Group Cohesion for Enhanced Operation of Agricultural Community-Based Projects in Gauteng Province, South Africa

B Taruvinga,C P Du Plooy,P Ndou,R Seturumane,K Mphafi,I N Hlerema

doi:10.5539/jas.v13n5p161

Abstract

Collective operation of smallholder farmers and cooperatives has been attributed to many mishaps and malfunctions. Such knowledge creates misperceptions regarding agricultural cooperatives and their usefulness in development. This study investigated member commitment, group cohesion and membership retention in agricultural production cooperatives. The main aim was to identify possible practical measures for enhanced performance and increased sustainability in farmer organizations. Data was collected from 92 participants that were currently operating as cooperative members. A combination of descriptive statistics, Perceived Cohesion (PC) and Binary Logistic Regression methods were employed for analysis. Results of the study indicate that group cohesion is influenced by trust among members, internal communication, financial performance of the cooperative, involvement of members in decision making, and role of the organization in the community. Strategies for increased group cohesion that were recommended in the study include information sharing and transparency at all levels of operation, and collective decision making and planning in organizations.

Highlights

Commercialization of smallholder and emerging farmers is receiving increasing support from the South African government, especially through policy reforms and public investment
Nine community-based projects (CBPs) were selected randomly from the list of projects obtained from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), and all members belonging to the 9 Community-Based Projects (CBPs) were interviewed, giving a total of 92 respondents
Based on the data gathered from the survey, the nine CBPs in the study are highly diverse in terms of the number of group members, the structure of the CBP, years in operation, size of land, the choice of crops under production, involvement in marketing and the choice of markets, amongst others

Summary

Introduction

Commercialization of smallholder and emerging farmers is receiving increasing support from the South African government, especially through policy reforms and public investment. As much as commercialization is advocated, it has proven impractical for individual smallholder farmers in certain instances, due to an array of challenges that are faced by the farmers in both production and marketing (Khapayi & Celliers, 2016). The majority of smallholder farmers lack capital, infrastructure, mechanization, adequate labour and knowledge, collateral, bargaining power and access to lucrative markets. In some situations, they fail to access production land as individuals. Collective farming is generally supposed to benefit members (farmers engaging in collective farming) through shared responsibilities, increased access to resources, enhanced economies of scale, risk reduction, establishment of countervailing power, auxiliary services, and improved positioning in mainstream agriculture (Ito et al, 2012; Yang et al, 2013). Effective collective farming provides a governance structure with implicit cost-savings and risk-sharing devices (Francesconi & Heerink, 2011)

Methods

Results

Conclusion