Skills-based constraints and complexities affecting small-scale communal cattle farmer entrepreneurs in Vhembe District

This paper investigates constraints and complexities affecting entrepreneurial and Agri-business small-scale communal cattle farming success and sustainability in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The respondent entrepreneur farmers were randomly selected (n=55) amongst 183 othe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mavhungu Abel Mafukata
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ümit Hacıoğlu 2015-12-01
Series:International Journal of Research In Business and Social Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/19
Description
Summary:This paper investigates constraints and complexities affecting entrepreneurial and Agri-business small-scale communal cattle farming success and sustainability in the Vhembe District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The respondent entrepreneur farmers were randomly selected (n=55) amongst 183 other farmers for primary data collection. A semi-structured cross-language (English-Tshivenda) questionnaire was employed to gather the data. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were also employed. The results of this paper revealed that the entrepreneur farmers’ formal school educational levels and basic literacy skills in addition; subtraction; multiplication and division were reasonably higher while technological skills in farm risk management and production, and managerial competence in business financial skills; budgeting and marketing were low amongst the farmers. Government extension service could be employed to improve some of these deficient skills through skills training programmes for the farmers. Institutions of higher learning such as the University of Venda and Madzivhandila Agricultural College could be utilized for the trainings.
ISSN:2147-4478