Determinants and contribution of participation in farming to rural households’ welfare in Nyandeni Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Qange, Siphesihle
- Date: 2020-06
- Subjects: Agricultural systems , Rural development , Community development
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20849 , vital:46634
- Description: Participation in farming has been the main livelihood strategy for, especially in rural areas, where homesteads used to produce the majority of their basic food basket. Participation in farming is one of the strategies that can be used to address the food insecurity and poverty in rural areas. Participating in farming seems to be key in the improvement of rural households’ livelihoods, especially in the developing countries, however nowadays, participation in farming is declining from year to year. Rural households tend to invest more of their time in non-agricultural activities. Rural homesteads now behave like their urban counterparts; they purchase more food from the markets than they produce for themselves. Consequently, there are high levels of poverty and food insecurity in rural areas. Government and non-governmental organisations implemented a variety of agricultural projects with the intention of empowering subsistence farmers in rural areas. Despite these interventions, farming in rural areas has continued to decrease as rural dwellers have realised other livelihood strategies. Moreover, the decline in farming activities results in increased unemploymentrates, hunger, and food insecurity in rural areas, resulting in the depreciation of the economy. Therefore, the objective of the study is to investigate the determinants and contribution of participating in farming to the welfare of rural households. The study was conducted in Nyandeni Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in the survey and the data was obtained from 176 rural households comprising both those who participate in farming and those who do not. The study employed a cross-sectional research design, and purposive sampling was used to select the sample prior to the data collection. Data was collected and captured in Excel and then analysed using the Stata version 15. Descriptive statistics were used to profile the socio-economic characteristics of rural households, the probit model was used to determine the factors affecting farming in rural areas and Two stage least squares was used to determine the contribution of farming to the welfare of rural households. In reference to the descriptive statistics, the results indicated that 62 percent of the rural households were headed by females and 51 percent of the household heads were married. The average age of the household heads was 55 years old and above, and the average household comprised 5 persons. Moreover, 50 percent of the rural households had only obtained primary education and 55 percent were unemployed. The average farming experience was 12 years and 12 percent of the households confirmed that they receive extension services from the Government. The probit model was fitted to estimate the factors affecting rural households’ participation in farming. The empirical results indicated that education level, income and Participation in Agric. Project a negative influence on the participation of household in farming and they were significant at 0.01 and 0.05 significance level respectively. Access to extension services had a positive influence on households’ participation in farming and were significant at 5 percent. Farming experience had a positive influence on household participation in farming and was significant at 5 percent and farming experience had a positive influence on participation in farming and was significant at 1 percent significancelevel. Two stage least squares regression was used to measure factors affecting the contribution of household farming to rural household welfare. The study measured the contribution of household farming in terms of income generated from farming. The results indicated that Educational level, Household size and Condition of Infrastructure indicate a positive significant effect on income. The remaining variables, Age, Marital status, Participation in Agric. Project and Access to extension services have a negative significant effect on income. The study concluded that households headed by married individuals fared better than households headed by single individuals. Educated individuals have easy access to various sources of information that could help them with income-generating farming skills. Employment, more especially formal employment, results in higher income, and it is stated that the higher the income the better the welfare of the household. Therefore, the study recommends that Government must promote farming in rural areas through the initiation of support programmes and agricultural community projects. Rural households have the potential to succeed in farming but they lack input and proper equipment, and therefore it is recommended that Government should put more focus on household farming rather than their current primary focus on commercial farming. , Thesis (MSc) (Agricultural Economics) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2020-06
Perceptions of the community members on agriculture as a poverty alleviation strategy: a case study of tamara administrative area
- Authors: Nqana, Bongani https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5074-4862
- Date: 2019-06
- Subjects: Poverty -- Prevention , Community-supported agriculture , Community development
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26951 , vital:66205
- Description: This study is conducted to address the perceptions, opinions, and feelings of rural community members with regard to agriculture as poverty alleviation strategy at Tamarha Administrative area, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The study intended to uncover the community members feelings, reactions, opinions they might be having as the area is no longer relying on agriculture as their source of income as well as their poverty alleviation strategy as well as the impact it is having on their everyday life. Lastly, the study sought to examine support services rendered by the professionals working directly with communities to ensure development in rural areas. The researcher adopted both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Purposive and snowball sampling was employed to recruit 20 community members from Tamarha Administrative area. The age of the community members was between 25 and 65. In addition, purposive sampling was adopted to recruit six professionals who are directly working in developing community members. Data was collected using face-to-face, semistructured individual interviews, one interview per research participant, and using one focus group discussion with professionals working with. Regarding quantitative method, the researcher has utilized questionnaires to collect data The researcher analysed data through thematic content analysis for qualitative method as well as SSPS for quantitative method. The study findings indicate that youth are not interested in agriculture and only elders who have been involved in agriculture that are seeing the value and importance of using agriculture again. Majority of the community members especially (elders) are seeing agriculture as poverty alleviation strategy, and that they have benefited a lot from agriculture as most people were working and had income. There were few youths who were not working nor schooling and there was low rate of crime and low rate of drug abuse. The youth seemingly are having different perception and opinions about agriculture as they are not familiar with the system. The recommendations from the findings that there should be continuous empowerment in skills development from professionals working with agriculture. The government departments who are directly funding the agricultural projects, should monitor and evaluate the projects to ensure sustainability to the agricultural projects. The youth should be encouraged to use the resources that are available within the community. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2019
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- Date Issued: 2019-06