Exploring Variability in Resource Use Efficiencies Among Smallholder Potato Growers in South Africa
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Exploring Variability in Resource Use Efficiencies Among Smallholder Potato Growers in South Africa A. C. Franke 1
& I.
E. Sekoboane 1
Received: 15 April 2020 / Accepted: 24 August 2020/ # European Association for Potato Research 2020
Abstract South Africa harbours many small-scale potato growers who produce for home consumption and local markets using variable levels of inputs (seed, nutrients, water). We assessed potato production practices, input resource use and use efficiencies, farm characteristics and yield gaps on smallholder potato farms in the KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga Provinces of South Africa through a survey and a crop model (LINTUL-POTATO-DSS). We explained variability in production practices and use efficiencies based on farm and household characteristics. The potato yields observed among smallholders in this study (on average 2.9 t fresh tuber ha−1 in Mpumalanga and 6.8 t ha−1 in KwaZulu Natal) were low, relative to the calculated water-limited yields (41.5 t ha−1 in Mpumalanga and 24.5 t ha−1 in KwaZulu Natal with optimal planting times) and to yields achieved by smallholders elsewhere in Africa. Input use heavily relied on government support and correlated well with yields. Farmers with low yields tended to have poorer resource use efficiencies, probably due to a combination of interacting yield-limiting factors. Enhanced access to irrigation is likely key to reduce the risks of investing in potato production, improve yields, and optimise planting times in relation to weather patterns and market prices. Timely access to fertiliser and clean planting material may further help to increase yields. The South African government aims to transform subsistence-oriented producers into small- to medium-scale commerciallyoriented producers. The results suggested only a small proportion (18% or less) of the growers may have a potential to achieve this. Keywords Environmental sustainability . Fertilisers . Irrigation . Modelling . Solanum
tuberosum . Yield gaps
* A. C. Franke [email protected]
1
Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Potato Research
Introduction The dualistic nature of South Africa’s farming sector is also apparent in its potato sector, with 500 to 550 large-scale farms (production units) that produce the vast bulk of the national annual formal production of around 2.15 M tonnes fresh potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) (PSA 2020). These commercial farms typically produce potato under irrigation on an area between 20 to several hundred hectares per annum with a high level of nutrient inputs and an average yield of around 46 t ha−1 (Steyn et al. 2016; PSA 2020). Concurrently, a large number of small-scale farmers produce potato primarily for home consumption and for local informal markets with variable levels of inputs (seed, nutrients, water) on small plots of land. While small-scale potato producers are present in all provinces of the country, most growers are located in the eastern provinces of the Eastern Cape, KwaZul
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