Thesis (MDev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / Smallholder subsistence agriculture is regarded as an approach that can be adopted by poor rural households to meet their food and nutritional requirements. The practice of smallholder subsistence agriculture is a basis upon which poor households can enhance their household food security through increased incomes and food supply, ultimately generating extra income for other household needs. The present study discusses and analyses the importance of smallholder subsistence agriculture as an effective method easily available to households residing in rural areas to access food and incomes for household purposes. Hence, the study seeks to explore and analyses the role of smallholder subsistence agriculture in contributing to household food security in rural areas. Both primary and secondary data have been used to analyze the factors for the purpose of the study. The primary data were collected through a designed survey questionnaire administered to sampled smallholder subsistence farmers in the study area. This study used purposive sampling technique, through a transect walk, to draw households involved in smallholder subsistence agriculture in Maroteng Village. From the total population in the study area, only 100 households were selected for the purposes of the study. Both descriptive and qualitative techniques were used to analyze salient variables of the practice in order to give an insight of the important role the sector can play in addressing poverty, enhancing incomes and creating employment, consequently contributing to household food security in rural areas. The study shows that the participation on smallholder subsistence farming by households in rural areas could have positive impact on food security situations.

Thesis (M.A. Admin. (Development)) -- University of Limpopo, 2014. / Smallholder subsistence agriculture is regarded as an approach that can be adopted by poor rural households to meet their food and nutritional requirements. The practice of smallholder subsistence agriculture is a basis upon which poor households can enhance their household food security through increased incomes and food supply, ultimately generating extra income for other household needs. The present study discusses and analyses the importance of smallholder subsistence agriculture as an effective method easily available to households residing in rural areas to access food and incomes for household purposes. Hence, the study seeks to explore and analyses the role of smallholder subsistence agriculture in contributing to household food security in rural areas. Both primary and secondary data have been used to analyze the factors for the purpose of the study. The primary data were collected through a designed survey questionnaire administered to sampled smallholder subsistence farmers in the study area. This study used purposive sampling technique, through a transect walk, to draw households involved in smallholder subsistence agriculture in Maroteng Village. From the total population in the study area, only 100 households were selected for the purposes of the study. Both descriptive and qualitative techniques were used to analyze salient variables of the practice in order to give an insight of the important role the sector can play in addressing poverty, enhancing incomes and creating employment, consequently contributing to household food security in rural areas. The study shows that the participation on smallholder subsistence farming by households in rural areas could have positive impact on food security situations.

Institute for Rural Development / PhDRDV

Thesis (M.Sc. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Food insecurity is prevalent in less developing countries and it remains a major issue in South African households, especially among those living in rural areas. Therefore, the study examined the factors influencing food security among small-scale maize farmers in Polokwane Local Municipality. The aim of the study was to assess the factors influencing food security among small-scale maize farmers. The objectives of the study were to: identify and describe the socio-economic characteristics, determine the household food security status, examine factors influencing food security of small-scale maize farmers, and identify the constraints faced by the small-scale maize farmers in ensuring food security. Primary data was collected from a sample size of 150 farmers through wellstructured questionnaires, while HFIAS was used to determine the food security status and Logistic Regression model was employed to analyze the data. The descriptive statistics showed that 56.7% of the participants were females, whereas 43.3% were males. It was further indicated that the average age of youth was 34.2%; whilst 65.8% was average age of adults and 69.3% of the farmers have attended school while 30.7% have never attended school. The HFIAS results showed that 53% of households were food secure and 47% were food insecure which include 16.0% mildly, 21.3% moderately and 9.3% severely food insecure. The logistic regression results revealed that among twelve variables included, only six variables including age of the farmer, educational level, household size, household income, farm size and access to credit were found to have significant relationship to food security status of the farmers. The study therefore recommends that there must be provision of agricultural information that will motivate adults to continue farming. Training of farmers on improving food security should be provided through workshops as well as family planning programmes to reduce family size. Furthermore, there must be expansion of off-farm income generating activities as well as increase in farm size and enhancement in access to credit institutions such as MAFISA, Land bank and Commercial banks that will assist in improving the food security status of the respondents / NSFAS (National Students Financial Aid Scheme) and NRF (National Research Foundation)

