Civil Society Organizations and Modernization of Agriculture in Yambio County, Gbudwe State, South Sudan

ABSTRACT This study was done to assess the role of Civil Society Organizations in the modernization of agriculture in Yarnbio County and it was guided by the following research objectives; .to asses~ the level of agricultural production in Yambio County; to examine the activities of these CSOs aimed at modernizing agriculture in Yambio County and to analyze the challenges faced by them in the process ofmodernizing agriculture in Yarnbio County. The study employed a cross-sectional Survey design, in which 203 questionnaires were given to households in Yambio Payam, and 12 key informants were interviewed. The findings revealed that there is insufficient food production in Yambio and therefore, its availability is limited. The majority of the community cannot afford three meals a day because they do not cultivate large fields. A household of four members cannot produce 300 kg of maize per a year and this is a low level of productivity. The research finding exposed a mean value of 2.38 for the activities executed by CSOs for modernizing agriculture; implying activities were sub-standard and not effective enough to support modernization of agriculture. It also infers that CSOs have limited capacity and poor funding which contributed to the ineffectiveness of these organizations. Indeed the study findings revealed that many challenges faced civil society organizations in modernizing agriculture in Yarnbio County and this had an average mean of 3.36 which is equivalent to high on Likert Scale; such as low capacity in financial management, lack of expertise and proficiency for CSOs chores. These challenges constrained CSOs from implementing conventional agriculture. The study recommends that a household should operate a farm size of more than 1 hectare of land at least as the weighted median threshold of operated land. CSOs should support ~nechanization of agriculture as to increase productivity at low costs and provide improved seeds to ensure quality of produce as to commercialize agriculture. The study submits that civil society organizations in Yambio need capacity building for fundraising, finance management and expertise in service deliver.y~modernizatiOn of agriculture. The government should be collecting and reporting agricultural statistics and providing standards of measurement for agricultural produce that are brought for sale.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ii

APPROVAL HI

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS VI

LIST OF TABLES IX

ABSTRACT x

CHAPTER ONE 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1

1.1.1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1

1.1.2 THEpRETICAL PERSPECTIVE 3

1.1 .3C~NCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVE 4

1.1.4 Ck~iNTExTUAL PERSPECTIVE 5

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 7

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY 8

1.4 GENERAl, OBJECTIVE 8

1 .5 SPI~CIFIC OBJECTIVES 8

1 .6 RESI3ARCFI QuEsTIONS 9

1.7 REsEARCH SCOPE 9

1.7.1 GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE 9

1.7.2 CONTENT SCOPE 10

1.7.3TIMESCOPE 10

1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 10

1.9 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF KEY CONCEPTS 11

CHAPTER TWO 12

LITERATURE REVIEW 12

2.1 INTRODUCTION 12

2.2 THEORETICAL REVIEW 12

2.3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 14

2.4 RELATED STUDIES 15

2.4.1 ACTIVITIES OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AIMED AT MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE IN YAMBIO COUNTY

15

2.4.2 MODERNIZATION OF AGRICULTURE 18

2.4.3 THE INTERVENING FACTORS 24

2.4.4 TIII~ CHALLENGES FACED BY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION IN THE MODERNIZATION OF AGRICULTURE 27

2.4,5 LITER/TURE GiP 29

CHAPTER THREE 30

METHODOLOGY 30

3.0 INTRODUCTION 30

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 30

3.2 THE STUDY POPULATION 30

3.3 SAMPLE SIZE 30

vii

3.4 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE .31

3.5 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 31

3.5.1 QuESTIONNAIRE 31

3.5.2 INTERVIEW METHOD 31

3.5.3 DoCuMENTARY REVIEW METHOD 32

3.6 VALIDITY OF INSTRUMENT 32

3.7 RELIABILITY OF THE INSTRUMENT 33

3.8 DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE 33

3.9 DATA ANALYSIS 34

3.10 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 34

3.11 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION 35

CHAPTER FOUR 36

PRESENTATIONS. INTERPRETATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 36

4.0 INTRODuCTION 36

4.1 DEMOGRAPI-IIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS 36

4.1.1 AGEOFrFIERESPONDENTS 36

4.1.2 GENDER OF RESPONDENTS 37

4.1.3 EDUCATION LEVELS OF THE RESPONDENTS 37

4.1.4 OCCUPATION OF THE RESPONDENTS 38

4.1.5 CATEGORY OF CSOS 39

4.1.6 THE INTERVENTION AREAS THE CSO FOCUSED ON 40

4.2 THE LEVEL OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN YAMBIO COUNTY 41

4.3 ACTI’ITIES OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AIMED AT MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE IN YAMBIO COUNTY .43

4.4 CHALLENGES FACED BY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION IN MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE IN YAMBIO CoUNTY .47

CHAPTER FIVE 52

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 52

5.0 INTRODUCTION 52

5.1 DISCUSSIONS 52

5.1.1 TI-IF LEVEL OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN YAMBIO COUNTY 52

5.1.2 ACTIVITIES OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AIMED AT MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE IN YAMBIO C0uNTY53

5.1.3 CHALLENGES FACED BY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE IN YAMBIO COUNTY

55

5.2 CoNCLUSIONS 57

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 58

5.4 AREAS OF FURTI-IER RESEARCH 58

5.5 CONTRIBUTION OF KNOWLEDGE 58

REFERENCES 60

APPENDIX I: MAP OF SOUTH SUDAN 64

APPEN~IX II: QUESTIONNAIRE 65

APPENDIX III: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR CSOs STAFF 70

APPENDfX IV: INTRODUCTION LETTER 71

APPENDIX V: AUTHORIZATION LETTER BY YAMBIO COUNTY ADMINISTRATION 72

72

APPENDIX VI: GLENN D. ISRAEL TABLE USED FOR DETERMINING SAMPLE SIZE 73