Rural household dietary diversity and food security in Raymond Mhlaba local municipality
- Authors: Mnukwa, Minentle Lwando
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Food security
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17282 , vital:40872
- Description: In order to formulate or implement relevant food security programmes in rural areas, it is important to have a deep understanding of the food security status of rural households. Accordingly, this study was conducted to assess the food security status of rural households in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. The study also sought to identify the socio-economic characteristics that influence household food security status. The research relied on primary data. Primary data were collected by using a structured questionnaire, which covered both demographic features of respondent households, and their recent food consumption patterns. The household survey was conducted among 272 participants of Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. Statistical tools employed in this study included both descriptive and inferential statistics. The main descriptive statistics used were frequency tables, means and percentages in relation to a number of demographic characteristics and food security indicators. The main indicator of food security/insecurity used in the study was the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). After calculating the HDDS for each household, households were defined as either food secure or insecure depending on whether their HDDS was above or below the average HDDS. A logistic regression model (binary or dichotomous) was then used to identify socio-economic factors that influence some households to have above-average rather than below-average food security levels. The Binary logistic regression model revealed that four out of eight variables included in the model were significant in explaining the variation in the food security situation of households in the study areas, namely age of household head, education level of household head, household income and household size. Of these, the first three were positively associated with aboveaverage food security status, while household size had a negative association. A Tobit model was further used to identify the determinants of the household dietary diversity score. The exact same variables were significant from the Tobit analysis, and in the same manner.
- Full Text:
Assessing the implementation and effects of the Fetsa Tlala Food Initiative Programme in achieving its vision of eradicating household level food insecurity in Lukhanji Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Njara, L I
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Households -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10476 , vital:35484
- Description: Declining agrarian activities in significant parts of the country, even in the subsistence sector, has meant that access to food is increasingly a function of household cash income, hence low-income households experience inadequate access to food. Over 12 million people in South Africa are vulnerable to food insecurity. Since 2013, substantial efforts and large sums of money have been devoted to poverty reduction through government’s Fetsa Tlala Food Production Initiative. Fetsa Tlala was conceptualised as an integrated government framework that seeks to promote food and nutrition security and to address the structural causes of food insecurity, which continue to perpetuate inequality and social exclusion. The main objective of this study is to assess the implementation and effects of Fetsa Tlala. The specific objectives include: to measure the direct and indirect benefits of Fetsa Tlala; to assess the cost-effectiveness of the programme; to evaluate the model of the programme using a social systems approach; and to assess the implementation approach of Fetsa Tlala. A cross-sectional study was carried on a sample of 70 households and four Fetsa Tlala projects in the Eastern Cape. Households were selected using the simple random sampling procedure. Structured and semi-structured interviews using questionnaires were conducted. The research objectives were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Among the quantitative approaches used was a micro simulation exercise, which was performed to help understand the cost-effectiveness of the programme. The results show that the business model of the programme is not built with sustainability in mind and the systems approach was ignored when designing the programme. Furthermore, the cost of the programme outweighs its benefits. This study recommends that the programme should take into account human development and build a needs-based approach going forward. Further recommendations are that the government should target relevant partners, and prioritise agricultural insurance, infrastructure and agro-processing.
- Full Text:
The contribution of small-scale fisheries to rural livelihoods and food security : evidence from Hamburg, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Budaza, Nwabisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Small-scale fisheries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Food supply -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Fishery management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10338 , vital:35396
- Description: Small-scale fisheries are known to provide food and income to millions of people around the world, but their role and existence is often ignored in development planning. The growing human demand for animal protein has become one of the foremost world challenges for which aquatic organisms have a significant role to play. In South Africa, small-scale fisheries have been recognized since the end of Apartheid, but the extent of the contribution of the sector to rural livelihoods and food security is not well understood. Using data drawn from a sample of 80 fishers in the coastal community of Hamburg, Eastern Cape, this dissertation presents an assessment of the contribution of small-scale fisheries to rural livelihoods, income and food security. The primary data were collected from the fishers using a structured questionnaire and non-probability sampling. The data were analysed with the assistance of descriptive techniques and a few simply statistical tests. The results of the study indicate that fishers in Hamburg catch a wide range of fish, which include wild kob, octopus, spotted grunter, white/black mussel cracker and white steenbras. Fishers in the study area are not solely dependent on small-scale fisheries for their livelihoods, income and food security, but generally supplement their welfare payments with fishing in order to sustain their livelihoods. About 78percent of the surveyed fishers depend on government grants, including old age grants, child support grants and social care grant. In terms of employment, 15percent of the surveyed fishers are casually employed, while 6percent are formally employed on a contract basis. Although they are not only dependent on fishing, nevertheless fishing is an important source of livelihood, income and food security. About 37percent of the fishers harvest marine resources for home consumption, while 7percent harvest solely for income, and 56percent harvest for both home consumption and income. Income generated from fisheries is approximately R935 per month and is used to buy food, electricity, fishing equipment and other household needs. The findings from this research underline the need for interventions such as coordinated institutions, improved infrastructure, improved monitoring and enforcement systems, as well as improved access to permit/fishing rights for sustainable use of marine resources.
- Full Text:
The impact of the farmer field school approach on small-scale vegetable farmers' knowledge, agency and production in Alice, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Apleni, Asanda
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Agricultural extension work -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8187 , vital:31873
- Description: This study investigates the impact of the Farmer Field School approach on the knowledge, agency and production of small-scale farmers. Farmer Field Schools were devised in the 1980s by the Food and Agriculture Organization as a form of adult education in agriculture. It is a group-based approach in which a facilitator meets with farmers on a regular basis and sets in motion a process by which farmers ‘learn how to learn’, both from themselves and from one another. However, it remains an open question whether the Farmer Field School approach could be a solution to South Africa’s abiding problem of weak agricultural extension. Early in 2015, the University of Fort Hare and the Nkonkobe Farmers’ Association initiated a number of study groups in the Alice area, based largely on Farmer Field School principles. The main objective of the study was to assess the impact of the Farmer Field School approach on small-scale farmers’ knowledge, agency and production, focusing on home gardeners. The study was conducted in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality in Alice of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The research consisted of a survey of all the study group participants involved with home gardens, including some who joined the groups in 2015 but left in 2016. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs were used. Findings from this study have shown how participation in the study groups modelled on the FFS approach can improve the knowledge and skills of home gardeners, while also enabling them to produce significantly larger quantities of vegetables, and even a marketable surplus, albeit from a small base. In order to make more people to join, more incentives should be made available. Such incentives should be made available only to “kick start” the FFS study groups and take heed in prevention of dependence.
- Full Text: