A. Belete

The agricultural industry is developing in South Africa and worldwide. This suggests that smallholder vegetable farmers should shift from producing for consumption to producing mostly for the market. However, factors are impeding the commercialisation of vegetable production among smallholder farmers. This study investigates factors influencing smallholder farmers' decision to commercialise their vegetable production. The study used purposive-stratified random sampling and selected vegetable farmers as the target population. The two district municipalities were referred to as strata, and 108 vegetable farmers were randomly selected from each stratum, for a total of 216. The binary probit model was used to analyse the data. The analysis shows that factors such as educational levels, distance to market, access to credit, and farm income play a significant role in influencing their decision to commercialise. The significant positive relationship between education and commercialisation decisions indicates that higher levels of education among farmers are associated with more market-oriented practices. Increased farm income further motivates farmers to engage in commercial activities, as higher earnings from farm produce create an investment cycle. Policymakers should enhance policy frameworks that promote agricultural commercialisation in the two districts, thereby improving the livelihoods and resilience of smallholder farmers in South Africa.

Cooperatives are typically established to help create jobs and improve their members' economic and social conditions, among various other roles. Farmers’ cooperative societies play a vital role in enhancing the livelihood of resource-poor farmers. The government has initiated various support programmes to assist agricultural cooperative societies to remain viable; however, many cooperatives continue to flounder while some have collapsed. This study identifies operational components like members' roles, cooperative constitutions and decision-making processes, record-keeping, education and training of members, farm and financial management and level of extension service involvement as critical roles in sustaining agricultural cooperatives. Therefore, this study's objective was to assess the key operational components of vegetable cooperative societies and the level of extension support provided to the cooperatives in the study area. Ten functional vegetable cooperatives in the municipality were purposively selected for the study. At the same time, data for the survey was obtained from the board of directors and members of the cooperatives. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires consisting of closed and open-ended questions. The presentation of results was done using simple descriptive statistical tools. The study outcome shows that about 50% of the cooperatives noted that members were largely involved in the daily running of the cooperatives, governance, and decision-making processes. However, many cooperatives are constrained by the lack of training of its members on conflict resolutions (90%), with about 30% and 40% not receiving training on record keeping and financial management, respectively. The role of extension services towards the sustainability of the cooperatives is crucial. Most (80%) of the cooperatives indicated some level of interaction between the cooperatives and extension personnel, albeit the need to improve the frequency of extension visits, training, and follow-up appointments. The result of this study implies that cooperatives in the region need to improve in key operational areas. Extension personnel need to be more available to support cooperative activities effectively.