Rural Community Commercial Crop Farming Skills Development Model. Case of Coffee Farmers in Honde Valley, Zimbabwe

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2020 in the subject Agrarian Studies, , language: English, abstract: The study's main objective was to, suggest a human skills development model that can be used to develop small holder farmers¿ skills to commercial coffee farming level.

The study was inspired by the observation that smallholder farmers in Honde Valley failed to meet the recommended 2,000 to 2,200 coffee plants per hectare target. Hence under-utilizing their one to five hectare plots. Low commercial coffee production reflects low coffee farming skills. This study focusing on the improvement of the human factor was guided by the pragmatism philosophy. Data collection was initiated by document analysis for a theoretical frame. That was followed by surveys in which participants responded to a questionnaire. Interviews captured in-depth understanding.

Five focus group discussions gathered farmers¿ common perceptions. Data was gathered from purposive samples of sixty-five (65) smallholder coffee farmers, a census of fifteen (15) government extension workers in coffee growing wards, coffee commodity association leaders, aggregators, processers, local buyers and export agents, research institute and horticulture specialists from the Ministry of Agriculture.