Edilegnaw Wale

Factors influencing adoption and intensity of adoption of orange flesh sweetpotato varieties: evidence from an extension intervention in Nyanza and Western province, Kenya

This study applied logit and logit transformed regression to examine factors affecting the adoption of orange flesh sweet-potatoes (OFSP), and intensity of such adoption, by a representative sample of 340 farmers in the Busia and Rachuonyo districts of Kenya in 2009. The study also investigated whether participation in a value chain extension intervention programme increased these farmers’ likelihood of adopting OFSP. The results suggest that the district where the farmer comes from, knowledge on value addition and nutritional benefits, and availability of vines were the key factors for adoption. The results also suggest that participation in a value chain extension programme enhanced the probability of adoption. Factors affecting intensity of adoption were site, value addition, vines availability, level of commercialization and having a child of up to five years.

Water security and rural household food security: empirical evidence from the Mzinyathi district in South Africa

This paper aimed to investigate the determinants of water security in an irrigation scheme, and how this water security level subsequently affects the farmer’s household food security level. Water security refers to access by the irrigating households to sufficient and reliable water to meet the agricultural needs and their ability to assert the water rights against other parties. A random sample of 185 irrigating households was interviewed in Tugela Ferry Irrigation Scheme in Mzinyathi District, South Africa. Data were analysed using principal component analysis and ordinary least squares. The empirical results indicated that factors such as farmer’s age, off-farm income, farmer association membership, use of pumps, location on the upper-end of the canal and training increase household water security. Conversely, factors such as occurrence of conflicts and location at the tail-end of the canal were found to decrease household water security. This study highlights the importance of strengthening farmer organisational capacity and local institutions for enhancing the water security status of farmers in smallholder irrigation schemes. The results also indicated that perceived water security has a positive impact on household food consumption per adult equivalent. Therefore, for better impact on household food security, the study recommends that priority should be placed in ensuring household water security, not just investing in the physical irrigation scheme and irrigation participation. The human and social dimensions need to receive priority. Training farmers in collective water governance and water conservation techniques to improve water-use efficiency as well as introducing motorised pumps would take irrigators a long way in enhancing their water security.

Local Organizations Involved in the Conservation of Crop Genetic Resources: Conditions for their Emergence and Success in Ethiopia and Kenya

Local organizations comprising of farmers, local formal and informal institutions, and public conservators can potentially be relevant options to confront the challenges of conserving indigenous crop varieties in developing countries. Although property rights and market failure problems experienced in crop genetic resources (CGRs) are different from other natural resources such as forests, wildlife, etc., such local organizations, and contractual arrangements within them, can be very instrumental in enhancing on-farm conservation. However, empirical investigations of such local organizations in order to determine the dimensions of their feasibility have been scarce. Against this background, this paper analyzes interactions of stakeholders in these local organizations and then explores the conditions for their emergence and success. The paper discusses field cases of on-farm conservation of traditional cereals and pulses from Ethiopia and indigenous vegetables from Kenya. It points out that local organizations conserving CGRs can be classified into different categories of contractual arrangements depending on certain driving factors that influence interactions of stakeholders and devolvement of decision-making authority. The paper further argues that these driving factors, which include accessibility to markets, presence of collective action or self-organizational capacity and provision of relevant CGRs conservation policies, form some of the key conditions determining the success of the case study organizations. The paper concludes by outlining policy implications on the structuring of such local organizations and the importance of certain factors in facilitating their emergence and success.

Consumers’ Willingness-To-Pay for Underutilized Vegetable Crops: The Case of African Leafy Vegetables in South Africa

Abstract The paper aimed to determine consumer’s willingness-to-pay for African leafy vegetables and to explore the socio-economic and perception factors influencing willingness-to-pay for African leafy vegetables in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Cross-sectional data were collected from 300 randomly selected households across three districts of the Limpopo Province using a contingent valuation questionnaire. The descriptive results revealed that almost 80 percent of the respondents would be willing to pay a premium for African leafy vegetables. An Ordered Probit model was applied for identification of households’ socioeconomic and perception factors that influence willingness-to-pay. Willingness-to-pay was found to be mainly a function of socio-economic factors, namely gender, urbanization, age, distance to the market, tastes/preferences and availability of African leafy vegetables throughout the year. Demand and preference for African leafy vegetables were found to be high as they have been historically important food security crops to rural households. The empirical results will be useful for African leafy vegetable producers, plant breeders, marketers and policy makers in developing eûcient production and marketing strategies. This, in turn, would provide a means of improving food security and livelihoods, especially in support of the rural poor African leafy vegetable farmers.

Values rural households in KwaZulu-Natal hold towards forests and their participation in community-based forest management

ABSTRACT Community-based forest management (CBFM) is the internationally recognised model in which sustainable use of communal forest resources is assured. However, some authors have asserted that policy makers should understand the values communities hold towards forests before recommending strategies for CBFM. This study used Principal Component Analysis to identify the values rural households in KwaZulu-Natal hold towards forests. The Multinomial Logit Model was then used to investigate whether the values households hold towards forests, among other socio-economic and institutional factors, influence households’ decisions to participate in self-initiated CBFM programmes. The study found that households’ decisions to participate in community forest management depend, not only on the values they hold towards forests, but also on the forest management strategy being pursued. If a protection-oriented management strategy is pursued, households that hold more bio-centric values are more likely to participate, while households that hold more anthropocentric values towards forests are more likely to participate in managing forests when a utilisation-oriented strategy is pursued. Since rural households in KwaZulu-Natal are poor and overwhelmingly hold anthropocentric values towards forests, it was recommended that following the utilisation-oriented forests management strategy to meet the utilitarian needs of the communities would improve household participation, while reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable forest management.

