"The 2010 RUFORUM Biennial Conference was the second in the series. The main objective of the Biennial conferences is to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons towards improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately people’s livelihoods. The biennial conference is RUFORUM’s most comprehensive meeting for the diversity of stakeholers in agriculture. It is especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It is a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. This record contains an extended abstract accepted under the theme agronomy".
Explanatory variables associated with the yield perfomance gap among small, medium and large scale sugar cane growers at Ubombo Sugar
Abstract:
In Swaziland, sugar cane is grown on small, medium and large
scale. The yield of sugarcane between these grower types is
large, with small scale producers having the least yield. The
study was therefore carried out to determine factors responsible
for the low sugarcane yield among small scale producers and
ways to mitigate them. Using self-administered questionnaires,
the effect of distance to the mill, manday for fertilizer application,
and accessiblity to inputs and sowices on sugarcane yield was
investigated. Other factors investigated included: effectiveness
of training, time between cane cutting and first irrigation, age
of farmer and period between harvesting and seasonal fertilizer
application. Distance to mill, mandays of hand application of
fertlizers and labour strength of farms explained only 0, 4 and
4%, respectively of the variation in sugarcane yield. However
inputs and services were equally accessible to all three
categories of cane farmers. It is recommended that smallscale
farmes be given more training in input usage.
Au Swaziland, la canne à sucre est cultivée sur des petites,
moyennes et grandes échelles. Le rendement de la canne à sucre
entre ces types de producteurs est grand. Les petits producteurs
reçoivent moins de rendement. L’étude a donc été menée pour
déterminer les facteurs responsables du faible rendement de la
canne à sucre chez les petits producteurs et des moyens de les
atténuer. En utilisant des questionnaires auto-administrés, l’effet
de la distance à l’usine, manday pour l’application d’engrais,
l’accessibilité aux intrants et aux sowices sur le rendement de
canne à sucre a été étudiée. D’autres facteurs étudiés
comprennent: l’efficacité de la formation, le temps entre la coupe
de la canne et la première irrigation, l’âge de l’agriculteur et la
période entre la récolte et l’application d’engrais saisonniers. La
distance à l’usine, l’application de manday à la main pour épandre
les engrais et la force du travail des exploitations agricoles a expliqué 0, 4 et 4%, respectivement, de la variation du
rendement canne à sucre. Cependant, les intrants et les services
étaient également accessibles à tous les trois catégories de
producteurs de la canne. Il est recommandé que les fermes à
petite échelle donner plus de formation dans l’utilisation des
intrants.
Language:
English
Date of publication:
2010
Country:
Region Focus:
Southern Africa
University/affiliation:
Collection:
RUFORUM Conferences and Workshops
Agris Subject Categories:
Agrovoc terms:
Additional keywords:
Licence conditions:
Open Access
Access restriction:
Form:
Printed resource
Publisher:
Extent:
959-962
Notes:
