- January 25, 2020
The purpose of this evaluation was to provide feedback to the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) and relevant government authorities involved in policy administration, concerning the role and functioning of Agricultural Economists and the services that are required by their clients in the Western Cape Province.
Evaluation Design and Methodology:
Data was collected from a wide range of sources including: a literature review; a survey of existing and potential users of Agricultural Economics Services with 353 respondents (of these, about 124 were from farmers across the five Districts, and the remainder covering internal Provincial government users, agribusiness, academia, commodity organisations, and other public and private sector organisations); a survey of current and ex WCDoA Programme 6 staff, with 36 current and 14 ex staff responding; a survey of University Heads of Agricultural Economics Departments (with eight out of nine responding); a survey of AEASA members a disappointing 17 out of at least 400 paid up and +-400 unpaid AEASA members completed the survey); a survey of the Directors of Provincial Programme 6s with 8 Provinces responding (only Mpumalanga was outstanding); two focus groups (emerging farmers and commercial banks); and a range of key informant interviews with Programme 6 staff, organised agriculture, and emerging farmers.
Practical and implementable recommendations were developed to address the following:
1. Programme 6 organisational re-design processes to address identified issues to enhance service delivery;
2. Programme 6 consultations with commercial and emerging farmers to obtain detailed inputs to enhance priority Agricultural Economics services identified; and
3. The WCDoA to identify and implement actions to improve internal Provincial processes (e.g. Human Resources) which are undermining effective Programme 6 service delivery
- 2017
