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1 – 10 of over 13000Siphe Zantsi, Louw Petrus Pienaar and Jan C. Greyling
Understanding diversity amongst potential beneficiaries of land redistribution is of critical importance for both design and planning of successful land reform interventions. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding diversity amongst potential beneficiaries of land redistribution is of critical importance for both design and planning of successful land reform interventions. This study seeks to add to the existing literature on farming types, with specific emphasis on understanding diversity within a sub-group of commercially oriented or emerging smallholders.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a multivariate statistical analysis – principal component and cluster analyses applied to a sample of 442 commercially-oriented smallholders – five distinct clusters of emerging farmers are identified, using variables related to farmers' characteristics, income and expenditure and farm production indicators and willingness to participate in land redistribution. The five clusters are discussed in light of a predefined selection criteria that is based on the current policies and scholarly thinking.
Findings
The results suggest that there are distinct differences in farming types, and each identified cluster of farmers requires tailored support for the effective implementation of land reform. The identified homogenous sub-groups of smallholders, allows us to understand which farmers could be a better target for a successful land redistribution policy.
Originality/value
Most of the existing typology studies in South Africa tend to focus on general smallholders and in the Eastern Cape province; this study extends the literature by focussing on specific prime beneficiaries of land reform in three provinces. This study uses a more detailed dataset than the Statistics general and agricultural household surveys.
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Meine Pieter van Dijk, Gigi Limpens, Julius Gatune Kariuki and Diederik de Boer
This article explores the potential of an emerging group of farmers in Kenya, namely the growing segment of urban-based medium-size farmers, often called “telephone farmers”. To…
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the potential of an emerging group of farmers in Kenya, namely the growing segment of urban-based medium-size farmers, often called “telephone farmers”. To what extent do they benefit from an emerging ecosystem to support them in operating their farms, and what does that mean for the Hidden middle of agricultural value chains, the actors between the farmers and consumers? Unlocking the potential production of telephone farmers will require more services from collectors, traders, transport firms, the storage facilities, wholesalers and processing units and retailers. Ultimately, optimized telephone farm production benefits the business of Hidden middle value chain actors, increases incomes and jobs and improves food security.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey and in-depth interviews a profile of the telephone farmers is given and their role as innovators is analyzed. The Latia Resource Centre (LRC) provides assistance to medium-size farmers, like the telephone farmers, helping them to prepare business plans and use modern technology and contributing to an emerging ecosystem providing support to all farmers.
Findings
The article analyzes the medium-size telephone farmers. It documents the contributions of this new agricultural actor to developing value chains and a dynamic ecosystem. The paper profiles the telephone farmers first and then identifies what they need and the support they receive. The emerging innovative ecosystem impacts agricultural productivity and production and hence the development of value chains. Small farmers gain access to opportunities offered by telephone farmers, working for them as outgrower or farm worker.
Research limitations/implications
The authors used a small sample of 51 farmers and covered only a two-year period.
Social implications
Small farmers are being helped through the emerging eco-system and farm labor acquire skills, which they can also you on another or their own farm.
Originality/value
Based on the analysis an even more effective ecosystem is suggested and policy recommendations are formulated before the conclusion is drawn that these medium-size farmers contribute to innovation diffusion, inclusive value chain development and food security and are becoming part of this expanding, innovative ecosystem. Following the debate on food security the results suggest to pay more attention to the development of telephone farmers given their role in developing agricultural value chains and innovative ecosystems.
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Zuhui Huang, Vijay Vyas and Qiao Liang
Agriculture sectors in China and India are going through rapid changes. There is a shift in demand pattern, significant changes in the supply chain, greater competition due to…
Abstract
Purpose
Agriculture sectors in China and India are going through rapid changes. There is a shift in demand pattern, significant changes in the supply chain, greater competition due to opening up of the domestic and external markets and fuller integration with rest of the economy. These developments have impacted traditional agriculture and its institutional underpinning. Latter are being transformed and new institutions are coming into existence. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper discusses the changes in economy and the agricultural sector, explores institutional responses in terms of various producer organizations in the two countries, and examines their adequacy for the coming phase of agricultural development in China and India.
Findings
The co-existence of various farmer organizations will sustain for a long period in both China and India. Overall, they have benefitted agriculture producers, and more particularly the surplus generating farmers. However, the incompatibility between these and the vast and growing small farm sector is not disappearing. Next set of institutional reforms should address this critical question of “reaching the unreached.”
