Assessment of sources of livelihoods and opportunities to improve the contribution of farming within available food chains

Mbusi, Nontembeko

Title: Assessment of sources of livelihoods and opportunities to improve the contribution of farming within available food chains
Creator: Mbusi, Nontembeko
Subject: Households -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Subject: Rural poor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Subject: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Subject: Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Subject: Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Subject: Livelihood strategies
Subject: Outcomes
Subject: Poverty
Subject: Farming
Subject: Employment
Date: 2013
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics)
Identifier: vital:11204
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1007575
Identifier: Households -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Identifier: Rural poor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Identifier: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Identifier: Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Identifier: Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Identifier: Livelihood strategies
Identifier: Outcomes
Identifier: Poverty
Identifier: Farming
Identifier: Employment
Description: Official statistics suggest that as many as 40 percent to 60 percent of people in South Africa are living in poverty, and the 15 percent poorest are in a desperate struggle for survival. Since 1994, Government has been making an effort to help smallholder agriculture through numerous programmes, including those that address land ownership and provide credit and grants for farms and households, but very little change has taken place. Understanding the sources of livelihood and opportunities to improve the contribution of farming within available food chains is therefore an important practical need. The study investigated sources of livelihood and mapped the livelihoods profile of the farming households in parts of the Eastern Cape. The study was conducted in the Alice and Peddie communities in the Amathole district municipality. A set of structured questionnaires were used to interview the sample of 80 farming households selected through a random process within two irrigation schemes and communities that were selected purposively in line with the focus of the larger project on which this study is based. The resulting data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The descriptive results indicated that members of most rural households were old, married, uneducated and unemployed. Farming was primary livelihood strategy employed in these areas. Rural households were also dependent on remittances, social grants and pension funds because the farming strategy could not meet all their household needs. The major crops that were grown for income and food security to sustain their livelihoods included maize, potatoes, onions and butternut. Factors that had significant influences on outcomes were extension services, grants, pension and remittances, land productivity, type of irrigation system, market accessibility, output price difference and value adding. The available opportunities were land productivity, irrigation facilities, government or NGO programmes and working as a group. For improved livelihood of rural communities in Alice and Peddie, government needs to strengthen agricultural activities and equip farmers with market information, improve their access to irrigation schemes, provide training on value adding and also improve access to extension services.
Format: 164 leaves; 30 cm
Format: pdf
Publisher: University of Fort Hare
Publisher: Faculty of Science & Agriculture
Language: English
Rights: University of Fort Hare

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