Many households in South Africa are exposed to extreme food insecurity that threatens their livelihoods. Authorities in the local sphere of government have employed food security strategies to curb the trail of food insecurity that prevails in many rural households. However, high levels of food insecurity in many households in across the country, especially those living in rural areas like Qamata Village, are noteworthy. Contributing factors to this problem are attributed to local government’s inability to successfully stimulate agricultural production in the face of climate change. The research aimed at assessing the impact of Qamata Irrigation Scheme intervention programmes or strategies in Qamata Village. It was discovered that livelihoods of many households in Qamata Village rely heavily on agricultural production to access food. Limited government support, poor planning and failure to invest on climate change adaptation strategies were identified as serious impediments in the implementation of food security strategies. Due to the enormity of the problem and extensive nature of local government, this study focussed on the Qamata Irrigation Scheme, in the Qamata Village within Chris Hani District Municipality. For the purposes of this study, qualitative research methods were used to gather an in-depth understanding and verification of the problem. Research tools used were mainly semi structured interviews and focus group discussions. Interviews were conducted with farmers in the Qamata Irrigation Scheme and focus group discussion were held with dry land farming households in the Qamata Village and representatives from the CHDM. Findings of the study revealed that the decline in agricultural production due to climate changes has not only fuelled food insecurity for dry land farming households but put these households in an economically disadvantaged position. This was a major concern for this research especially with agricultural production being identified as a livelihood strategy for many households in the Qamata Village.

The need to achieve developmental local government in South Africa has necessitated that the municipalities and other government departments pay more attention to the poor so that they can be helped to live more fruitful lives and become the instruments for the growth of local economy. This study seeks to assess the impact of Local Economic Development (LED) initiatives in Mbhashe Local Municipality with special focus on the Maize Production Project (MPP). The areas of Mbhashe municipality that were included in the study include Ndakeni village near Dutywa, Tswele-litye near Willowvale and Madwaleni near Elliotdale. The study followed both the qualitative and quantitative research approaches and the respondents were made up of a sample of MPP beneficiaries from the three areas mentioned above, Community Leaders and the Officials. The objectives of the study were to identify MPP objectives, to identify challenges in the implementation of the MPP, to assess the availability of remedial measures and lastly, to assess whether the community has benefited from the maize production project or not. Among others, the objectives of the MPP were to maximise maize production, to make profit, to create employment opportunities for the unemployed. Only 13 percent of the surveyed beneficiaries believe that their expectations of this initiative were fully met. The majority (two thirds) believe that their expectations were partly met, whilst one in five (20 percent) believe that their expectations were not met at all. The MPP implementation challenges included delays caused by the municipal procurement processes, unfavourable climate conditions, poor service delivery by the appointed service providers who provide tractors, shortage of funds and late start for ploughing. Even though the remedial measures seem to be in place, the implementation and the communication of the strategies remains a big challenge. Furthermore a proportion of the respondents were unhappy with the public participation process that preceded the implementation of the project.According to the findings, two thirds (67 percent) of the surveyed farmers believe that their communities have benefited from the MPP, although one third (33 percent) disagreed. The challenges of an insufficient budget, procurement delays and late commencement of ploughing need to be addressed if the maize production initiative is to yield the desired results.

Poverty is one of the social problems plaguing South Africa. In South Africa it is required of municipalities as entities in the socio-economic and political transformation process and agents of change, to eradicate poverty and unemployment by facilitating local economic development in their respective areas. Local economic development has to be implemented in a way that takes cognisance of the different challenges that exist within various areas and contexts. Various district and local municipalities have initiated an array of agricultural programs such as community or food gardens as aspect of their Local Economic Development strategies. In this study I investigated the sustainability of community gardens as a mechanism to poverty alleviation in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The study focused exclusively on community gardens in Bloemendal, KwaZakhele, Motherwell and Walmer. A mixed methods research approach was employed to gather data from the community garden members and municipal official who administers the community gardens. Semi-structured interview was conducted with the municipal official administering community gardens in Nelson Mandela Bay. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from the community garden members. Observations were made on types of crops grown in the gardens, in order to supplement and validate data collected and information gathered during interviews. Community garden members identified funding as their main challenge. Community gardens have a potential to be sustainable if the requisite support structures that need to exist to support the micro-farmers are in place.

Post-apartheid South Africa has derived a legacy of massive inequalities in both income and access to services, with the worst poverty being located in the rural areas. The rationale of this study aims to examine two irrigation projects in the Kat River Valley, Eastern Cape, with specific reference to land reforms and agriculture. The study also aims to explore and document the challenges facing agricultural production in the Kat River Valley, with a specific focus on Gallawater farm. The study seeks to examine the impact and relevance of social and economic production networks on the daily management of the Gallawater farm. The outcomes of the study finds that management of agricultural projects is needed to provide infrastructural support through state investment, particularly within agricultural extension services, the provision of basic amenities and human resource development of skills. This can potentially resuscitate income levels and encourage investment into agriculture in the Eastern Cape. Methodologically, the study draws on information collected using in-depth interviews on the Gallawater farm where a total of twenty five individuals were interviewed.