Thesis (Ph.D. Agriculture (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / In South Africa, the presence of inland waterbodies provides opportunities for households to engage in fishing activities. The existence of fish and the availability of several waterbodies in the country's inland provinces provide households with alternative means of generating income and food security. With the prevalence of food insecurity, high unemployment, and poverty in the country, inland fisheries serve as an economic safety net, food, and source of income for rural poor households who live near impoundments. However, policymakers in South Africa have overlooked inland fisheries as a means of supporting rural livelihoods. Furthermore, the sector's economic and social contribution is frequently overlooked and underappreciated. Thus, inland fisheries are classified as informal due to the lack of legislation, despite the fact that rural households rely on this sector for income and food. Furthermore, the inland fisheries value chain is short, with little evidence of post-harvesting activities, and the roles and functions of rural households in this value chain are unknown. Despite this, inland fisheries provide a low-cost source of protein for households, and hence this sector has the potential to help reduce poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity. Given this background information, the study aimed at assessing the contribution of inland fisheries to income generation and food security in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The objectives of the study were to identify and describe the socio-economic characteristics of households and their different roles and functions played along the inland fisheries value chain in the Limpopo Province, to determine the contribution of inland fisheries to household income in the study area and to determine the contribution of inland fisheries to household food security in the study area. The study was conducted within three districts of the Limpopo Province namely, Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM), Mopani District Municipality (MDM) and Vhembe District Municipality (VDM). Multistage and proportional sampling procedures were used to select 400 participants. In the study, both fishing and non-fishing households were interviewed. The motive behind interviewing non-fishing households is that they are mostly consumers of inland fish. Therefore, snowball and purposive sampling techniques were used to identify households who participate in inland fisheries. Snowball and the Convenient sampling technique were also used to identify the role players of inland fisheries. This was done to obtain information about the roles that households perform along the value chain of inland fisheries. Of the 400 households, about 193 are fishers who play either single or multiple roles within the value chain. A structured questionnaire was therefore used to collect data to achieve the objectives of the study. The collected data was captured on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 27 for analysis. Several analytical tools from SPSS were employed to run the analysis. For instance, the descriptive statistics was used to identify and describe the socio-economic characteristics of households and their different roles and functions played along the inland fisheries value chain in the Limpopo Province. On the other hand, Pearson Chi-square and Pearson Correlation Moment were used to check the relationship between the socio economic characteristics of households and their functions along the inland fisheries value chain. To determine the contribution of inland fisheries to household income, the study calculated the share of both fishing and non-fishing income activities to the total household income of households who only participate in inland fisheries. This was derived by using income share. To check the level of income diversification for fishing households, the study utilised the Simpson Income Diversity index (SID). The Multiple Linear Regression model was used to analyse factors that influence the income of fishing households. To determine the contribution of inland fisheries to household income, two food security measures were used. This includes Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). Data were analysed for both fishing and non-fishing households to check the food security differences. Binary Logistic Regression model was employed to analyse the determinants of rural households’ dietary diversity using HDDS which was grouped into Low dietary diversity and High dietary diversity. Furthermore, Multinomial Logistic Regression model was used to determine the effects of inland fisheries on household food security status. Based on the findings, the study concludes that males dominate inland fisheries activities over females. Fishing is practised for food by both males and females, but there is also an aspect of income generation. Furthermore, most fishers prefer to capture fish at state dams, with Tilapia being the most common species in all the three investigated districts. However, Carp, Bass and Catfish are also amongst the preferred fish species. Additionally, households are likely to consume fish from inland waters at least once a week. The findings also show that selling raw fish contributes more to the overall household income in all the three districts. On average, households in SDM and VDM have a medium level of income diversity, whereas households in MDM have a low level of income diversity. Furthermore, the marital status of the household head, access to credit, and average quantity of fish are among the factors influencing the income of fishing households, whereas level of education, distance to fishing area, and number of years fishing are some of the determinants of dietary diversity. Similarly, gender of the household head, total household income, and type of agricultural activity are some of the significant variables that influence the food security status households in the Limpopo Province. Additionally, the results show that there is a significant difference between the household food security of small-scale fishers, subsistence fishers, recreational fishers and non-fishing households. However, households in SDM and VDM are likely to be mildly food insecure where else households in MDM are likely to be severely food insecure. The study found that rural households in the study area play various roles within the inland fisheries value chain. These roles include input suppliers, fishers, traders, processors, and consumers. Additionally, there is exist a relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the households and their functions along the inland fisheries value chain. Lastly, the study concludes that the value chain of inland fisheries is short due to the lack of exports and formal markets in the study area. To this end, the study recommends that policy makers should recognise inland fisheries as another way of sustaining rural livelihoods translating to income and food security. Moreover, awareness of the inclusion of inland fish in household food and the available opportunities for rural households in the value chain should be given attention by the government and relevant institutions. However, sustainable fishing practices is the central issue that should be prioritised by households under the guidance of the government to maintain a long and lasting livelihoods. / Nationa Research Foundation (NRF)

