Agriculture for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Agriculture is growing in Subsaharan Africa (SSA), but the growth is precarious. In most countries, it has yet to reach the sustained 6% annual rate estimated by NEPAD as necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. Growth needs to be accelerated, secured and used more effectively to promote broadly shared development. This requires two elements. The... more
Financing Emerging Black Farmers for Agricultural Development in South Africa: A Wasteful and Unworkable Model for Creating Black Farmers
The purpose of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of the model used by the South African government to finance emerging black farmers for agricultural development and empowerment. It is widely acknowledged that the South African government spends a vast amount of money attempting to help black community members become commercial farmers. In this article, I argue that those who... more
Farmer's Agribusiness Training Course: Module 3 - Entrepreneurship. Lesson 1: Development of Entrepreneurial Mind Set
This Farmers’ Agribusiness training course has been developed to help both farmers and farmer organisations. Its intention is to provide access to additional skills and knowledge that will allow farmers to move from a 'farm' to a 'firm'. The first lesson from Module 3 on entrepreneurship provides information on the role of entrepreneurship in economic development, how to identify sources of... more
Agricultural Growth and Investment Options for Poverty Reduction in Malawi
Malawi has experienced modest economic growth over the last decade and a half. However, agricultural growth has been particularly erratic, and while the incidence of poverty has declined, it still remains high. The Malawian government, within the framework of the Agricultural Development Plan (ADP), is in the process of implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme... more
Agricultural Investment for Growth and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria
This study assesses public investment required for agricultural growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. Using time series data for public spending and agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth, the econometrically estimated results show that one percent of growth in agricultural spending generates 0.24 percent of growth in agricultural TFP. To support 9.5 percent in agricultural... more
Agricultural land purchases for alternative uses ? evidence from two farming areas in the Western Cape province, South Africa
Purchases of agricultural land for diverse reasons, such as recreation or aesthetic appeal (collectively referred to as lifestyle purposes), has implications for agricultural land valuations, commercial agriculture and the acquisition of land for redistribution purposes. This paper reports on the extent of purchases of agricultural land for diverse reasons within an intensive and extensive... more