Originality/value
China and India are the world’s two largest countries in terms of population as well as agricultural population. They share a lot of common features. This paper discusses the changes in agricultural sector, explores institutional responses in terms of farmer organizations, and examines their adequacy for the coming phase of agricultural development in China and India, which has never been seen before.
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Niranjan Devkota, Ashok Joshi, Ghanashyam Khanal, Sushanta Kumar Mahapatra, Nabaraj Gautam, Udaya Raj Paudel and Udbodh Bhandari
Agriculture, since time immemorial, has been a major sector in reducing poverty, accelerating economic activities and source of sustainability of a nation. As most of the youth in…
Abstract
Purpose
Agriculture, since time immemorial, has been a major sector in reducing poverty, accelerating economic activities and source of sustainability of a nation. As most of the youth in the 21st century are targeting the youth's career in the non-agricultural sector, attracting and involving the youths in agribusinesses is the need of the hour. In this regard, the research tries to understand the awareness and involvement of youth farmers in agripreneurship in Western Nepal.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. On the basis of descriptive and inferential analysis, the ordered logit model is employed in the study. The research is based on explanatory research design through identifying farmers' awareness of agriculture entrepreneurship from 324 farmers of Bedkot Municipality, Kanchanpur, Nepal.
Findings
Study findings have shown that agricultural knowledge with overall awareness is statistically significant. Ordered logistic regression indicated that sex has somehow influenced technical and entrepreneur skills while agriculture information highly influenced education and training. The result shows that agricultural training is still the requirement of one-fourth of the farmers, whereas another quarter of farmers need subsidies.
Research limitations/implications
The study suggests that in order to enhance awareness, training, subsidy, market management and development program are widely needed. In the backdrop of declining agro-products and food security challenges, the study targets to offer an understanding to policymakers and stakeholders on addressing the dire need of agripreneurship among the youths around the world.
Originality/value
The study summarizes the state of knowledge of agripreneurship of Nepalese farmers, identifies emerging issues and policy implications and priorities for future applied research.
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Building on recent advances in innovation research on developing country agriculture, this paper explores the concept of co-innovation, i.e. innovations that combine…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on recent advances in innovation research on developing country agriculture, this paper explores the concept of co-innovation, i.e. innovations that combine technological, organisational and institutional changes and that encompass different actors in and around the value chain. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a further conceptualisation of co-innovation and show its usefulness for analysing innovation initiatives in agrifood chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper combines two streams of literature (innovation systems and value chains) and is based on a review of the experiences with innovation in three different value chains in three African countries: potato in Ethiopia, pineapple in Benin and citrus in South Africa.
Findings
Co-innovation is the combination of collaborative, complementary and coordinated innovation. “Collaborative” refers to the multi-actor character of the innovation process, where each actor brings in specific knowledge and resources. “Complementary” indicates the smart combination of technological, organisational and institutional innovation. “Coordinated” draws attention to the importance of chain-wide adjustments and changes to make innovation in one stage of the chain a success.
Practical implications
The identified dimensions of co-innovation (the triple “co-”) provide a practical guide for the design of effective interventions aimed at promoting innovation in African agrifood chains.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to provide a comprehensive conceptualisation of co-innovation. On the basis of both theoretical arguments and evidence from three illustrative case studies it is argued that successful innovation in agrifood chains requires the innovation process to be collaborative, coordinated and complementary.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the profitability of urban chicken production in the medium-sized cities of Kisumu and Thika, Kenya.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the profitability of urban chicken production in the medium-sized cities of Kisumu and Thika, Kenya.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in 2016 from a sample of 157 indigenous chicken producers in the two cities. Descriptive analyses were used to characterize indigenous chicken production, marketing and profitability. In addition, multivariate regression models were estimated to determine factors influencing profitability of the enterprise.
Findings
Urban indigenous chicken production mainly serves a dual role of food provision and income generation. The enterprise is profitable, generating an average gross margin of Ksh. 756/bird. The multivariate regression models show that access to high-value markets, household income level and the type of production system used significantly affect profitability of indigenous chicken farming. However, poultry diseases and high input costs especially feed are the major constraints to poultry farming.
Research limitations/implications
This study has used cross-sectional data that provides information for only one point in time. Future research should be able to capture the seasonality of indigenous chicken production.
Social implications
This study has shown that indigenous chicken production in urban areas is a viable and profitable enterprise, which could provide an avenue for employment and income generation.
Originality/value
Studies assessing profitability of urban agricultural enterprises are scant. Thus, this study provides insights on the profitability of a common urban agriculture enterprise.