This is an exploratory study of the impact of the land redistribution programme on the rural poor of Nkonkobe Municipality. There is a brief historical overview of land redistribution in the South African context. The study demonstrates the impact of the programme of land redistribution and its challenges for the rural poor. The critical question is whether the programme benefitted the rural poor of Nkonkobe Municipality. Chapter one deals with the aims of the research, background of the study, sub-related questions, delimitation of the study and the research method. Chapter two deals with the theoretical framework, a brief description of the study area, a discussion of the land question in South Africa including land reform experiences, redistribution policy and the government land reform programme. Chapter three deals with methodology, discussing the research design and research methods used. Chapter four deals with findings and recommendations.

A vibrant and an efficient agricultural sector would enable a country to feed its growing population, generate employment, earn foreign exchange and provide raw materials for industries. The agricultural sector has a multiplier effect on any nation's socio-economic and industrial fabric because of the multifunctional nature of agriculture. The main objective of this study was to investigate how government expenditure on agriculture has affected economic growth in Zimbabwe from 1980-2009. The Log linear growth regression model was employed where gross domestic gross was the dependant variable and the explanatory variables are the factors which affect it which include government agricultural expenditure. The expenditures of government on agriculture were divided into three functions namely extension, credit assistance and R & D. The regression analyses were performed using Econometric-views 7 (E-views 7) statistical package. Regression was carried out on time series data for the period 1980 to 2009. The data was tested for stationarity and for autocorrelation. Problems of non stationarity of data were corrected by integrating the trending series. Results from the empirical analysis provide strong evidence indicating that agriculture is an engine of economic growth. The results from this study suggest that spending more on agricultural research and development can improve economic growth and ultimately reduce poverty. However, it can also be concluded that insufficient government agricultural expenditure on extension and credit assistance adversely affected economic growth in Zimbabwe, based on the results of the study. Global experience with pro-poor growth and empirical work spanning India, Benin and Malawi demonstrates the importance of agricultural expenditure for poverty reduction in poor rural areas, while also pointing to the need for complementary non farm sector growth. This study also proposes a simple methodology to estimate the agricultural spending that will be required to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015 (MDG1) in Zimbabwe. This method uses growth poverty and growth expenditure elasticities to estimate the financial resources required to meet the MDG1. The study attempts to address a key knowledge gap by improving estimation of first MDG agricultural expenditure at country level.

This study investigates the impact of ICTs for agricultural development in the Alice rural community. The rationale for carrying out the study has to do with the limited access to ICTs by farmers residing in this rural community which in turn affects their productivity and increase in the volume of agricultural production. The core argument of the study is that the use of ICTs has positive spinoffs on agricultural development which leads to improvement in the quality and quantity of agricultural production. Conversely lack of access to ICTs can result in inability to enhance agricultural productivity in rural areas such as Alice. Furthermore, it is argued herein that technological information devices such as ICTs are essential communication and information tools; and as such, should be regarded as useful communication media for disseminating relevant agricultural information to farmers residing in rural communities. In conducting this study theoretical frameworks such as Rogers’ diffusion of innovation and development theories encompassing both the participatory approach and development support communication were presented and argued for as approaches suitable for the study. Triangulations of research methods, such as, qualitative and quantitative methods, were utilized for the collection of data for this study. As is common practice, the triangulation method was used in cross checking and supplementing data/information collected through the utilization of each of the methods. Interviews and questionnaires were used as data collection tools for this study owing to their ability to generate clear and precise responses or answers to the questions posed. The key findings of the study show that the limited access to ICTs in the Alice rural community was caused by factors such as low level of literacy, age and language barriers which in turn affected the adoption of ICTs amongst the Alice farmers. Amongst the recommendations emanating from this study is the idea that the adoption of ICTs for agricultural information can be fast-tracked through the implementation of telecentres/kiosk and information centers for easy access to information and communication services in the rural community.

No description available.

