strategic and pivotal in improving farmers’ livelihoods.

Marketing channels and margins of tropical leafy vegetable in south eastern Nigeria

Davana (Artemisia pallens) ia an important high valued annual aromatic herb of India belonging to the family Asteraceae. India has a monopoly in production and export trade of davana oil and India stands 3 in essential oil production in the world. This study was conducted at Department of seed science and technology, TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore to standardization of suitable invigouration treatment for seed quality enhancement in davana under laboratory condition. The seeds of davana subjected to different seed invigouration treatments. The treatments are seed invigouration with GA3 25 ppm, GA3 50 ppm, GA3 100 ppm, Thiourea 100 ppm, Thiourea 150 ppm, Thiourea 200 ppm, KNO3 0.05%, KNO3 0.1%, KNO3 0.2% with three different soaking durations viz., 10, 20 and 30 mins. and dry seeds served as control. The observation made on germination %, seedling length (cm), dry matter production and vigour index. The results revealed that seed invigouration with GA350 ppm for 20 min. improved the germination (62%), seedling length (2.4cm) and vigour index (147.6)S genetic diversity is an important issue for forest restoration more willingly than low genetic diversity is suitable for commercial forestry for their economic importance and value. Viable diversity upholds in platelets generated through clonal propagation and horticulture is slightly difficult and this may be created genetic drift. Low genetic diversity among five cultivated populations of Terminalia arjuna was revealed using DNA fingerprints generated by ten commercially available random (RAPD) primers i.e. RPI01 to RPI10. Out of ten primers, eight primers generated total 79 bands with 69 polymorphic bands and 87.34 percentage of polymorphism, while primer RPI02 and RPI08 did not show amplification. Applied all 8 primes having a good polymorphic informativeness among the populations (mean PIC=0.355±0.032 and Ho=0.463±0.018). Higher genetic variation, gene diversity (H), Shannon’s Information index (I) and Percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) among populations (H=0.290±0.162, I=0.440±0.221 and PPB=87.34%) was observed compared to within populations (maximum H=0.165±0.212, I=0.239±0.304 and PPB=39.24%, minimum H=0.026±0.104, I=0.038±0.150, PPB=06.33%). Low average gene diversity (π=0.075±0.062) within population, higher pair wise Fst (ranged from 0.498 to 0.844) among the population and Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) shown adequate genetic variation among population (Percentage of variation Pv=75.57) but serious low genetic variation within populations (Pv=24.43, ΦST=0.756). Among the populations of T. arjuna the higher relative differentiation (GST=0.7843) with restricted gene flow GST (Nm)=0.1375 was observed. Unbiased measures of genetic distance and phylogram revealed that all locations have their once genetic identity and they arranged in their respective clusters. Lowest distance was showed by accession collected from JNKVV and TFRI Jabalpur.OMICS Group Conferences 5716 Corsa Ave., Suite 110, Westlake Los Angeles, CA 91362-7354, USA Phone: +1-650-268-9744, Fax: +1-650-618-1414, Toll free: +1-800-216-6499 Email: agri2014@omicsgroup.net “Organize your Events at OMICS Group Conferences” Proposals are invited for organizing Symposia/Workshops at OMICS Group Conferences or OMICS Group will sponsor small events at your universities in related areas under the title of your own. These proposals can be sent to respective conference mail ids or to symposia@omicsonline.org 167th OMICS Group ConferenceSoil fertility is coupled with number of microorganisms present and their activities in soil. In the present investigation, a pot culture experiment with factorial completely randomized design (FCRD) was performed to evaluate the impact of a lignite based bioinoculant (VIMP) containing consortium of four phosphate solubilizing species of Burkholderia viz., Burkholderia cenocepacia strainVIMP01(JQ867371), Burkholderia gladioli strain VIMP02 (JQ811557), Burkholderia gladioli strain VIMP 03 (JQ867372) and Burkholderia species strain VIMP 04 (JQ867373) isolated from sugarcane and sugar beet rhizosphere, on enzyme activities, CO2 evolution rate and available phosphorus in sterile and nonsterile soil along with or without sugar beet. The highest soil acid and alkaline phosphatase activities were recorded on 90 DAS while the highest soil urease and dehydrogenase activities were recorded on 30 and 60 DAS respectively. Soil microbial activities were recorded at the highest level by the treatment of nonsterile soil + VIMP + sugar beet in combination where the level of available phosphorus was found to be increased substantially by 87.63% and 115.14% as compared to sterile soil alone and nonsterile soil alone control treatments, respectively. Effects of graded levels of phosphorus fertilizer viz. 50%, 75%, 100% RDF with or without bioinoculant VIMP on yield and phosphorus uptake of sugar beet under field trial were also studied using factorial randomized block design (FRBD). The yield and phosphorus uptake of sugar beet recorded by the treatment 75% P2O5 + VIMP were found at par with results of