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Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

black owners by white colonialists. Even though whites made up less than 20% of the nation‟s population, they took more than 80% of the agriculturally productive land and drove the original owners to the unproductive reserves where they were cramped and could not practice agriculture at all. Various acts such as the Black Land Act of 1913, Development Trust Act of 1936 and the Native Laws Amendment Act of 1937 were introduced which further frustrated the displaced black population thereby plunging it deeper and deeper into poverty. The main objective behind the introduction of these acts was to restrain the black population from earning livelihoods through agriculture thus forcing them to offer their labour to white farmers for low wages just to earn some form of livelihood.
Such unfair practices and distribution of land prompted the first democratically elected government of South Africa to embark on a drive to redistribute the nation‟s land equitably amongst its citizens to foster national reconciliation, stimulate economic growth and compensate those that were forced out or lost their land during the apartheid era. This initiative was called the Land Reform Programme (LRP) and was implemented with three prongs namely (i) land redistribution; (ii) restitution; and (iii) land tenure. Among the beneficiaries of the LRP were farmers from a community called Marselle in Kenton-on-sea. In addition to getting land for farming purposes, the Marselle farmers also obtained financial support from the government‟s Land Bank to help them kick-start their farming activities. However, in spite of such interventions, they have struggled to turn their activities into sustainable livelihood sources. One most likely cause for this is the lack of farming knowledge and skills needed to make them more efficient and productive. This study was thus geared towards evaluating the knowledge and skills gap in Marselle which, when addressed, could make the Marselle farmers more productive. Its focus was limited to the 32 livestock and 8 chicory farmers that are recognized members of their respective projects. Focus was limited only to these farmers since the next phase of this study will involve building their capacity based on the skills gaps identified through this study.

The findings showed that the two projects benefited at least 130 individuals belonging to the farming households, with 67.5% of these households headed by males. The age of these farmers was equally shared at 40% each between those above 65 years and those that only went as far as fourth grade. No one went to tertiary at all. At least 75% of the investigated farmers were unemployed and 42% of this population was pensioners. In terms of income though, 64.98% of it was from external sources.
The Masakhane Silime (Chicory) project was implemented to generate income and provide job opportunities for the locals but neither of these objectives had been met at the time the data for this study was collected due to various challenges like lack of funds and infrastructure to enhance…

An investigation of skills, knowledge and farmer support programmes of land reform beneficiaries :a case study of Forest Hill farmers in Kenton-on-Sea in the Ndlambe Local Municipality.

Profitability and perceived resilience benefits of integrated shrimp-tilapia-seaweed aquaculture in North Central Coast, Vietnam

Diffusion studies in sub-Saharan Africa have typically focused on the impact of traditional adoption factors on uptake of technological innovations. This study draws on semi-structured interviews of rural farmers and in-depth interviews of stakeholders in southwest Nigeria to examine the impact of institutional factors on the success of technological innovations. The findings indicate that government policies, markets, financial institutions, infrastructure and other institutional conditions play significant role on the success of technological innovations. A successful innovation package should integrate institutional reforms with promotion of innovative inputs, and vibrant farmers’ cooperatives can be at the heart of such agrarian reform.

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Institutional barriers to successful innovations: Perceptions of rural farmers and key stakeholders in southwest Nigeria

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Factors influencing default in servicing agricultural loans: a case study of Agricultural Finance Corporation, Machakos County

This study examined farmers' perception of repayment of loans in Ogun State, Nigeria. A multi-staged sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study . Descriptive and Pearson Moment Correlation Statistics were used to analyze the data. Results showed that loan beneficiaries were mostly youth. Majority (74.8%) disagreed with the loan payback period of 7-12 months while 74.2% of the farmers perceived loans as grant (not payable). A significant and inverse relationship exist between interest rate (r = -.151; p ≤ 0.05), low farm output (r = -.113; p ≤ 0.05) and loan repayment; a linear relationship exists between age of farmers (r = .715; p ≤ 0.05) and loan repayment. The loans have the potential to create employment in the rural areas. Youth with repayment capability should be given priority in the issuance of loans to farmers. Officials of Bank of Agriculture should strengthen loan recovery strategies.

I.F. Ayanda

Papers

Farmers’ Perception of Repayment of Loans Obtained from Bank of Agriculture, Ogun State, Nigeria