Thesis (Ph.D. Agricultural (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Regardless of the various measures implemented by the South African government to curb food insecurity, majority of rural households are still experiencing food insecurity at the household level. This could be because of the high unemployment rate that the rural households are experiencing, especially in the Limpopo Province. Despite rural household members exerting frantic efforts to acquire education, most of them still find it difficult to secure jobs, which results in them depending on social grants for a living. Still, social grant money alone is not enough to meet their entire families’ needs, including food acquisition. The aim of the study was to analyse food security looking at four dimensions, namely, food availability, access, utilisation, and stability among rural households of Capricorn and Mopani Districts in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Only two district municipalities in the Limpopo Province, namely, Mopani and Capricorn Districts, were chosen as areas of study. The two district municipalities were chosen because, previous studies and reviews reported that these municipalities are the most affected districts by food insecurity shocks in the Limpopo Province. The study used a cross-sectional survey, where a Multistage sampling procedure was employed. The villages were selected based on probability proportionate to size. The study considered a total of 346 rural households, comprising 173 rural households in each district municipality. A structured questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect data from rural households in the study area. In addition, the collected data was captured using Excel 16. Thereafter, the data was exported to SPSS Version 27 for analysis. Furthermore, to profile the socio-economic characteristics of households, assess food consumption patterns and identify the strategies employed to enhance household food security, descriptive statistics was used. To determine the food security status of rural households in the study areas, the four dimensions of food security were analysed separately. For instance, food availability was analysed using descriptive statistics whereas food accessibility was analysed using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale [HFIAS]. The HFIAS was also used to identify the food security status while Household Dietary Diversity Score [HDDS] was used to measure food utilisation. To measure food stability, a Likert Scale [LS] and descriptive statistics were used. Multiple Linear Regression Models [MRM] were used to determine the factors that influenced rural households’ food security status. On the other hand, the Multinomial Logistic Regression Model [MLRM] was used to examine the determinants of food security among rural households of Capricorn and Mopani district municipalities. The descriptive results established that most rural households from both Mopani District Municipality [MDM] and Capricorn District Municipality [CDM] consume different food groups. In this regard, a minority of rural households are classified as dietary diverse whereas a majority of rural households are still characterised as less dietary diverse due to the limited consumption of different food groups. This reveals that these households range from less food secure to moderate food secure, as illustrated by the food security results. Moreover, the descriptive results also indicated that a majority of rural households in MDM are classified as severely food insecure and that food stability was the component contributing to these households being severely food insecure. As for CDM rural households, the results showed that a majority of these rural households were moderately food insecure with food availability and food stability being the contributing component at CDM. The Multiple linear Regression Model [MRM] results in MDM revealed that the age of the household head, remittances, and access to credit positively influenced food security status. On the other hand, the Multinomial Logistic Regression Model [MLRM] results in MDM revealed that the age of household head, household income greater than R1000, household income between R1099 to R1999, household income between R4000 to R4999, income from salary and access to credit, negatively influence food insecurity status. The Multiple Linear Regression Model confirmed that the male headed households, age of household head, wages, employment status and household income negatively influence food security status in CDM. On the contrary, MLRM results revealed that gender of household head, income from wages, income from salary, old age pension grant, child support grant, household income above R1000 and access to credit for borrowing money positively influenced the food security status of rural households in CDM. In light of this, the study recommends that health practitioners should educate rural households about healthy eating habits and that having a variety of nutritious food type may increase food security. The Department of Agriculture should advise rural households to participate primarily in subsistence farming and that they should focus their agriculture on crops and livestock. This will enable them to enjoy diverse and balanced diets. In addition, the government should empower rural households to participate in development programmes. This may assist households to improve their livelihoods and may also lead to diverse sources of income, which may enhance food security. Furthermore, the government can further assist rural households by providing production inputs (such as seeds/seedlings, fertilizers, and water for irrigation), which may promote food availability, utilisation and accessibility. / NRF-DAAD

