Efficiency and Goals of Smallholder Sugarcane Farmers in Eswatini (Swaziland)

Abstract

Establishing farmers’ goals is very essential for increased productivity and profitability in sugarcane production. This study aimed at establishing farmers’ goals and their relationship with farmers’ efficiency. The study used primary data collected from 147smallholder sugarcane farmers. This study employed factor analysis to generate goal orientations of farmers and estimated farmers’ efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the farmers interviewed were females (57%), with 39% of farmers’ attained secondary education, average mean age of 56 years, farming experience of 10 years and cultivate about 4.5 hectares of sugarcane. Farmers’ goal orientations generated were instrumental orientation, sustainable orientation, family and leisure orientation, expressive orientation and social status orientation. Farmers’ estimated technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and economic efficiency were 89.57%, 84.94% and 76.43%, respectively. The results suggest that farmers can still improve efficiencies without changing the available technologies. The drivers of farmers’ technical efficiency were education, age, instrumental orientation and social status. Farmers’ allocative efficiency was influenced by age, family and leisure orientation and social status orientation. The determinants of farmers’ economic efficiency were education, family and leisure orientation, age and social status orientation. The study recommends formulating rural development programmes and policies that target sugarcane farmers’ engagement and participation in sugarcane production and also consider farmers’ oriented goals and socio-economic drivers for significant increase in productivity.