Doctoral Degrees (Agricultural Economics)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Agricultural Economics) by Subject "Collectivization of agriculture -- Costs -- Omusati (Namibia)"

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    Dynamics of institutional arrangements for small-scale vegetable farmers in Namibia: An analysis of the market, state and community institutions
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Thomas, Benisiu; Vink, N.; Kirsten, Johann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Agricultural Economics.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : In developing countries, especially in Africa, the commercialisation of agriculture has proven to be a means of increasing the income of farm households and productivity, resulting in poverty reduction at the household level. The principal research question addressed by this study was why it would make sense for the government to invest in services for small-scale fruit or vegetable farmers if these farmers could not increase production because of a lack of market access unless they could make a profit, which would probably imply heavy subsidisation of marketing infrastructures by taxpayers. A vegetable industry development case study was conducted in north-central Namibia. A Probit model was used to determine the factors that influence farmers to supply to the formal markets. The model results indicated that ownership of a vehicle and distance from farm to water source were statistically significant determinants of a farmer’s decision to participate in the commercialisation of high-value crops at p=0.009 and p=0.073 respectively. In addition, the results indicate that water rights are not clearly defined, and there is no land market and limited access to credit for the farmers. Moreover, a transaction cost analysis demonstrated that small-scale high-value crop production in the study area is experiencing high transaction costs that make the vegetable industry to be globally less competitive. The principal reason for high transaction costs is that the commercialisation of vegetables is constrained by information asymmetries or principal-agent problems among actors in the value chain, resulting in the failure of the market, state, and community institutional arrangements. The study introduced a new approach incorporating insights from transaction cost economics in exploring the interrelationship of the market, state, and community institutions in agricultural development in developing countries to understand the influence of transaction costs on economic performance. The model introduces a public-private partnership as a policy instrument linking small-scale farmers to input and output markets through contract production. The model identifies and minimises transaction costs among value chain actors, to overcome the challenges of the market, state, and community institutions. The study concluded that poor implementation of agricultural development initiatives as introduced by the state or the private sector (the market) and cultural embeddedness may limit agricultural development as community values, norms or beliefs take long to adjust to external ideas or technologies due to inadequate information in developing countries. The study recommends that there is a need for policy intervention that addresses water rights and improved access to credit as well as encouraging production and marketing cooperative to reduce costs of accessing input and output markets. An amendment of the Communal Land Reform Act No. 5 of 2002 would enable the introduction of land markets and rentals in communal areas of Namibia enable farmers to use their land as collateral to obtain credit from financial institutions. Amendments to the Communal Land Reform Act should also specify how to protect vulnerable and poor people such as women and the youth in communities and to ensure that land rights are available as a social safety net.