Challenges in genetic resources policy making: some lessons from participatory policy research with a special reference to Ethiopia

It is widely recognized that developing countries lack technical and institutional capacity to effectively implement genetic resources policy. This has led Bioversity International (the then IPGRI) to initiate a project called Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) in six countries (Ethiopia, Egypt, Zambia, Peru, Vietnam and Nepal). Drawing from the literature and experiences of this project, this paper has attempted to document some of the lessons from the project and present the issues and challenges that need to be addressed for effective genetic resources policy. Recognizing its cross-cutting nature, the paper has argued that genetic resources policy has to be part of the broader development agenda to effectively deal with trade-offs and harmonize the conflicts. Essentially, the important policy question is to strike the balance and simultaneously promote the diversity of genetic resources and welfare outcomes. The major thrust of GRPI has been the multi-disciplinary, -sectoral, and -stakeholder (3M) approach. Despite all its theoretical merits, its implementation has been a serious challenge in practice. This has, among others, been due to ‘‘A project for all is a project for none’’ dilemma. Engaging decision makers in 3M deliberations has revealed that many of them tend to think that maintaining genetic diversity promotes traditional farming and retards agricultural development. Clearly, addressing each of these challenges and policy loopholes requires innovation in a diversity of institutions.

The effect of major income sources on rural household food (in)security: Evidence from Swaziland and implications for policy

ABSTRACT The aim of this article was to investigate the food (in)security effect of household income generated from major economic activities in rural Swaziland. From a sample of 979 households, the results of a multinomial treatment regression model indicated that gender of household head, labor endowment, education, size of arable land, and location significantly influenced the households’ choice of primary economic activity. Further results suggested that off-farm-income-dependent households were less likely to be food insecure when compared with on-farm-income-dependent households. However, on-farm-income-dependent households had a better food security status than their counterparts who depended on remittances and nonfarm economic activities.

The Role of Capital Assets and Institutions in the Success and Failure of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in South Africa

Abstract Production among smallholder irrigation farmers in South Africa is low, and is negatively influenced by a wide range of factors. This paper documents the findings of a study of two smallholder irrigation schemes inSouth Africa, by applying the sustainable livelihoods framework to identify factors affecting their performance.The two schemes, namely the Foundation Community Project and the Mooi River Irrigation Scheme wereexamined in terms of the five basic forms of capital assets (natural, financial, physical, human and social) tounderstand their impact on performance. The results show that poor coordination of government funded activitiesnegatively affects smallholder performance, through poor provision of public infrastructure like roads and physicalasserts like tractors. Smallholder farmers lack irrigation specific skills like scheduling and irrigation maintenance,hence poor productivity and poor irrigation infrastructure condition. Financial capital was also identified as aconstraint among smallholder irrigators. Although farmers capitalise on the existing social capital that enableborrowing of small amounts of unsecured funds from relatives and neighbours to fund irrigation activities, informalsources of income did not provide adequate financial resources to boost production and marketing activities. Toensure successful management of smallholder irrigation schemes, specific training to enhance knowledge andinformation building among smallholder farmers as complementary assets to improve the functioning of othercapital assets is recommended.

Socio-economic and institutional factors constraining participation of Swaziland's mushroom producers in mainstream markets : an application of the value chain approach

ABSTRACT Mushrooms have been cultivated in Swaziland since 2001 as part of a long-term programme that seeks to improve rural livelihoods through commercial production of non-conventional high-value commodities. Despite the availability of niche markets, and various forms of support received by producers, Swaziland is still a net importer of locally consumed cultivated mushrooms. This study uses a value chain approach to identify the underlying factors constraining local production and producers’ participation in mainstream markets. Understanding the nature of these constraints and how they can possibly be alleviated is very important from a policy perspective as this process will inform the formulation of improved market access strategies required to achieve the programmes overall objective. The results indicate that availability of marketable surplus is affected by production constraints emanating from lack of access to key inputs and services, which are centralised and fully controlled by the government. While producers currently attain higher gross margins (in absolute value and as a proportion of consumer price) compared with other actors in alternative marketing channels, their efforts to participate more profitably in mainstream markets are hampered by poor value chain governance and lack of vertical coordination, subjecting both producers and buyers to various forms of transaction costs. In attempting to address the identified constraints, this study calls for privatisation of key services, allowing the government to assume a monitoring role. Further recommendations are also made towards institutionalising and strengthening collective marketing under different options, which reflect producers’ socio-economic status and the prevailing institutional environment in Swaziland.

Collective action in small-scale mushroom production in Swaziland: does organisational form matter?

While substantial literature is available on the determinants of small-scale farmers’ participation in collective action, and the welfare impacts of producing and/or marketing collectively, studies on the likely implications of organisational form on producers’ collective behaviour remain scant. This article attempts to address this knowledge gap by using an example of different forms of small-scale mushroom-producing groups in Swaziland. Given the importance of collective action in sub-Saharan Africa, the overall results of this article provide valuable insights into alternative means of coordinating commercial small-scale agricultural activities, which can improve producers’ ultimate benefits while reducing the likelihood of internal free-riding.