3.8 Learning needs of smallholder farmers
3.8.4 Challenges faced in AET
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do this, they need to be able to price their goods, work out their profit margins, and understand whether they were making a profit. The ability to price inputs (including the cost of labour), establish market prices, and understand the difference between income and profits is also important. Each of the case studies finds it important to deliver training designed to enable farmers, individually or in groups, to improve the financial management of their production.
Financial management training is needed more by women farmers across the continent (Bailey, Arnold, & Igo, 2014; Maponya et al., 2016).
Another important learning need for smallholder farmers is related to agricultural business management skills, especially for young and beginning farmers. According to Bailey et al.
(2014), the majority of beginning farmers in Montana emphasised the need to learn accounting, record keeping and marketing. The farmers also identified a need for education in the field of legal affairs focusing on issues such as tax laws, contract laws and property rights. In addition to these, the majority of these young farmers indicated a need for training in the use of production technologies due to the increased mechanisation of modern agriculture (Bailey et al., 2014).
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availability of funding from national government there were, however, significant challenges to accessing these funds by the smallholder farmers.
Poor access to finance by AET institutions contributes to other challenges including the shortage of extension workers and professionally trained lecturers. The first challenge these emerging farmers faced was related to the shortage of agricultural extension personnel, hence inadequate extension services in most provinces of South Africa (Aliber & Hall, 2012). Across a number of provinces, extension departments are top heavy in that they have too many managerial staff compared to the much needed extension workers in the districts.
There have been numerous studies on teacher quality in education generally. It is uncontested that the availability of qualified teachers is a prerequisite for successful educational outcomes at any level. This applies to VET and AET as well. According to the Academy of Science of South Africa (2017), in South Africa teacher quality in AET is an issue of serious concern at all levels of the education system from schools to vocational levels. The challenge is of both supply and quality of teachers/trainers. In the South African context, one of the challenges was to do with the invisibility of smallholder farmers. Aliber and Hall (2012), note that in most cases authorities in the Department of Agriculture do not have up-dated data on the numbers and distribution of these farmers hence the majority is excluded when it comes to financial assistance.
Another challenge faced by AET within southern Africa is curriculum misalignment to skills needed by smallholder farmers. The training curriculum in AET has been criticised for not developing the right technical competencies in the graduates it produces. According to theWorld Bank (2007b), curriculum and teaching methods in AET include little practical training but rather emphasise theory because most lecturers in the sector do not have the relevant practical skills themselves. AET providers in sub-Saharan Africa often face challenges in relation to their curriculum, poor institutional linkages, technology and dilapidated infrastructure and equipment (Freer, 2015; Rivera, 2006). According to theDepartment of Agriculture (2008), in South Africa there is need to align the AET curricula at all levels in the education sector to the key challenges facing the agricultural sector with particular focus on the needs and requirements of emerging
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farmers and national priorities such as food security, rural wealth creation and sustainable development.
Another study in South Africa by the Academy of Science South Africa revealed that there is an urgent need to improve the relevance and responsiveness of the agriculture curricular (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2017). Achieving this goal would involve broadening the curriculum to include emerging issues such as climate change and entrepreneurship so as to assist emerging smallholder farmers.
Furthermore, there has been a misalignment between the source of graduates and smallholder farmer populations. Findings from studies by Swanepoel et al. (2014) reveal that most graduates from AET institutions in this region come from urban areas and recruitment of students into these programmes has shown an urban bias. This is because urban dwellers have easier access to the media and, therefore, get information on programmes faster than their rural counterparts.
Even if both urban and rural dwellers were to apply for admission into programmes, often the urbanites are more likely to meet admission requirements. This misalignment in recruitment also means that graduates from the urban areas are likely to return to cities and towns upon graduation for employment rather than working in rural areas as extension agents (Department of Agriculture, 2008).
Another challenge revealed by studies on AET is the misalignment between the gender of graduates and smallholder farmer populations. Smallholder production in sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by women farmers. Studies in Central and Southern Africa have revealed that agricultural knowledge is critical for women farmers (Chingarande, 2008; Kaziboni, 2018;
Mudege, Mdege, Abidin, & Bhatasara, 2017). A study by Mudege et al. (2017) on smallholder potato farmers in Malawi revealed that woman smallholder farmers face significant challenges.
Some of the challenges relate to recruitment of participants in training which usually targets household heads, who, in the majority of cases are men. This affects participation of women smallholder farmers in these training programmes. Another challenge identified by this study was that access to information on training programmes was unequal due to underlying structures governing gender relations, especially norms restricting women’s mobility (Mudege et al., 2017).
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In Zimbabwe, a study by Kaziboni (2018) on acquisition of agricultural knowledge by women commercial farmers in Zimbabwe revealed that these farmers have knowledge gaps which include technical knowledge, business management as well as human management skills. Some of the technical skills include land preparation, planting, weeding and harvesting. In terms of business management, the farmers sought skills in planning, management as well as financial management (Kaziboni, 2018). Though Kaziboni (2018)’s study focused on women commercial farmers under the ‘A2 model’ of resettlement; the needs of these farmers can provide an indicator of possible learning needs of farmers in smallholder settings. Apart from that, findings from Kaziboni’s study can assist the researcher to note similarities and differences in the learning needs of A1 and A2 farmers.
According to Vandenbosch (2006), women are significantly underrepresented in AET in proportion to their broad responsibilities in farming. There is need, therefore, for gender sensitive recruitment in AET that targets mostly women. Another aspect is the training of women farmers as trainers for other women as this provides an opportunity to share their experience and knowledge (Kaziboni, 2018). Training and micro-credit programs should be interlinked to effectively transfer agricultural technology to women farmers. Marketing, food processing and post-harvest sciences are well suited as areas of specialisation for women who desire a career in extension work (Chingarande, 2008). Strategies can include making extension work attractive to women and promoting the education and hiring of women as extension agents. Relevant expertise includes improved post-harvest handling practices in the local marketplaces where women gather to sell their goods or to shop for food.