Socio‐economic factors determining the success achieved among cotton‐adopting households in two magisterial districts of KwaZulu

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to investigate certain aspects of the post‐adoption behaviour of dryland cotton farmers in the Ubombo and Hlabisa magisterial districts of KwaZulu. Particular attention is paid to the socio‐economic determinants of the success (returns per hectare) of the household cotton enterprise.

Multi‐stage sampling methods were used to draw a random sample of fifty cotton‐farming households from each of the two study districts. The data were collected by interview survey and analysed using principal components and regression techniques.

Results suggest that the success of the household enterprise in both areas is largely determined by the socio‐economic environment under which the producer operates. The most important success‐determining factors are those relating to the human capital endowments and economic status of the household.

Notes

Masters student and Associate Professor respectively, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. The authors thank Mr M A G Darroch and Mr M C Lyne for their useful comments. Financial assistance from the HSRC is gratefully acknowledged.