Cette recherche traite de la vulnérabilité des paysans cotonniers au Burkina Faso face aux évolutions du marché et aux changements institutionnels de la filière. En effet, la filière coton a subi depuis une dizaine d'années une crise généralisée, dont la chute des prix fut le caractère le plus visible. Cette crise sans précédent est symptomatique du démantèlement des filières d'exportation, mises en place progressivement depuis la période coloniale, dans le cadre des politiques d'ajustement structurel. La filière coton étant reconnue comme un succès historique de développement agricole, ses difficultés actuelles sont donc un bon révélateur de l'impact du retrait des États et de la coopération internationale dans le secteur de l'agriculture. Les résultats s'appuient sur le traitement d'enquêtes par questionnaire menées auprès de paysans dans l'Est du Burkina Faso et sur la réalisation d'entretiens semi-directifs auprès des acteurs de la filière. Ces analyses de terrains sont ensuite confrontées aux stratégies de sortie de crise proposées par les sociétés cotonnières, l'Union des Producteurs de Coton Burkinabé et l'État. Cette échelle d'analyse est intégrée dans une étude à différentes échelles, de la région, au marché global en passant par l'État. Cette approche multi-scalaire originale est la seule capable de mettre en relation efficacement les conclusions fondées sur niveau unique d'analyse. Les conclusions montrent que le devenir de la filière coton et la stabilité des régions concernées dépendent de l'action des producteurs, des États et de la coopération internationale en faveur de l'agriculture familiale. Enfin, ce travail souligne l'intérêt de l'approche géographique qui intègre l'emboîtement des échelles en tant qu'élément majeur de la pérennité des filières agricoles dans les pays en voie de développement. / The aim of this Phd is to understand the vulnerability of Burkina Faso’s cotton farmers confronted to the current market and institutional changes in this economic sector. Indeed, the cotton industry has gone through a generalized crisis over the last decade – the fall in prices being the most tangible outward sign. Such an unprecedented crisis is symptomatic of the dismantling of export channels that have been introduced ever since the colonial period, under the pressure of structural adjustment policies. The cotton industry being generally acknowledged as a historical success of agricultural development, its current difficulties testify to the direct consequences of the withdrawal of both States and international cooperation from the agricultural sector. Results are based on the treatment of questionnaire surveys conducted among farmers in Eastern Burkina Faso and on half-directed interviews with all the industry participants. These field surveys are then contrasted with the strategies propounded by the cotton companies, the National Union of Burkinabe Cotton Producers and the government itself to get out of the crisis. This scale of analysis is integrated, through a multi-leveled study of the region, to the global market through the state. This multi-scalar, original approach is the only one likely to draw a productive connection between the several approaches based on a single level of analysis. Conclusions establish that the future of the cotton sector, and the stability of the area, depend on the joint actions of producers, State and international cooperation to support family farming. Finally, this study also demonstrates the interest of a geographical approach incorporating different scales of analysis as a major element of the sustainability of agricultural industries in developing countries.

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo identificar la calidad demandada, el precio internacional y el desarrollo agrícola como principales factores que favorecieron el crecimiento de las exportaciones peruanas de cacao tostado al mercado de los Estados Unidos de América en los años 2013 - 2020. Al iniciar la investigación, se presentó la hipótesis general de que la calidad demandada, el precio internacional y el desarrollo agrícola son factores que favorecieron el crecimiento de las exportaciones peruanas de cacao tostado al mercado de los Estados Unidos de América en los años 2013 - 2020.  Para comprobar la hipótesis y objetivos estructurados, se aplicó el modelo de análisis de regresión lineal múltiple, donde se pudo comprobar que la calidad demandada si cumplía con lo planteado. El precio internacional no cumple dado al valor agregado que presenta el cacao peruano, permitiendo vender por encima del precio base. Asimismo, se puede debatir el desarrollo agrícola, dado a que expertos y empresas afirman que la implementación de nuevas tecnologías y técnicas de cultivo permiten mayor producción de cacao; sin embargo, el análisis indica que no cumple con la data histórica analizada.  Finalmente, se puede concluir que el desarrollo agrícola permite un mejor desarrollo para la producción; sin embargo, el cacao presenta distintas versiones de exportación, tales como la manteca, licor, polvo, grano, etc. / The objective of this study is to identify the quality demanded, the international price and agricultural development as the main factors that favored the growth of Peruvian exports of roasted cocoa to the United States of America market in the years 2013-2020. At the beginning of the investigation, the general hypothesis was presented that the quality demanded, the international price and agricultural development are factors that favored the growth of Peruvian exports of roasted cocoa to the market of the United States of America in the years 2013 - 2020. To verify the hypothesis and structured objectives, the multiple regression analysis model was applied, where it was possible to verify that the quality demanded did comply with what was proposed. The international price does not comply given the added value that Peruvian cocoa presents, allowing it to be sold above the base price. Likewise, agricultural development can be debated, given that experts and companies affirm that the implementation of new technologies and cultivation techniques allow greater cocoa production; however, the analysis indicates that it does not comply with the historical data analyzed. Finally, it can be concluded that agricultural development allows better development for production; However, cocoa presents different versions for export, such as butter, liquor, powder, grain, etc. / Tesis