Microinsurance is an important risk mitigation strategy in smallholder farmers’ agricultural enterprises that are faced with intensifying climate change and unpredictability. This study analysed the perceptions of smallholder tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe’s tobacco-growing regions of the Mashonaland Provinces towards microinsurance as a risk coping strategy given the risks of hailstorms, droughts, and long-dry spells in the rainy season. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted with 13 purposively selected small-scale tobacco farmers. The study employed unstructured interviews to collect data from the participants. The findings of the study suggest that smallholder farmers have a positive perception of microinsurance, against the general view that they have a negative attitude. The study found that other risks with which smallholder farmers are faced and their immediate risk response, tolerance and disposition may have a distorting effect on the smallholder farmers’ perceptions and attitude towards microinsurance. It was further found that the perception of the smallholder farmers was also influenced by whether the farmers had other sources of income, whether they previously had experienced crop losses due to weather-induced risks and the general level of education of the smallholder farmer. It was also found that most of the micro-insurance services offered were mainly supply-side driven rather than demand-side driven and as a result, most of the products were not farmer-centric. New product development, farmer-centric insurance service offerings and general farmer sensitisation on the need for microinsurance were recommended.
The study contributes to an understanding of how land tenure and security, in the aftermath of the fast-track land reform programme (FTLRP) in Zimbabwe, can contribute towards access to finance and formal financial services by smallholder farmers who are generally shunned by conventional financial institutions for lack of collateral security and credit history.
Graduate unemployment is one of the biggest challenges that many countries in the world are faced with, more so in Zimbabwe. Given the prevailing rate of unemployment, this study sought to investigate the extent to which the TVET curricula in Accounting has provided sufficient skills to the accounting graduates to meet the expectations for employment. The study sought to deal with the problems that accounting TVET graduates face when entering the job market and the reasons why they are not getting their desired job in their chosen field of study. The study employed a qualitative approach. Data was collected from a sample of five lecturers and 55 Accounting graduates from one Polytechnic college in Zimbabwe, using interviews and a questionnaire. The study found that the main factor contributing to graduate unemployment is the deteriorating economic conditions in the country. It was also found that most of the graduates lacked sufficient skills and work experience to compete in the labor market. The graduates showed general inability to apply knowledge learnt in college to practical work situations, resulting in most graduates struggling to find suitable job placements in the country. It was further established that the graduates were ill-prepared to start their own businesses and did not have access to capital. The study recommends that TVET colleges in Zimbabwe should produce graduates with relevant skills, entrepreneurial mind set and appropriate knowledge acquired through work-based learning and internships to increase chances for employability among the graduates. Financial institutions may also assist through funding the graduates to start entrepreneurial activates in response to limited employment chances.
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