PR - EXPLORING ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES OF SMALLHOLDER PRODUCERS: THE CASE OF EKSTEENSKUIL RAISIN PRODUCERS

Abstract:

The agricultural sector plays a key role on the rural development in South Africa. Open free trade market, creates a market were small-scale producers need to be able to compete against commercial producers. Therefore producers need to be more competitive to ensure that their farming enterprise is financially sustainable. Entrepreneurship may help producers exploit new opportunities so they can compete in an ever changing global market. There is no too little information regarding the ability of producers to be entrepreneurial in South Africa, therefore the aim it measure the levels of entrepreneurship among these producers. The case-study of the Eksteenskuil raisin producers was used to determine the levels of entrepreneurship and if there is a difference between commercial and smallholder producers. Smallholder and commercial producers did exhibited different levels of individual entrepreneurial competencies scores. There was a wide spread of scores among the distribution of the competencies which leaves room for improvement through education and training. It is recommended that future research in exploring the entrepreneurial competencies of producers and the effect thereof on the farming resources need to be considered. These farming resources can include efficient use of input allocation, market identification and financial performance of the farm.

Keywords: entrepreneurial competencies, agricultural entrepreneurship, personal entrepreneurial competencies (PEC), smallholder producers, commercial producers