Efficiency and Goals of Smallholder Sugarcane Farmers in Eswatini (Swaziland)

Douglas Kibirige,Ajay S Singh

doi:10.5296/jas.v9i3.18776

Abstract

Establishing farmers’ goals is very essential for increased productivity and profitability in sugarcane production. This study aimed at establishing farmers’ goals and their relationship with farmers’ efficiency. The study used primary data collected from 147smallholder sugarcane farmers. This study employed factor analysis to generate goal orientations of farmers and estimated farmers’ efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the farmers interviewed were females (57%), with 39% of farmers’ attained secondary education, average mean age of 56 years, farming experience of 10 years and cultivate about 4.5 hectares of sugarcane. Farmers’ goal orientations generated were instrumental orientation, sustainable orientation, family and leisure orientation, expressive orientation and social status orientation. Farmers’ estimated technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and economic efficiency were 89.57%, 84.94% and 76.43%, respectively. The results suggest that farmers can still improve efficiencies without changing the available technologies. The drivers of farmers’ technical efficiency were education, age, instrumental orientation and social status. Farmers’ allocative efficiency was influenced by age, family and leisure orientation and social status orientation. The determinants of farmers’ economic efficiency were education, family and leisure orientation, age and social status orientation. The study recommends formulating rural development programmes and policies that target sugarcane farmers’ engagement and participation in sugarcane production and also consider farmers’ oriented goals and socio-economic drivers for significant increase in productivity.

Highlights

1.1 Swaziland Sugar IndustryThe Swaziland sugar industry is the largest industry in Swaziland and plays a significant role2021, Vol 9, No 3 in the Swaziland economy
Sugarcane production in Swaziland started in Big Bend as early as 1956 and has been based on sugarcane estates owned by the millers until in 1962 when 257 smallholder farmers started to produce under the Vuvulane irrigation (Dlamini & Masuku, 2012; Dlamini & Dlamini, 2012; Terry & Ogg, 2016)
The area under sugarcane increased as more smallholder farmers were involved in sugarcane production and access to irrigation increased through significant investments by the Swaziland government and private organizations

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Swaziland Sugar IndustryThe Swaziland sugar industry is the largest industry in Swaziland and plays a significant role2021, Vol 9, No 3 in the Swaziland economy. In 1991, the Swaziland Sugar Association (SSA) and the Swaziland Government set aside 10000 tonnes of sugar quota and provided technical assistance for smallholder farmers who produced sugarcane individually and as farmer companies (Dlamini et al, 2010; Dlamini & Masuku, 2012; Terry & Ogg, 2016). The sugar industry largely depended upon large scale production (77 per cent of production in 2012/13), the involvement of smallholders producers enabled the area under sugarcane to increase by 28 per cent from 2000 to 2013 (Esterhuizen & Pickelsimer, 2014; Terry & Ogg, 2016). Of the total area under sugarcane over 23% (14000 hectares) was under the smallholder sugarcane growing sector in 2014/15 growing season and yielded 685000 tonnes (Crawford, 2014; SSA, 2015)

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