Maxwell Mudhara

Water security and rural household food security: empirical evidence from the Mzinyathi district in South Africa

This paper aimed to investigate the determinants of water security in an irrigation scheme, and how this water security level subsequently affects the farmer’s household food security level. Water security refers to access by the irrigating households to sufficient and reliable water to meet the agricultural needs and their ability to assert the water rights against other parties. A random sample of 185 irrigating households was interviewed in Tugela Ferry Irrigation Scheme in Mzinyathi District, South Africa. Data were analysed using principal component analysis and ordinary least squares. The empirical results indicated that factors such as farmer’s age, off-farm income, farmer association membership, use of pumps, location on the upper-end of the canal and training increase household water security. Conversely, factors such as occurrence of conflicts and location at the tail-end of the canal were found to decrease household water security. This study highlights the importance of strengthening farmer organisational capacity and local institutions for enhancing the water security status of farmers in smallholder irrigation schemes. The results also indicated that perceived water security has a positive impact on household food consumption per adult equivalent. Therefore, for better impact on household food security, the study recommends that priority should be placed in ensuring household water security, not just investing in the physical irrigation scheme and irrigation participation. The human and social dimensions need to receive priority. Training farmers in collective water governance and water conservation techniques to improve water-use efficiency as well as introducing motorised pumps would take irrigators a long way in enhancing their water security.

Promoting food security and well-being among poor and HIV/AIDS affected households: lessons from an interactive and integrated approach.

Participatory and interdisciplinary approaches have been suggested to develop appropriate agricultural innovations as an alternative strategy to improve food security and well-being among HIV/AIDS affected households. However, sustainable implementation of such interactive approaches is far from easy and straight forward. This study reports of the Interactive Learning and Action (ILA) approach, a methodology for agricultural innovation which has been adapted to the context of HIV/AIDS. Role players in agriculture and health were brought together to stimulate and sustain innovation among three support groups for poor and affected households in a rural high HIV/AIDS prevalence area in South Africa. The effectiveness of the approach was evaluated using both outcome and process criteria. The results indicate that an interactive approach in which service providers/researchers engage themselves as actors to explore the livelihood system and develop appropriate solutions in joint collaboration with resource users has potential. However, it also revealed that cooperation among participants and stakeholders at the interface of agriculture and HIV/AIDS is complicated and sensitive to erosion. Of particular concern was the difficulty of mobilizing members from poor and affected households to participate and to overcome stigma and discrimination. Lessons and potential applications for the further development of interactive approaches are discussed.

Cattle Commercialization in Rural South Africa: Livelihood Drivers and Implications for Livestock Marketing Extension

Abstract Commercialization of livestock farming systems remains a challenge in rural South Africa. Recent empirical evidence places agricultural extension at the forefront of policy strategy to address this challenge. This study applies the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) to quantitatively analyze the factors confounding participation in cattle markets for the purpose of informing agriculture extension programming. Based on a dataset compiled from a household survey of 230 randomly selected smallholder cattle farmers in Okhahlamba Local Municipality (OLM), a Double-Hurdle econometric estimation technique is used to determine factors within the SLF influencing market participation and supply volumes decisions. The results reveal that the low rate of market participation could be explained by the broader aspects of livelihoods of smallholder cattle farmers, including limited access to financial, social and natural capital, as well as the difference in livelihood strategies and motivations. Based on these findings, the study draws the implications for the design of livestock extension programs in OLM, and South Africa in general.

Values rural households in KwaZulu-Natal hold towards forests and their participation in community-based forest management

ABSTRACT Community-based forest management (CBFM) is the internationally recognised model in which sustainable use of communal forest resources is assured. However, some authors have asserted that policy makers should understand the values communities hold towards forests before recommending strategies for CBFM. This study used Principal Component Analysis to identify the values rural households in KwaZulu-Natal hold towards forests. The Multinomial Logit Model was then used to investigate whether the values households hold towards forests, among other socio-economic and institutional factors, influence households’ decisions to participate in self-initiated CBFM programmes. The study found that households’ decisions to participate in community forest management depend, not only on the values they hold towards forests, but also on the forest management strategy being pursued. If a protection-oriented management strategy is pursued, households that hold more bio-centric values are more likely to participate, while households that hold more anthropocentric values towards forests are more likely to participate in managing forests when a utilisation-oriented strategy is pursued. Since rural households in KwaZulu-Natal are poor and overwhelmingly hold anthropocentric values towards forests, it was recommended that following the utilisation-oriented forests management strategy to meet the utilitarian needs of the communities would improve household participation, while reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable forest management.

The Impact of ‘Women's Empowerment in Agriculture’ on Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in the KwaZulu-Natal Province

It is argued that empowering women in smallholder agriculture is very crucial in reducing vulnerability to food insecurity among rural households. This study contributes to this literature by adapting the vulnerability as expected poverty approach to determine which dimensions of ‘womens empowerment in agriculture’ reduces households vulnerability to food insecurity based on cross-section data collected from 300 randomly selected primary female heads-of-households in Msinga rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. It was found that empowering women in socio-cultural aspects that creates hindrances in agriculture reduces the probability of their households being vulnerable to food insecurity. Surprisingly, access to irrigation and improved water-use security did not significantly influence household vulnerability to food insecurity. However, other forms of womens empowerment including economic agency and physical capital empowerment were found to reduce the likelihood of a household being vulnerable to food insecurity. Women with high levels of financial capital empowerment invested less in other capital assets and were more vulnerable to food insecurity in the future. In addition to womens empowerment, demographic characteristics of a household influence its vulnerability status. A households vulnerability to food insecurity reduces as the husbands income increases but increases with increased dependency ratio. It was concluded that empowerment in agriculture alone is not a panacea to reduce household vulnerability to food insecurity. Efforts should be made to improve physical assets that determine the off-farm income earning and agricultural production capacity of households.