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During the past four decades, agriculture and rural development in China has scored a great progress. Organization institution in agriculture is one of the domains with drastic…
Abstract
Purpose
During the past four decades, agriculture and rural development in China has scored a great progress. Organization institution in agriculture is one of the domains with drastic innovations. The purpose of this paper is to map the emergence and evolution of various agricultural organizations in China since 1978. Development status and the trend of agricultural organization system are analyzed. Further, the role of farmer cooperatives is discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
Data used in the paper are mainly from statistical yearbooks and documents published by the government including Ministry of Agriculture and Bureau of Industry and Commercial. Both descriptive and deductive analyses are adopted to achieve different analytical purposes.
Findings
The vast small-farm sector, co-existence of various types of organizations, and innovation of other organizations will continue and sustain for a long-time period in China. Despite the fast development of modern farmers and various organizations, it is important that traditional farmers participate effectively in modern agriculture. Farmers act collectively via a cooperative in a desirable way, which determines the central position of farmer cooperatives in the agricultural organization system.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is a qualitative analysis on agricultural organizations in China, yet no quantitative estimation regarding the comparison of various organizations is conducted due to insufficient data.
Originality/value
This paper fills the gap of a comprehensive review of the emergence, development status, and trend of agricultural organizations in China.
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Xiaoyong Zhang and Lusine H. Aramyan
Chinese agri‐food chains consist of the millions of small scale farmers, who are not well structured and organized in the supply chain. Owing to market liberalization and…
Abstract
Purpose
Chinese agri‐food chains consist of the millions of small scale farmers, who are not well structured and organized in the supply chain. Owing to market liberalization and globalization, one of the most challenging issues along agri‐food chains in China is becoming the issue of how to link these small‐scale farmers into the modern chains. Consequently, it is essential for both policy makers and private sectors to understand the governance structure in agri‐food supply chains. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework for supply chain governance, including its antecedents and consequences, as well as a series of hypotheses for empirical testing.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework of chain governance is proposed in this study, where governance structure consists of two dimensions: contractual governance and relational governance. The study intends to propose a complementary relationship between contracts and relational aspects, such as trust, in the Chinese context. Future research is needed to empirically test this model.
Findings
The proposed conceptual model is unique, since the majority of the articles addressing this topic focuses on contract farming while limited research touches upon the issues of trust and relations. However, a combination of both contracting and relationships are seldom addressed.
Originality/value
This paper evaluates a novel concept of two dimensional governance structure in the agri‐food supply chain, where transaction cost economics theory and relational theory are combined to study the governance relationships between small scale producers in China and their buyers.
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Richard Thomson, Katherine Hofmeyr and Amanda Bowen
At midnight on Thursday, 26 March 2020, the South African government ordered a three-week lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently extended this lockdown for…
Abstract
Case overview
At midnight on Thursday, 26 March 2020, the South African government ordered a three-week lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently extended this lockdown for a further two weeks until the end of April 2020. Among other measures, businesses not classed as “essential” had to cease operation. This meant that Jonathan Robinson, founder of the Bean There Coffee Company had to close his trendy Cape Town and Milpark coffee shops, as well as the company’s hospitality and corporate business. At the same time, Bean There’s costs increased by 25%, as the rand: dollar exchange rate worsened substantially. A glimmer of hope was that the company was able to continue roasting coffee and supplying its retail clients. Unlike most captains of industry, Robinson was not driven by the bottom line and clamouring shareholders. His corporate strategy was driven by a single, simple purpose: to achieve ethical sustainability aspirations while still running a profitable business. The question for him now, however, was how to ensure that his company could survive in the short term, so that it could achieve these goals in the longer term, and whether he could take this opportunity to think about whether his business was best positioned to achieve these goals when things returned to normal.
Expected learning outcomes
The learning outcomes are as follows: conduct a thorough analysis of a specific company and its industry, including its markets, competitors, and other aspects of the internal and external business environment, using a range of tools, including a Business Model Canvas (BMC), SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis; analyse and explain the market outlook of a company; identify and analyse a company’s competitors; discuss and explain a detailed implementation plan showing the way forward for a company, considering its current challenges, including integrating a range of conceptual and analytical fields of knowledge to assess a management dilemma, and arrive at a creative and innovative management solution; and be able to present information and defend substantial insights and solutions to a management dilemma in oral and written modes, appropriate in standard for both the academic and business communities to analyse and appreciate.
Complexity academic level
Postgraduate Diploma in Management, MBA, Masters in Management, Executive Education.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 11: Strategy.
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