AN ANALYSIS OF THE FARMING PERCEPTIONS OF SMALL FARMERS AT GWABHILA AND SILALABUHWA IRRIGATION SCHEME IN MATABELELAND, ZIMBABWE (SKILLS, PROBLEMS, COMMUNAL AREAS

The purposes of this study were to: (1) Analyze the opinions of the small farmers' evaluation of their farming skills and farming problems in the dry land area of Gwabhila, who were not participating in the irrigation scheme; with the opinions of small farmers who lived and participated in the Silalabuhwa Irrigation Scheme; (2) Determine the adequacy of their farming skills; (3) Determine the seriousness of their farming problems; (4) Determine if the irrigation schemes were the answer to these farmers in low rainfall areas, and (5) Determine differences in farming skills and farming problems of "man", "woman", "husband and wife" farmers.;One hundred and twenty-three of 500 predominantly Ndebele farmers were interviewed at Silalabuhwa and 113 of 300 small farmers were interviewed at Gwabhila.;An instrument was developed by a modified Delphi technique. The program utilized for data analysis was the Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS), in the Computer Center at Kansas State University. The analyses that were made included: frequencies on all demographic information; a t-test for independent samples on all likert items; and the one-way analysis of variance for testing the null hypotheses relating to "man", "woman" and "husband and wife" farmers. The Scheffe, a multiple comparison technique, was used to determine which groups differed.;The analysis of the Biographical Information indicated a significant relationship between farming area and the following variables: type of farmer, marital status, years of farming experience, number of visits from an extension agent, number of poultry and the number of donkeys raised. There was also a significant relationship between the type of farmer "man", "woman", "husband and wife", and the following: visits from an extension agent, part-time or full-time farming status, and farm equipment ownership.;Problems of small farmers in the dryland areas of Gwabhila were more serious than for small farmers participating in the Silalabuhwa Irrigation Scheme. Gwabhila farmers had more farming skill needs than the farmers at Silalabuhwa. Even though the situation of farmers at the Silalabuhwa Irrigation Scheme was an improvement to the situation at Gwabhila, farmers in both areas needed much training in all areas of farming.