This was a descriptive survey involving four South African higher education (HE) institutions. Specifically, the study sought to critically investigate factors that could explain enrolment patterns in universities and technikons. The findings indicated that the choices of the institutions were mainly made by the respondents themselves, based on their career preferences. Affordability and other financial considerations did not come out as a major factor in the ultimate choice of the institution by respondents from historically white institutions (HWIs). However, this was a major point of consideration for respondents from historically black institutions (HBIs). Furthermore, accessibility to financial aid did appear to be a major factor for all respondents. Other determining factors included the public image of the institution of choice; the perceived quality of staff; institutional stability; teaching resources and other facilities available to students; administrative efficiency (including the friendliness of staff); the operational and instructional language of the institution; admissions and course registration processes and procedures; fairness in the allocation of facilities and other resources; and physical appearance/attractiveness of the institutions. However, catering services did not come out as a critical factor in attracting students to the institutions. K E Y W O R D S declining enrolments, South African Higher Education Institutions

The objective of this study was to examine the importance of managing and maintaining the quality of rural roads to support agricultural and rural development in the Kingdom of Swaziland, to facilitate the distribution of agricultural products and its accessibility to the population. A structured questionnaire survey was used to collect both secondary and primary data sources, to fill the key information gaps through random sampling method. The data collected were tabulated and analysed through Excel programme on the Microsoft programme. The findings revealed that local residents were not exposed to new and dynamic flow of opportunities that can enhance their livelihood by providing them with better access to education, medical facilities and markets through rural roads. The study concluded that rural roads are critical in supporting both rural and agricultural development for improved socio economic conditions of the people.

This study measured technical efficiency and its determinants in maize production by small-scale producers in Mwanza region, using a stochastic frontier production function approach. A randomly selected sample of participants in the two districts was used. The Maximum Likelihood estimation procedure was followed to obtain the determinants of technical efficiency and technical efficiency levels of small-scale maize producers. The minimum and maximum values of technical efficiency were between 20% and 91%, indicating that the least practices of specific producer operates at a minimum level of 20%, while the best practice producers  operate  at 91% technical efficiency  level respectively. The summary results of the mean technical efficiency was 63%. The main determinants of technical efficiency were labour, farm size, producer’s experience, producer’s age, family size which were all positive and statistically significant. The findings suggest that the average efficiency of small-scale maize producers could be improved by 37% through better use of existing resources and technology. These findings highlight the need for action by government to assist small-scale maize producers improve efficiency.

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This study investigated the efficient use of resources in the production of organic vegetables, namely: beetroot, cabbage, carrot, pepper, spinach and tomatoes. The findings indicated that land, labour, organic manure, seeds, soil preparation, age; children, education level and farm legal entity all had significant effect in organic vegetables production in the region. The use of inputs in the production of the vegetables showed increasing returns to scale. As a result of this, the study suggested that in order for farmers to produce efficiently; all inputs that were significant in the production of the vegetables needed to be doubled in order to double the output.