Assessment of factors influencing farmers' participation in the comprehensive agricultural support programme in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa

Abstract

The paper investigated farmers’ participation in public extension service delivery in relation to selected farmer and farm-related variables. By means of a cross-sectional survey, semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from extension support recipients within the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) between November 2014 and January 2015. Findings show that all respondents attended training sessions organised by local extension agents and were satisfied with the training. Another major finding was that the farmer and farm-related variables appear to be situation-specific regarding farmers’ participation in public extension service delivery. Specifically, the findings showed no significant relationships between CASP enterprise type, farm distance from local extension office, farming type, and number of extension visits received. Similarly, satisfaction with CASP-Extension training received did not significantly differ between maize and non-maize producers. The findings are, however, of practical significance to extension programme managers in the Tshwane municipality that farmers, whether individuals or groups, far or near the local extension office receive farm visits, that irrespective of the crop farmers are cultivating, all producers are satisfied with the content of training programmes provided. It is recommended that extension practioners should, however, analyse their local situations for programme participation factors to enhance participation effectiveness. Keywords: Comprehensive agricultural support programme, Land redistribution, Agricultural development, Extension, Participation, Apartheid