Farmers’ choice of cattle marketing channels under transaction cost in rural South Africa: a multinomial logit model

This study applied a transaction cost approach to the analysis of cattle marketing behaviour among smallholder farmers in communal land areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The objective was to test the effects of information, negotiation, and monitoring costs on the decision to sell to private buyers, speculators or at auction. The theoretical predictions of transaction cost economics were tested based on primary data collected from 230 cattle farm households in 13 communities of the Okhahlamba Local Municipality. The results of a multinomial logit regression revealed some unique insights. They showed that the probability of selling at auction vs selling at the farm gate increased during the end-of-year festive season, indicating the scope of market uncertainty surrounding auctions. They also showed that the probability of selling at auction vs selling to speculators increased with proximity to the auction marketplace and decreased with knowledge of the buyer, suggesting higher opportunity costs of time and efforts associated with selling at auction, and considerable negotiation and monitoring costs incurred when selling to speculators. Other significant predictors of auction channel selection were volume supplied and farmers age. This study concludes with some implications for the livestock marketing policy in South Africa.

The Role of Capital Assets and Institutions in the Success and Failure of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in South Africa

Abstract Production among smallholder irrigation farmers in South Africa is low, and is negatively influenced by a wide range of factors. This paper documents the findings of a study of two smallholder irrigation schemes inSouth Africa, by applying the sustainable livelihoods framework to identify factors affecting their performance.The two schemes, namely the Foundation Community Project and the Mooi River Irrigation Scheme wereexamined in terms of the five basic forms of capital assets (natural, financial, physical, human and social) tounderstand their impact on performance. The results show that poor coordination of government funded activitiesnegatively affects smallholder performance, through poor provision of public infrastructure like roads and physicalasserts like tractors. Smallholder farmers lack irrigation specific skills like scheduling and irrigation maintenance,hence poor productivity and poor irrigation infrastructure condition. Financial capital was also identified as aconstraint among smallholder irrigators. Although farmers capitalise on the existing social capital that enableborrowing of small amounts of unsecured funds from relatives and neighbours to fund irrigation activities, informalsources of income did not provide adequate financial resources to boost production and marketing activities. Toensure successful management of smallholder irrigation schemes, specific training to enhance knowledge andinformation building among smallholder farmers as complementary assets to improve the functioning of othercapital assets is recommended.

The Impact of Entrepreneurial Competencies on Household Food Security Among Smallholder Farmers in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the impact of entrepreneurial competencies on food security among rural farming households in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (SA). A total of 513 rural households were randomly selected, and the descriptive results indicated that 51% of these households were food insecure, and they were somewhat negative about their entrepreneurial competencies. The estimated results indicated that entrepreneurship had a positive impact on food security. The study findings suggest that stimulating entrepreneurship through developing entrepreneurial competencies among the farming households is important for improved food security among rural households in SA.

The impact of social grants on the propensity and level of use of inorganic fertiliser among smallholders in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

ABSTRACT This article assesses the extent to which social grants relieve liquidity constraints and improve inorganic fertiliser use among South African smallholders. A total of 984 farming households were randomly selected from four districts of KwaZulu-Natal, and data were analysed using the double-hurdle model. The econometric results indicated that use of social grants had a positive impact on the level of fertiliser use, while increasing dependency on social grants had no significant negative impact. The positive influence of social grants on the amount of inorganic fertiliser used suggests that these grants play a significant role in alleviating the liquidity constraints faced by poor farmers. This result is consistent with the presence of credit constraints that limit poor households’ ability to invest in modern farming technologies. To increase technology adoption among the poor, the study recommends that policymakers should address imperfections in the rural credit markets, increase smallholders’ assets in order to increase their risk-bearing capacity and improve the expected profitability of using inorganic fertiliser.

Collective action and rural poverty reduction: Empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

ABSTRACT Organising smallholder farmers into groups has become an important and preferred mechanism through which the South African government and other rural development agencies seek to address rural poverty and household food insecurity. This study investigates whether collective action through farmer groups has improved incomes among rural farming households in South Africa. The propensity score matching (PSM) method and the treatment effect approach were used to analyse a sample of 984 rural households from four districts in KwaZulu-Natal. The PSM results indicated that participation in farmer groups significantly and positively influenced household incomes. Group membership increased the average household incomes per adult equivalent by about R3000. However, the Rosenbaum bounds tests indicated that the impact estimates obtained using the PSM approach were not robust to hidden bias. The treatment effect regression model, which controls for hidden bias, was estimated, and the results supported those of PSM. The results also indicated that groups benefit more those who are educated and are males, suggesting a bias against the females and those less educated. The results suggest that organising smallholder farmers into groups can play a positive role in rural poverty reduction. For greater impact, policy makers should promote group formation and participation among smallholder farmers as well as introduce adult literacy classes to improve education levels.