Smallholder farmers’ awareness of biofuel crops in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

In this study, 157 smallholder farmers from the OR Tambo and Chris Hani district municipality in South Africa were purposively sampled to participate in a survey. The objective was to identify the factors that influence smallholder farmers’ awareness of biofuel crops. Using a binary logistic model, it was found that the variables: gender, household income, membership in association, land utilization and qualification were statistically significant in influencing farmers’ awareness of biofuel crops. Therefore, it is recommended that the South African government should identify the smallholder farmers targeted for the biofuel program by their social status, as pointed in this study.

Keywords: awareness, binary model, biofuel industrial policy, energy, shared growth initiative, smallholder farmers.
JEL Classification: Q1, Q2, Q4, Q5