Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
School of Agricultural and Food Sciences
Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Development of an appropriate extension model for South Africa. The results, which also include an evaluation of the current state of extension in the country, are based on participatory research covering the whole country and involving all the major stakeholders. Extensive recommendations relating to a framework of principles for a new extension approach or model have evolved from the research and were submitted to the National and Provincial Departments of Agriculture. In a new research tender the researcher has been tasked with the implementation of the recommendations, and this is expected to take the state extension service to an improved level of efficiency, while at the same time safeguarding its participatory nature and ensuring increased capacity building and ownership by rural communities.
Contact person: Prof GH Düvel.
A study was undertaken to measure the total economic benefits from water in plantation forestry and recently published in the Southern African Forestry Journal. The results show that cultivated forests in SA contribute higher total economic benefits per unit water than its main competitor (irrigation agriculture) when economy-wide effects through forward and backward linkage multipliers are taken into account.
Contact person: Prof RM Hassan.
The Department collaborated with Imperial College at Wye and several agricultural financiers in South Africa to study the link between diversified income sources of small farmer households and the design of agricultural finance products for small farmer activities. The approach is that small farmer finance in the conventional sense was always based on only the agricultural activity of the household, and ignored the other income generating activities. On the other hand, the assessment of loan size was based on mechanistic calculations of what is needed to grow a crop rather than the managerial ability of the small farmer and the household. This study takes a different household based approach and looks at households in terms of livelihood strategies, and then considers the design of appropriate financial services.
Contact person: Prof GK Coetzee.
A research project on the causes of the recent rise in food prices in South Africa has involved a number of staff members and graduate students under the leadership of Prof Johann Kirsten. The study found that the domestic price of maize reacted in a predictable fashion to the change in the exchange rate and the international price of maize, to market perceptions of the relative scarcity of maize in Southern Africa and to the food crisis in Zimbabwe at the end of 2001. The study has once more confirmed that South African agriculture is now, following the process of deregulation, part of the global economy. Consequently external factors such as exchange rate fluctuations and international commodity prices have a much more direct impact on the South African agricultural markets. The results of this study attracted interest from government departments, the media, organised agriculture and international organisations such as the IMF and has lead indirectly to the appointment of Prof Kirsten as Chairperson of the national Food Price Monitoring Committee.
Contact person: Prof JF Kirsten.
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