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The Impact of Animal Traction Power on Agricultural Productivity: Case of Lowlands of Mohale’S Hoek District of Lesotho

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The Impact of Animal Traction Power on Agricultural Productivity: Case of Lowlands of Mohale’S Hoek District of Lesotho THE IMPACT OF ANIMAL TRACTION POWER ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY: CASE OF LOWLANDS OF MOHALE’S HOEK DISTRICT OF LESOTHO. LEPOLESA MICHAEL RAMPOKANYO #200396943 Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agriculture in Economics Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Faculty of Science and Agriculture University of Fort Hare Alice SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR A. OBI 29 January 2012 DECLARATION I, Lepolesa Rampokanyo hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own and that other author’s work referred to here have been acknowledged. I also declare that this thesis is original and has not been submitted elsewhere for a degree. Dated............................................................................................................................................ ...................................................................................................................................................... Rampokanyo Lepolesa Michael i DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my wife; Liapile Rampokanyo and my parents, Mr. T.K and Mrs. J.M. Rampokanyo. You are the greatest blessing that I would ever forget. I love you so much. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank the almighty God, the one on high for his mercy on me throughout my life. This is because he is the real father one would never miss. He is the provider indeed and I saw him in my life doing miracles. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my late father who ensured that I study before he left me. May his soul rest in peace. To everyone who contributed towards the success of this thesis, your input, time and support is really appreciated. To Prof. A. Obi my supervisor, for his hard work and guidance throughout all the stages of the production of this dissertation, thank you very much. You are really a father indeed. You helped me to organize my thoughts and this would not be easy without you. May God provide and bless you more together with your family. I am also grateful to the Government of Lesotho for providing the financial support for my studies at Fort Hare University. I would like to also extend my acknowledgements to my wife (mme ‘Matsiu Rampokanyo), my children starting: Khauhelo, Karabo, Karabelo and my mother (mme ‘Malepolesa Rampokanyo) who provided support during my studies. I would also extend my gratitude to the principal of Likuena High School (Ntate Thabo Lekhooana) for the great support shown during time of struggles. Your input and moral support helped me to pull through as a soldier. iii ABSTRACT Most farming at subsistence level is located in rural areas where the majority of smallholder farmers have low productivity which results in high rate of food insecurity. The areas are characterised by animal traction and poor farming practises, and monoculture is mostly preferred. In light of this, this study analyzed the impact of animal power on agricultural productivity. Smallholder farmers in the lowlands of Mohale’s Hoek district of Lesotho were investigated by means of a case study methodology. The aim of the study was to inform agricultural policy about the level and key determinants of inefficiency in the smallholder farming system so as to contribute to policy designed to raise productivity of smallholder farmers. The sampling frame comprised farmers and extension workers in the lowlands of Mohale’s Hoek district. From this frame, 118 farmers and 4 extension workers were randomly selected from four villages, namely‘Mapotsane, Potsane, Tsoloane and Siloe. The four groups of farmers include; the farmers owning and using cattle for ploughing, farmers owning tractor and cattle and using them for ploughing, farmers owning tractor only and using it for ploughing, and farmers who owned neither cattle nor tractor and normally hire these when ploughing operations are to be done on the farm. The interviews of these farmers and extension workers were conducted by means of semi-structured questionnaire which consisted of both open and close ended questions. The study used the stochastic frontier production model for the production efficiencies and linear regression model for the impact of animal traction on agricultural productivity. Both procedures provided insights into the relative contributions of animal power and traditional systems to poverty alleviation and food security in the project areas. Descriptive statistics were employed for farming systems and challenges facing small scale farmers. Gross Margins analysis was conducted for the animal power and tractor power yield levels for maize crop to compare the two types of power. Some diagnostic tests to detect serial correlation and heteroskedasticity and t-tests were also performed. The significant variables include the area of sorghum ploughed, members of the household that assist with family labour, education, quantity of fertilizer applied, time taken by the farmers in farming, members who are formally employed, household size, area of land ploughed, old age, costs of tractor and animal, marital status, income, area of maize ploughed, area of sorghum ploughed, quantity of fertilizers applied, costs of seeds and fertilizers applied, maize and sorghum yield and amount sold and consumed. The study revealed that monoculture is mainly practised and many smallholder farmers used traditional technologies that fail to replace nutrients in the soil. Nonetheless family labour was not a problem. During the farming season, tractors were used as the main source of power for ploughing. Most farmers hired these for maize production as it is a staple food crop even where animal power is available. It was noted that the tractors were few and in most cases old and malfunctioning. The cost of using animals in farming obviouslyplayed a role in the production of both maize iv and sorghum in the lowland areas of Mohale’s Hoek district. Smallholder farmers who owned both tractors and animals produced more but they were mainly affected by high costs of maintaining the aging tractors, generally purchased on the used-equipment market. The increased challenges resulted in lower productivity of the smallholder farmers, including: unhealthy animals, drought, marketing problems, late ploughing, poor soils, lack of extension services, low yields, low income, lack of information, lack of appropriate implements, lack of support services, nutrition inadequacy, inappropriate farming systems. The study recommended the adoption and promotion of low-cost mechanization in the lowlands of Mohale’s Hoek district so as to increase the production of the smallholder farmers. Increased productivity will in turn improve household food security. Key words: Animal traction, productivity, maize, sorghum, lowlands, smallholders. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... vi THE LIST OF ABREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ......................................................... xiv LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. xvi CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 Levels of income and inequality ....................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Human capabilities and basic needs ................................................................................. 5 1.2.3 Food insecurity status of households in Lesotho .............................................................. 6 1.3 Statement of the problem ..................................................................................................... 7 1.4 The main objective ............................................................................................................... 9 1.5 The research hypotheses ...................................................................................................... 9 1.6 Justification of the study .................................................................................................... 11 1.7 Delimitations of the study .................................................................................................. 12 1.8 Thesis outline ..................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................................... 14 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 14 2.1 Introduction
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