Agricultural Economics
Agricultural Economics applies economic principles to solve agricultural and agribusiness problems. Our degrees equip graduates for professional and senior management positions, and are highly valued by employers. They give our graduates the flexibility to pursue a wide range of career opportunities. The Agricultural Economics major can be taken as part of a BScAgric (4 year) degree. Students taking the BScAgric option must major in Economics and Agricultural Economics, and take subjects such as Biometry and Statistics, Animal Science, Crop Science, and Horticultural Science.
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Adoption and willingness to pay for organic fertiliser: a case of smallholder potato (solanum tuberosum L.) farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2020-03-12)Potato cultivation involves intensive soil tillage throughout the cropping season, which often results in soil degradation, erosion, and leaching of nitrates. Literature suggest that efforts to produce sufficient food ... -
Economic and agronomic evaluation of using excreta-derived plant nutrients sources (latrine dehydrated and pasteurised pellets, struvite and nitrified urine concentrate) as agricultural fertilisers.
(2018)Faecal sludge can be recycled and processed into usable products such as the Latrine Dehydrated and Pasteurised (“LaDePa”) pellets and urine into Nitrified Urine Concentrate (NUC) and struvite, which can be used as ... -
The integration of freely available medium resolution optical sensors with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery capabilities for American bramble (Rubus cuneifolius) invasion detection and mapping.
(2018)The emergence of American bramble (Rubus cuneifolius) across South Africa has caused severe ecological and economic damage. To date, most of the efforts to mitigate its effects have been largely unsuccessful due to its ... -
The nexus of crop and income diversification, commercialisation and household welfare: empirical evidence from Ethiopia.
(2019)Abstract available in pdf. -
Effects of interactions between governance, intergenerational and gender dimensions on smallholder irrigation scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2018)Smallholder irrigation schemes (SISs) face several challenges hindering them from performing at satisfactory levels. In South Africa, the government made considerable financial investments in developing SISs and revitalising ... -
Improved rice varieties adoption and technical efficiency of smallholder rice farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria.
(2019)Rice (Oryza sativa) is an essential food crop and the most consumed staple crop in the majority of the urban and rural households in Nigeria. Rice consumption in Nigeria is the highest in Africa; also, the country is one ... -
Social grant dependence, irrigation water use and on-farm entrepreneurial spirit: a behavioural explanation for smallholders in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2018)Unemployment, poverty, hunger and inequality still remain the key rural development challenges in South Africa. Since the demise of apartheid, one of the key objectives of the South African government has been to decrease ... -
Exploring the role of digital technology in enhancing an environmentally responsive architecture: toward a fog water harvesting and visitors centre on Signal Hill
(2018)The development and progression of architecture throughout the ages has been for the most part as a result of the influence of new technologies. Today, more environmentally responsible and innovative buildings are being ... -
Economic analysis of determinants of grain storage practices and implications on storage losses and household food security in Makoni and Shamva Districts in Zimbabwe.
(2017)Despite notable advances in grain storage practices, many smallholder farmers in southern Africa still rely on traditional practices for storing staple crops such as maize. Traditional storage practices do not offer adequate ... -
Revealed preference analysis of consumers' switching behaviour towards rice brands in Nigeria.
(2018)Abstract in PDF file. -
Factors influencing the economic performance of a panel of commerical milk producers from East Griqualand, KwaZulu-Natal and Alexandria, Eastern Cape, South Africa: 2007-2014.
(2018)The South African dairy industry has been characterized, in recent years, by an observed movement towards fewer, larger producers, implying a more competitive milk market in which efficiency measures are likely to become ... -
An evaluation of availability of traction power for tillage and its effects on food security of smallholder farmers’ households in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2017)Agricultural input availability remains an impediment to poverty reduction and achievement of food security in Sub-Saharan African countries. Timely availability of traction power is important in crop production, yet its ... -
The impact of outsourced extension services on the performance of smallholder farmers in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2018)Smallholder farmers are considered the potential drivers of growth and poverty eradication in Africa. Agricultural extension services play a vital role in linking farmers to information, adoption of new technologies, access ... -
Land and water use rights in smallholder farming : impacts on productive use of irrigation water and entrepreneurial spirit in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2017)The increasing pressure on land and water resources in developing countries due to population growth has led to the need for improvement of the regulations that control the use of these scarce resources. However, the impact ... -
Entrepreneurial development pathways for smallholder irrigation farming in KwaZulu-Natal : typologies, aspirations and preferences.
(2017)Smallholder irrigation in South Africa is strategically recognized as an important sector in addressing rural poverty, food insecurity and rising youth unemployment. However, despite the government’s efforts and huge ... -
Adoption and economic assessment of Integrated Striga Management (ISM) technologies for smallholder maize farmers in Northern Nigeria.
(2017)The agricultural sector plays a crucial role in Nigeria. According to a recent report released by the Food and Agriculture organisation and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the agriculture sector contributed only ... -
A demand analysis of farm labour employment in the south coast and midlands commercial sugarcane farming by labour categories : implications of the sectoral determination.
(2016)The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of changes to the regulatory environme nt governing farm labour employment since the mid-1990s on wages and employment of farm workers in the South African sugar ... -
The impact of capital endowment on smallholder farmers’ entrepreneurial drive in taking advantage of small-scale irrigation schemes : case studies from Makhathini and Ndumo B irrigation schemes in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2016)Smallholder irrigation has been taken across the developing countries as a means of poverty reduction. However, irrigation schemes have failed to meet these goals for various technical and institutional reasons. The South ... -
The impact of social grants on rural households' incentives to farm, market participation and farm entrepreneurship : evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2016)While there is general consensus on the need to reduce poverty and food insecurity in Africa, considerable debate exists on the effectiveness of transfers, such as social grants, in attaining these goals. The concern is ...
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