treatment 100% P2O5 + VIMP.The grain smut [Sporisorium sorghi (Link.)Willd] pathogen on sorghum is externally seed borne. The smut sori break during threshing releasing the spores; that adhere to the surface of healthy seeds and remain dormant till next season. The infection takes place before the seedlings emerge out. The conditions suited for delayed germination of seeds favour the smut infection. An attempt has been made to find out the suitable fungicides for the management of grain smut of sorghum. Among the several fungitoxicants reviewed belonging to different groups; the seeds treated with carboxin+thiram (Vitavax power) followed by sulphur @ 3.0 g kg−1 just before sowing recorded significantly higher seed yield and lesser smut incidence and better seed quality parameters.Cereals are the major energy source for a large proportion of the world population. Consequently, reliance on a high proportion of cereal-based diets is now inducing health problems due to poor grain nutritional quality that is mainly due to low micronutrient content. As a result more than 2 billion people in the world are affected by Micronutrient malnutrition. According to WHO, (2002) Zinc (Zn) deficiency ranks fifth leading risk factor for disease in the developing world. Thus, increasing concentrations of Zn in cereal grains is, therefore, an important global humanitarian challenge. Hence, a study was carried in Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) to enhance the Zn density in the grains of three basmati rice cultivars containing low, medium and high Zn after screening the available germplasm in IARI. Their response to different sources and rate of Zn fertilization was studied in soils of divergent characteristics. The results showed that the three cultivars (CSR 30, Pusa Sugandh-5 and Pusa Basmati-6) differed in Zn accumulation in the grains. The Zn application through ZnSO4 in the form of basal and biweekly foliar application has increased the Zn content up to 30.34 mg kg -1 which is near to have a measurable biological impact on human health.G is being widely used as a therapeutic food and a flavouring agent in Indian households. Rapid urbanization and more women joining the workforce, has led to an increase in the demand of shelf stable, ready-to-eat, convenience foods with consistent functional quality. Peeled garlic cloves offer convenience but have short shelf life as they have high tendency towards surface discoloration, moisture loss and microbial spoilage. The nature of the demand for minimally processed products requires that they be fresh-like, visually acceptable and appealing. Reports suggest that commercial ready-to-use garlic products such as paste, powder, flakes etc. do not retain the fresh like characteristics and the required functionality owing to the harsh processing procedures followed for their manufacture. Modified atmosphere packaging is a potent tool to maintain the freshness and functional quality of minimally processed garlic cloves in terms of its total antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, pungency and nutritional value. In the present investigation, the effect on quality of minimally processed garlic cloves of two varieties, viz., Yamuna Safed (G-1) and Yamuna Safed-4 (G-323) was evaluated during modified atmosphere storage. Freshly peeled garlic cloves were packed in different modified atmosphere conditions of oxygen (1-3%) and carbon dioxide (515%) concentrations and stored for 28 days at 10oC and 75-85% RH. It was observed that there was a non-significant increase in PLW for both the varieties under various modified atmospheric storage conditions in all the samples. Modified atmospheric packaging of samples was found to be most effective for retaining firmness, colour and other quality parameters such as total soluble solids, total antioxidant activity, total phenols and pyruvic acid and minimizing respiration and ethylene evolution rates throughout the storage period irrespective of and variety used.Aluminium is considered as the main abiotic stress in lentil grown on soils containing excessive aluminium contents. Developing more aluminium tolerant genotypes of lentil would help to improve productivity on these soils. This study assessed the differential response of lentil genotypes to aluminium toxicity stress under hydroponic and soil conditions to evaluate genotypes for aluminium tolerance. Significant genotypic differences in root length, shoot length, dry weight of root and shoot, root re-growth after staining, accumulation of aluminium in roots and shoots were observed under 0, 74, 148 and 222 and 296 mM Al concentration. Root and shoot aluminium contents were significantly lower in the tolerant than sensitive genotypes, indicating that aluminium exclusion mechanism was involved for aluminium tolerance. These results were compared with similar measurements including yield from soil assay. Root and shoot, aluminium content at 222mM Al concentrations were significantly correlated with biomass production under controlled conditions and ranked the genotypes with their seed yield in the soil assay. The trend in the differential responses of tolerant (‘L-7903’ and ‘L-4602’) and sensitive (‘L-4147’ and ‘BM-4’) genotypes to aluminium stress was fairly consistent in hydroponic and soil assays.