Journal article
Commercial farmers’ success factors as a benchmark in the development of emerging farmers
International journal of business and management studies, Vol.12(2), pp.594-611
2022
Abstract
The South African Department of Agriculture allocates substantial development funds to create entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), was launched in 2004 for disbursements to farming households as a non-refundable grant. The aim of the CASP fund is to provide capital and post-settlement support to the targeted emerging farmers in order to become successful SMMEs within the agribusiness sector. Most of the funds spent on CASP within the North West province have been declared as a fruitless and wasteful expenditure, since the grants did not add value and the targeted emerging farmers were unsuccessful year after year. The main objective of this study was to compare emerging farmers to existing commercial farmers and explore the problems faced by emerging farmers. Quantitative data collection was done through questionnaires, responses from 202 emerging farmers and 268 commercial farmers were received. The results from the research revealed that only 11 percent of the emerging farmers received any formal training in agriculture compared to 72 percent of the commercial farmers. It was also found that emerging farmers are not linked to market agencies whereas commercial farmers are. Most of the commercial farmers indicated that they are connected to experts within agricultural cooperatives whereas emerging farmers were only assisted by the extension officers from the Department of Agriculture. Most of the commercial farmers are successful entrepreneurs due to education in all fields of management. It is imperative that more attention should be given to training and mentorship in all fields of management. Government should also seek to establish alliances with private institutions (i.e. agribusinesses, financial institutions, organised agricultural) to form public/private partnerships in their search for successful development of emerging farmers in agriculture.
Details
- Title
- Commercial farmers’ success factors as a benchmark in the development of emerging farmers
- Authors/Creators
- A. S. PelserT. PelserPieter van Schalkwyk (Author)
- Publication Details
- International journal of business and management studies, Vol.12(2), pp.594-611
- Publisher
- Sosyal bi̇li̇mler araştirmalari derneği̇
- Identifiers
- 991005741587707891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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