- Title
- Towards Reconfiguring the Agricultural Expert System (AES) for Black Small to Medium Farmer Development for Commercialization: A progressively focused policy literature review and social learning dialogue in the Eastern Cape Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality
- Creator
- Maqwelane, Lwanda
- ThesisAdvisor
- Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, 1965-
- Subject
- Farms, Small South Africa Amathole District Municipality
- Subject
- Minority farmers
- Subject
- Public-private sector cooperation South Africa Amathole District Municipality
- Subject
- Social learning South Africa Amathole District Municipality
- Subject
- Agricultural expert system (AES)
- Subject
- Black small to medium farmers (BSMF)
- Date
- 2021-10
- Type
- Masters theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/188876
- Identifier
- vital:44794
- Description
- This study focuses on the agricultural expert system (AES), its inherited and potential reframing capabilities for the development, growth and transition of black small to medium farmers (BSMF) into the commercial sector. The study was conducted as a critical analytical policy review of implemented policies pre-and post 1994 that subsequently highlighted the thematic continuities and discontinuities of policy reform and the subsequent impact on BSMFs using the AES as a conceptual lens. The study aimed working with stakeholders in the AES in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality as a case study to critically engage and question the AES and its contemporary framing and potential reframing and continued impact on the BSMFs development. This was conducted through a dialogical social learning process in partnership with diverse voices that cut across the contemporary agrarian landscape that included “universities, think tanks, vocational training providers, standards-setting agencies, trade associations that provide specialized training, education, information, research and technical support” (Porter, 2000, p.17). The data for the social learning dialogue process was generated through an iterative analysis of dialogical social learning workshops, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The analysis focused on the framing (Chapters 2, 3, and 5) and reframing of the AES (Chapter 6). Through dynamic engagement within the knowledge hub (contextual social learning and literature), the study surfaces a potential alternative discourse that actively includes the BSMFs as a crucial component of the commercial sector AES as the analysis shows these are largely excluded. This alternative discourse occurred through dialogical interactions with all participants via a pro-actively constituted social learning process, enriched and deepened by literature as indicated above. Main recommendations of the study are: 1. The AES must be framed to address the holistic value chain of BSMFs to help address underlying policy dualism, 2. Public Private Partnerships are needed to support BSMFs development and these should adopt a social learning approach that is reflective of complex realities 3. There is need for better understanding of roles and contributions of stakeholders in the AES to avoid duplications.
- Description
- Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (189 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Education, Education
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Maqwelane, Lwanda
- Rights
- Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | MAQWELANE-MED-TR21-161.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |