A Probit Analysis Of Women Farmers’ Access To Farm Land And Credit In The Northern Province

Northern Province is predominantly a rural region where agriculture is the dominant sector and plays an important role in the provincial economy. Women are the majority of the poor living in these rural areas and depend heavily on farming. But their agricultural productivity is below potential as they don’t have access to productive assets such as land and credit. This study based on a farm survey undertaken in the seven districts in the former Lebowa homeland in the Northern Province, attempts to identify factors which determine women farmers’s access to more farming land and credit facilities. The results show that most of the women are not satisfied with the size of the land which they own and they have never used farming credit. The probit analysis results show that productivity of the staple crop (maize), more off-farm income and access to credit are the strong determinants of the desire to increase, the size of the farming land. Access to credit is influenced by the first two variables above and farmers membership to agricultural development projects. Better access to and security for farm land, targeted credit and agricultural support services are crucial in improving the quality of women farmers in the province.