Agricultural stagnation in the homelands can be ascribed to political, social, economic and technical factors. Apart from the problem of limited access to opportunities, black commercial farmers also experience managerial problems in certain functional areas which can effect their decision-making. The aim of the paper is to identify the individual environmental constraints that could effect the farming enterprise and agricultural development. A stratified randomized sample of 30 black commercial farmers in Lebowa was included in a questionaire survey. The following important constraints were identified: farmers age and low educational level; lack of managerial abilities in certain functional areas; the traditional land occupation system; small size of land holdings; shortage of irrigation water and labour; and insufficient credit and marketing facilities.