Choosing between agricultural development projects in the North West province: a multiple criteria analysis
| dc.contributor.advisor | Van Schalkwyk, H. D. | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Cloete, P. C. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Van der Merwe, Johannes Daniel | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-06-04T09:27:34Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-06-04T09:27:34Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010-10 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Large amounts of taxpayers' money have been invested in agricultural development initiatives in South Africa, but unfortunately most of these initiatives have not been successful. This has increased pressure on government departments to deliver on their promises, as more and more productive agricultural land has been virtually taken out of production. Most of the past development initiatives have simply become poverty traps, which has added to the economic hardship already experienced by most people in the rural regions of the North West Province. Based on the afore-mentioned, the need for a framework or decision support system that will improve the success of agricultural development in the province is acknowledged. Several studies have concluded that the development of workable business plans can serve as a means to improve the success of agricultural development, provided that it gives a guideline that will incorporate policies, institutions and mobilise resources that will improve the success of agricultural development. Thus, the first part of the study entails the identification of agricultural opportunities in the province. A detailed review of the study area provides the basis for the identification of agricultural opportunities in the province. In addition, field workshops that were arranged according to the SWOT methodology were held in each of the local municipalities. This was done to obtain a better perspective of the potential opportunities as well as factors inhibiting agricultural development in the province. The workshops were also used to determine which business concepts could be employed to successfully exploit the identified opportunities. From this, a business plan for each opportunity could be drafted. However, workable development plans can only improve the success of agricultural development once they are implemented. This turns the attention to another dimension of agricultural development, with government that are often faced with strict budget constraints. Thus, budget allocations to agricultural development initiatives should be done in a way that will yield the highest economic, social and environmental returns. A multiple criteria analysis (MeA) model was developed in the second part of the study to assist government with budget allocation towards the identified opportunities. Following the principles of the MCA, the identified opportunities are ranked according to a set objective i.e. to improve the welfare of the province and at the same time conserve the natural resources of the province for future use. From the results, it is concluded that beef production is most likely to yield the highest return in terms of the set objective, followed by vegetables and goat meat production. It could be concluded that MCA is a decision support tool that can assist government in its budget allocation decisions. Moreover, the identified agricultural opportunities namely Goat Hotel, Milk Cow Hotel, Goat Meat, Broilers, Beef Production, Animal Feed, Eco tourism, Veldt Management, Taung Irrigation Scheme, Vegetable Management, Grain Production and Perennial Crops are likely to improve the success of agricultural development in the province. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/8366 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Agricultural development projects | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- North West | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Agricultural development projects -- Social aspects | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Rural development -- South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Dissertation (M.Com. (Agricultural Economics))--University of the Free State, 2010 | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Choosing between agricultural development projects in the North West province: a multiple criteria analysis | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en_ZA |