The Relationship between Production Performance and Governance in Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in Swaziland

Dlamini, Malangeni Andile (2013) The Relationship between Production Performance and Governance in Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in Swaziland. Masters thesis, University of Zimbabwe.

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Abstract

Smallholder sugarcane growing is central to rural development and poverty alleviation in Swaziland. The main objective of smallholder sugar cane growing is to reduce poverty through increased household income. This study investigated the relationship between water use agricultural and financial performance, and governance (accountability and transparency) in smallholder irrigation schemes under the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP). The study used data from 2010/2011 to 2011/2012 production seasons for 13 smallholder sugar cane irrigation schemes belonging to Madlenya and Ngcamphalala chiefdoms. Production records for the farmers‟ irrigation schemes were obtained from the Swaziland Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise. The amount of water consumed in Madlenya and Ngcamphalala was found to be 1.16 tonnes/m³ and 0.98 tonnes/m³ respectively and the average sucrose content was 13.4% and 12.8%. On average 351.24 ha and 476.1 ha were harvested from Madlenya and Ngcamphalala respectively. Less than half of the respondents cited that failure to follow best management practices as the major factor contributing to the poor performance of the schemes while 20% cited lack of capital, 17% blamed poor inputs suppliers,13% and 12% attributed poor performance to system of land ownership and labour availability respectively. In Madlenya low levels of accountability affected yields and financial performance. The study results indicated that on accountability the value of correlation (r²) is at 0.642 on the question of the existence of committee, at 0.457 and 0.429 on the question of the committee reporting back to the scheme members. The relationship is a positive and moderate relationship and p-value is at 0.000 which indicates a significant relationship so the H₀. The relationship between transparency and production performance was explained by the value of correlation (r²) at -0.354 on the question of the quality of committee election procedures, a negative and moderate relationship and the p-value is at 0.002 which indicates an insignificant relationship so the reason not to reject H₀. The relationship between transparency and production performance was also explained by r² at 0.418 on the question of the committee‟s knowledge of record keeping. The relationship is a positive and moderate relationship and p-value is at 0.000 which indicates a significant relationship so the reason to reject H₀.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Divisions: Africana
Depositing User: Tim Khabala
Date Deposited: 20 Mar 2018 11:54
Last Modified: 20 Mar 2018 11:54
URI: http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/3584

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