AN IMPACT ANALYSIS OF COMPREHENSIVE AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME (CASP) ON MAIZE PRODUCTION SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN MPUMALANGA, SOUTH AFRICA (pp. 126-134)
ABSTRACT
The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), which came into effect in 2004, provides funding targeting smallholder farmers. CASP has six pillars, of which this study focused on one, which is the financial support. The study assessed the impact of CAPS on maize production smallholder farmers that benefited from CASP, in Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires and administered through personal interviews from 201 smallholder farmers, in Mpumalanga province. Difference-inDifference method was applied, farmers that benefited from CAPS were regarded as the treatment group and those that did not benefit were regarded as a control group. Generalized Least Square (GLS) and Ordinal Least Square (OLS) were employed using STATA to estimate the difference. The findings show that CASP was significant at 10% level, which means that farmers benefited on CAPS their maize production increased by 10% than those who did not benefit. Hence, we discuss and recommend some policy implication based on the study findings.