Agriculture-Basel最新文献

Private sector investment interventions serve as essential mechanisms for creating efficient, cost-effective financial solutions and technological support for emerging farmers in developing economies, yet their successful implementation is influenced by various contextual and socioeconomic factors. Using a quantitative research approach, this study examined the factors influencing participation in private sector investment interventions among 121 emerging commercial farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, utilizing a Poisson regression model to analyze four key intervention areas: credit access, market access, technical support, and spot supply. The first-hurdle model revealed that age and training skills negatively influenced market access while the training period showed positive influence, and similarly, the second-hurdle equation demonstrated that employment status and training period positively influenced participation intensity levels, though age maintained its negative impact. The findings of the first-hurdle model reveal that age and training skills negatively influenced market participation. The study concludes that employment status and training period positively impacted technical support adoption, with household size and training period emerging as significant determinants of intervention success. The private sector needs to develop strategic partnership models that encourage emerging farmers to participate intensively in interventions that are designed to improve their production and productivity. There is a need for targeted capacity-building programmes and enhanced extension services to improve emerging commercial farmers' participation in private-sector initiatives.

Indigenous crops have been proposed as part of a solution for household food security and sustainable farming systems. However, they have been overlooked and underutilised by households and farmers despite their potential contribution to household food security. The objective of this paper was to determine the association of socio-economic factors and indigenous crops with the household food security of farming households. About 260 farming households were selected using a simple random sampling procedure. The food security status was measured through the use of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). The Chi-square test and extended ordered probit regression model assessed the relationship of socio-economic factors and indigenous crops with household food security status. The results from the HFIAS showed that farming households were largely in the mildly and moderately food-insecure categories, with 34.2% and 36.2% of the sampled farmers found in these categories, respectively. The Chi-square test showed a statistically significant relationship between food security status and socio-economic factors. Young men and everyone were perceived to be the ones likely to consume indigenous crops. Consumption of indigenous crops was perceived to be associated with food security. The results also showed that farming experience is likely to positively contribute to the food security status of the farming households. Selling indigenous crops in a formal market is perceived to be associated with food security compared to selling in an informal market. This study concludes that consuming indigenous crops is likely associated with improved food security. Identifying an appropriate market for sales of indigenous crops is imperative. Government, extension officers, and nutritionists must conduct training workshops to encourage households to grow, market and buy indigenous crops. Government and policymakers need to include indigenous crops in the national food and nutrition security policy and create formal markets for indigenous crops.