Determinants of Smallholder Maize Farmer’s Extent of Adoption of Modern Farming Practices in Kukhanyeni Constituency of Eswatini

Douglas Kibirige¹ , Ajay S. Singh² , Sotja G. Dlamini³ , Ntokozo R. Makhanya⁴

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.5 , Issue.11 , pp.72-79, Nov-2019

Online published on Nov 30, 2019

Copyright © Douglas Kibirige, Ajay S. Singh, Sotja G. Dlamini, Ntokozo R. Makhanya . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Eswatini still import maize from the neighbouring countries to supplement its internal demand, whereas it has potential of being self-sufficient in this staple food. The government and others stakeholders have introduced new technologies to improve productivity but their effects are not yet known. Therefore, this study aimed at analysing the effects of new farming practices on rural smallholder dry maize productivity. The results of this study indicate that the average age of the farmers was 41 years, with mean years in school of 10, mean farming experience of 15 years, average household size of 10 people, average land size of 2.44 hectares and average farm maize output of 1117.1 Kgs/ha. Interviewed farmers were mostly male (60%) and married (66%). The most adopted new farming practices used by smallholder farmers were tractor drawn (86%), used hybrid seeds (79%), mono-cropping (73%), agro-chemical use in controlling pests (71%), and liming (61%). The farmers were still using hand hoe for weeding and dependent on rainfall. Factors influencing maize farmer’s productivity were farmer’s age, cropping system, liming and use of irrigation. Determinants of farmers’ adoption to agricultural modern technologies in maize production included farmer’s age, marital status, access to extension services, membership to a farmer cooperative and maize yields. This study concludes that older smallholder farmers, practicing mono-cropping and use liming in their fields are more likely to harvest low yields though can improve their yields with increased irrigation. Furthermore, extension workers and other farmer service providers should note that older farmers, receiving more extension services and members of cooperative groups are less likely to adopt modern farming technologies while married farmers with relatively higher maize yields are more likely to adopt more modern farming technologies. The study recommends that stakeholders should develop programs that attract youth in farming, and train them in proper use of mono-cropping system, and liming while investing in establishing more irrigation schemes.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Modern farming practices, Maize, Productivity, Smallholder farmers, Kingdom of Eswatini

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