Analyzing the factors affecting the market participation of maize farmers: A case study of small-scale farmers in greater Giyani Local Municipality of the Mopani District, Limpopo Province

The aim of the study was to analyze factors affecting the market participation of small-scale maize farmers in Greater Giyani Municipality. The study hypothesizes that there are no factors affecting market participation in small-scale maize farmers in Greater Giyani. The study used cross-sectional data collected from 92 small-scale maize farmers. The logistic regression model was used to analyze data. The logistic regression results reveals that out of twelve variables considered in the analysis as factors affecting market participation, seven of them were found to be significant, while five of them were insignificant. Gender, farmer’s access to credit, marital status, market information and infrastructure were found to be positively significant, while distance to market and external source of income were negatively significant. Farmers’ level of education and age of a farmer were positively insignificant. Distance to output market, experience in farming and external source of income were negatively related to market participation. The results from the study highlights that government can increase market participation of small-scale maize farmers through encouraging group market participation, upgrading of roads to enable smooth accessibility of farmers to output market and establishment of local point of sales in farming areas. Also government has to provide input subsidy to all farmers to enable them to produce more and to pay for all marketing cost. Finally it is recommended that government provides planned workshops to all farmers, to equip them with marketing knowledge. Key words: Greater Giyani Municipality, market participation, logistic regression model, small-scale.