Determinants of commercialization among smallholder vegetable cash crop farmers in Thulamela Municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Smallholder farmers in developing countries play a crucial role in meeting the future food demand and improving the welfare of households. Commercial vegetable farming involves growing vegetables for market and personal use. Vegetables offer a unique market for South African growers because they are a necessity for everyone and are essential to address food security and satisfy people's requirements for additional nutrients. The study examined factors influencing the commercialisation of smallholder vegetable cash crop farmers in the Thulamela Municipality of Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 207 vegetable farmers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder vegetable farmers, while the Market Orientation Index (MOI) was used to examine the intensity of commercialisation. A Tobit regression model was employed to analyse factors influencing the intensity of commercialisation. The study uncovered that women were the dominant group, with an average age of 45 years. Furthermore, 85% of the farmers were full-time farmers, with the majority of them dependent on social grants as a source of off-farm income. The study also uncovered that females were only leading at medium and weak CI, whereas males were dominant at higher CI. The study revealed that the revenue, transactional arrangements, farming experience, land size, educational level, and availability of labour were statistically significant and positively influenced the intensity of commercialisation. However, credit access, production cost, gender and household size were also statistically significant but negatively influenced commercialisation intensity. The study also found that technical challenges such as land ownership, production inputs, and farm management practices were the most dominant challenges that smallholder vegetable farmers faced in the study area. Therefore, the study recommends improved overall financial inclusion and simpler and faster loan processing as being necessary to assist farmers with credit. The study also recommends input hubs where farmers can buy inputs at a lower price. And for a policy that will enable the government to regulate the price of inputs.