Tillage management as a method of weed control in Mangweni, Nkomazi Local Municipality, South Africa.

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the influence of tillage management strategies on weed control, assess the impact of weed in crop production; and examine farmers’ adoption behaviour in the use of modern weed control methods. The study employed a survey of a randomized sample of 160 farmers in Mangweni in Mpumalanga Province. Logistic regression model was adopted to analyse data collected from farmers. The results show that farmers are aware of the menace of weeds in terms of cost. Results also reveal that farmers who had lesser weed count in their crop field were involved in practicing zero tillage. Furthermore, some socio-economic predictor variables were found to have influence on the adoption of modern weed control methods. Significant variables were age (P-value =.008), education (P-value = .056), household size (Pvalue = .005), income (P-value = 047) and number of children (P-value = .016). The paper recommend that, for farmers with low resources, zero tillage remains a viable option and needs to be evaluated further for weed control purposes. A good understanding of decision making process will assist to intensify adoption of new methods of weed control. Farmers’ capacity building should be enhanced through training as this will allow for well-informed decision making.