Barriers and Incentives to Potential Adoption of Biofuels Crops by Smallholder Farmers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Priviledge Cheteni, Abbyssinia Mushunje and Amon Taruvinga

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The main objective of this study was to identify barriers and incentives that influence the potential adoption of biofuel crops by smallholder farmers. The study utilized a semi-structured questionnaire to record responses from 129 smallholder farmers that were identified through a snowballing sampling technique. The respondents were from the Oliver Tambo and Chris Hani District Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. A Heckman two-step model was applied to analyze the data. Results obtained show that variables; arable land, incentives offered, challenges faced, labour source, were statistically significant to awareness of farmers to biofuel crops. Adoption of biofuel crops was statistical related to gender, qualification, membership to an association and knowledge on biofuel. It is recommended that smallholder farmers should be made aware of the proposed biofuel crops in order for them to adopt. Furthermore, for the biofuel industry to succeed, farmers in the semi-arid regions need to be educated on land improvement and notified of the expected returns if they are to participate in the production of biofuel crops.

Keywords: Barriers; Incentives; Adoption; South Africa; Biofuels; Smallholder (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I3 O1 Q1 Q16 Q18 Q4 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-05-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Journal Environmental Economics 3.5(2014): pp. 71-77

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