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Empirical Assessment of Agricultural Development in Manzini Region, Swaziland
Abstract
Agricultural development strategy should be directed towards the shaping of the agricultural sector, by increasing the number of both small-scale and
large farmers, adoption of incentives and increased yield/ha. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of both small-scale and large scale maize farmers in Manzini region, Swaziland. Both secondary and primary data sources were used from a sample of 170 farmers. Two Ordinary Least Square regression models (OLS) were used to analyse both farmers’ characteristics influencing maize outputs, based on cross-sectional data collected in the study area. The model predicted about 71.17% of the sample. The results suggested that small scale farmers maize output differed from that of large farmers’ maize output. In fact, the estimated coefficients of yield/ha, input price, area of land and rainfall were the significant determinants of small-scale farmers’ maize output, while the coefficients of area of land, fertilizer, input price, labour, yield/ha, as well as technology and rainfall were the significant determinants of maize output of the large farmers. The difference in maize production was mainly caused by technology of production and know-how.
large farmers, adoption of incentives and increased yield/ha. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of both small-scale and large scale maize farmers in Manzini region, Swaziland. Both secondary and primary data sources were used from a sample of 170 farmers. Two Ordinary Least Square regression models (OLS) were used to analyse both farmers’ characteristics influencing maize outputs, based on cross-sectional data collected in the study area. The model predicted about 71.17% of the sample. The results suggested that small scale farmers maize output differed from that of large farmers’ maize output. In fact, the estimated coefficients of yield/ha, input price, area of land and rainfall were the significant determinants of small-scale farmers’ maize output, while the coefficients of area of land, fertilizer, input price, labour, yield/ha, as well as technology and rainfall were the significant determinants of maize output of the large farmers. The difference in maize production was mainly caused by technology of production and know-how.
