Adoption of genetically modified seeds and its impact on technical efficiency of family-owned maize farms in Eastern Cape

Abstract

Adoption of new technology and farming practices remain one of the critics limiting smallholder farmers from excelling in food production. Despite the notable benefits of using GM seeds, the adoption rates by smallholder farmers are not known. It is against this background that the study focused on measuring maize farmer's technical efficiency in response to adopted GM seeds and the impact it has on maize production in the Alfred Nzo district of the Eastern Cape Province. The study selected purposefully the Umzimvubu and Ntabankulu local municipalities as the hosts. A formal survey was conducted no 120 smallholder maize farmers using a semi-structured questionnaire. Mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages were used for descriptive statistics to examine the socio-economic characteristics of smallholder maize farmers while the stochastic frontier model was used to estimate the technical efficiency of farmers. The probit -regression model was used to identify factors influencing adoption of GM seeds by maize farmers in the study area. Descriptive statistics results showed that there were more male-headed than female-headed households in the study area. Overall, 65% were male-headed and 35% were female-headed households. The farmers were further asked about their educational attainments and the results showed that 45.83% of the farmers possessed a secondary level of education. Moreover, 65.83% of the respondent's primary occupation was farming. The mean age was 57.88 years for non-adopters and 56.88 years for adopters. The household size had an average of 2 persons for non-adopters and 3 persons for adopters with a mean farming experience of 2.90 for nonadopter and 2.95 for adopters. About, 91% of smallholder farmers in the study area owned the land and 55.83% of that land was acquired through the authority of traditional leadership. Furthermore, it was confirmed that 55% of farmers relied on traditional maize seeds. The stochastic frontier analysis shows that adoption of genetically modified seeds enhances the productivity of smallholder farmers. Furthermore, this study found that technical efficiency of adopters is higher compared to non-adopters. The technical inefficiencies encountered by smallholder farmers are associated with socio-economic factors that keep farmers away from accessing GM seeds for improved production. The predicted technical efficiencies differ greatly among maize farmers in the study area. The estimated mean was found to be 0.242602, with a standard error of 0.331996; this indicated that a huge gap between farmer's capacity to adopt new technology for efficient and sustainable maize production The probit model results showed that among other variables primary occupation, access to extension and advisory services and access to credit significantly influenced the adoption of GM seeds at different levels in the study. Notably so, level of education, access to land and access to training showed negative coefficients of estimates but were statistically insignificant. This implied that relationship between adoption and these variables play a key role in farmer's perspective and responsiveness towards new technology and innovation. The linear regression results have shown that among other variables estimated only access to technology and access to maize training were indicated to be significant at a 1% significant level. Access to technology has revealed a negative parameter of estimate, this indicates that farmers with access to technology were found to be technically inefficient whereas access to maize training was also found to be statistically significant within the study area. Therefore, considering, the fact that smallholder farmers are permitted to use GM seeds as stipulated in South African GMO Act 15 of 1997, such technologies are there to uplift farmers to see agriculture as a sector to unlock more opportunities for even their household's livelihoods. Thus, the study recommends a private-public partnership of extension and advisory services. This will assist in disseminating relevant information about the current agricultural innovation. Farmers should be provided with long-term training on farm production.