The impact of agricultural skills training programmes delivered by Shukela Training Centre (Pty) Ltd.

Abstract

This study is necessary to gain perspective on the impact of training offered by Shukela Training Centre (Pty) Ltd to its clients by analysing its credibility, effectiveness, and relevancy to the sugar industry members. Through all the factors, mentioned above, the quality, impact and relevance of training will be improved. The South African Sugar Industry stakeholders showed scepticism during the Development Committee Meeting held in 2022 with regards to supporting the approval of the Grant Development Account funds. The Grant Development Funds are funds held for transformation of small-scale and land reform growers’ association under the South African Sugar Association. The reason behind the fear is the belief that the funds are not utilised constructively with regards to the credibility of the meaning and content of the training. Based on the concerns from the committee there has been a request for a study to be pursued. The training must be driven more by the client's requirements to be more relevant. The quality, content, and relevance of the training will be focused on. This would result in the department supporting its financial expenses and making a profit in a long run. The important function of doing this study is to answer objectives such as establishing whether the respondents have attended the Agricultural Training at Shukela Training Centre (Pty) Ltd, to determine whether the training met the learners’ expectations, to explore ways in which the agricultural training offerings can be improved or enhanced at Shukela Training Centre (Pty) Ltd (STC) and to find an indication whether the credit-bearing courses are preferable to learners versus the current skills courses. The population for this study was done for all the sugarcane growers in the database, which is inclusive of the commercial, land reform inclusive of restitution projects namely trusts and CPAs, and small-scale growers. There would also be sugarcane stakeholders which are namely the millers such as Tongaat Hulett Sugar, Umfolozi Sugar Mill, Gledhow Sugar Company, RCL Sugar, UCL, Illovo Sugar and grower associations such as South African Cane Growers association and South African Farmers Development Association and the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development. Microsoft forms were used to create the survey in order to be able to collect the customers or growers’ feedback. A total of twenty-eight surveys were collected from grower participants along with sugar industry stakeholders. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages was utilized to analyze all the data retrieved from the study. The coded results were first imputed on an Excel spreadsheet and then further transferred to the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) for analysis and all results were presented with the aid of frequency and percentage distribution tables. It was recommended that STC must provide innovative training based on and the -world agricultural situations. The course must be customized to meet the needs of the client and must be delivered by the client’s premises or by the training centre. The programmes must be designed with subject matter expertise. The training must include gamification and innovative techniques which must be applied to all the training uptakes being part of monitoring and the evaluation process. STC must also include community development as part of its portfolio so that the community can be assisted to start a small business and look for employment opportunities. This will assist in promoting self-sufficiency creating a future that is sustainable for the community. The study shows that the training programmes have a positive impact on the sugarcane grower performance and livelihood. However, it is suggested that a further cost benefit analysis can be done to further reveal the magnitude of the impact of these training skills training programmes offered by STC.