Beatrice Manful

Beatrice Manful is a PhD candidate in the School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Beatrice has been an avid fan of serving the less privileged in societies. She strongly believes no one should be left behind because of their socioeconomic background. With this, she has been on a career path in the development sector, blending economics with agriculture and natural resource management. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in agriculture economics from the University of Limpopo and the University of Kwazulu-Natal, respectively.

She has over six years of practical experience in rural development as an agricultural economist within a local non-governmental organisation in South Africa. During her tenure, she received various awards and scholarships from recognised financial institutions, including the MasterCard Foundation, to travel to several countries (Canada, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Botswana), assisting local governments in implementing development initiatives promoting financial inclusivity and market inclusion in the smallholder sector. This spurs her interest in pursuing a PhD programme exploring the various avenues through which market inclusion can be promoted in the smallholder sector.

Her study considers contract farming in promoting market inclusion in the smallholder fresh produce sector in South Africa. Her first two papers evaluate the factors constituting smallholder farmers' decision to contract and the impact of participation on the farmers' livelihood. In her final report, she considers the general consumer attitude towards the products under contract farming.