RELATING PERCEPTIONS AND ASSOCIATED ECONOMIC CRITERIA TO ECONOMIC SURVIVAL IN COMMERCIAL DRYLAND FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract Data from 100 commercial farmers in the Aberfeldy pedosystem (situated in the north-eastern Orange Free State, Republic of South Africa) were used to calculate suggested economic and perception criteria for each entrepreneur and to compare this data with actual success rates estimated individually for each case a decade later in 1991. Existing economics of scale means that optimal farm size is not the same for any two managers; the better the manager, the larger the optimum farm size. Furthermore, this commercial dryland study showed that better managers are more effective land users. Better managers farm bigger areas, have lower fixed improvements per hectare, higher income per hectare (both gross and net) and are more realistic in decision making, both with regard to financial goals as well as problem consciousness. The above has important implications for structural adjustment of South African agriculture and offers distinct possibilities when potential success ratings have to be estimated by ...