Socio-economic constraints to sunflower production in Bojanala farming community of the North-West province, South Africa

This paper examined the socio-economic constraints to sunflower production in Bojanala farming community of the North-West province, South Africa. Simple Random sampling was carried out to select 150 farmers from a list of 257 farmers. Primary data based on 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 growing seasons were obtain by use of the questionnaires. Data were collected on socio-economic, output levels, inputs costs measured in rand; and key role players and analyze with SPPS using percentages and double log function of the linear multiple regression. Results of the analysis show that, very few young people below 30 years of age are engage in sunflower production in the Bojanala Region. On gender, 69.5% of all the sunflower producers were male, 51% of the farmers had household size of 4 to 6 children, while 59.8% were married, and 58.5% were with less than three dependants. Farmers with educational levels from standard 8 to 10 constitute 34.10%. Also, 59.7% had 1.1-1.5 tons as output per hectare. Sunflower farmers who had access to the extension services constitute 70.7%. Significant determinant of the socio-economic constraints include number of plantings per year, storage costs, price, income, access to market and farm size. [Lekunze J, Antwi, M. A and Oladele O.I. Socio-economic constraints to sunflower production in Bojanala farming community of the North-West province, South Africa. Life Science Journal. 2011; 8(2): 502-506] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.