The study focused primarily on the socio-economic benefit(s) of land reform beneficiaries with regard to food security. The study further investigated the socio-economic impact of selected land reform projects in the Limpopo Province which is also very critical for many parts of South Africa. Apart from the traditional output based evaluation of land reform projects, the study managed to identify key significant variables that could be the focus in reforming land reform projects in the future. The study also highlights variables that could contribute positively or negatively to the attainment of socio-economic deliverables of the objectives of land reform. The conclusive data for the study was obtained from 170 beneficiaries of the land reform programme. Beneficiaries have benefited from Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development (LRAD) and Settlement Land Acquisition Grant (SLAG) sub-programmes of land reform in the area of Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality within the Greater Sekhukhune District Local Municipality. The Multinomial Logic Model (MLM) was regarded as the best model for data analysis and was used to analyse the degree of contribution of socio-economic factors to food security among beneficiaries of LRAD and SLAG. Three categories were selected to determine the level of beneficiaries satisfaction with food security, namely; 1) None; 2) Moderate and 3) High. Dependent variables selected were 1) Number of beneficiaries, 2) Gender, 3) Farm size/ha, 4) Enterprise, 5) Land reform sub programme, 6) Proximity to the project, 7) Decision, 8) Knowledge, 9) Skills, 10) Training, 11) participation in Development organisation, 12) Sustaining production, and 13) Sustaining financial obligation. The study indicated that the participation of beneficiaries in decision making could contribute positively to the attainment of food security. A positive relationship with food security was determined and confirmed the study hypothesis. Knowledge was also found to have a significant relationship with the attainment of household food security. Knowledge was again found linked to training of beneficiaries which in general was inadequate. The study further revealed that almost all beneficiaries were failing to maintain production and financial obligations. Contrary to the hypothesis, enterprise was not found to be significant to the attainment of beneficiaries’ household food security. v The study concluded that land reform is still relevant to food security in the area. It was also concluded that there is a need to develop a comprehensive agricultural development plan to advance the objective of the land reform programme. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.Sc. (Agriculture)

This study has assessed the welfare shocks and household food Insecurity in Ephraim Mogale and Greater Tubatse municipalities of Sekhukhune district, Limpopo Province in South Africa. The study identified shocks affecting livelihood at household level and also analysed the food insecurity status of households. The study is restricted only to two local municipalities out of five municipalities in Sekhukhune district. Structured questionnaire was administered for data collection. A total of 200 households were involved in the study with 100 households selected from each municipality. Within each municipality several villages were selected for survey through stratified random sampling selection. Data was collected between 10th July and 22nd September 2014. All response from the questionnaires was tabulated and processed with the use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) programme. Three analytical tools were used to achieve the objectives of the study such as, Descriptive statistics, Household Food Insecurity Assessment Scale (HFIAS) and Linear regression model. Majority of households experience different form of shocks in their households. Increase in food prices, high level of livestock disease, drought, death of a household member and chronic illness such as Diabetes, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis are the most important shocks experienced. Approximately 22.2% of households were characterized as being food secure, 32.2% as mildly food insecure, 34.2% as moderately food insecure while 11.4% are severely food insecure. The main determinants of food security from the sample survey were education, unskilled wage labour, grants, pension and disability funds whereby high-level of livestock diseases, illness or accidental loss, death of a household member tends to expose households to higher risk of food insecurity. Policy recommendations are made on promoting education in the rural areas. High priority should be given to industrialization in the district which will in turn boost the rate of employment and also add to the economic growth. Policy measures should be made in supporting people and organizations on how to respond to shocks and stresses experienced in their communities. / Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

The study focused primarily on the socio-economic benefit(s) of land reform beneficiaries with regard to food security. The study further investigated the socio-economic impact of selected land reform projects in the Limpopo Province which is also very critical for many parts of South Africa. Apart from the traditional output based evaluation of land reform projects, the study managed to identify key significant variables that could be the focus in reforming land reform projects in the future. The study also highlights variables that could contribute positively or negatively to the attainment of socio-economic deliverables of the objectives of land reform. The conclusive data for the study was obtained from 170 beneficiaries of the land reform programme. Beneficiaries have benefited from Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development (LRAD) and Settlement Land Acquisition Grant (SLAG) sub-programmes of land reform in the area of Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality within the Greater Sekhukhune District Local Municipality. The Multinomial Logic Model (MLM) was regarded as the best model for data analysis and was used to analyse the degree of contribution of socio-economic factors to food security among beneficiaries of LRAD and SLAG. Three categories were selected to determine the level of beneficiaries satisfaction with food security, namely; 1) None; 2) Moderate and 3) High. Dependent variables selected were 1) Number of beneficiaries, 2) Gender, 3) Farm size/ha, 4) Enterprise, 5) Land reform sub programme, 6) Proximity to the project, 7) Decision, 8) Knowledge, 9) Skills, 10) Training, 11) participation in Development organisation, 12) Sustaining production, and 13) Sustaining financial obligation. The study indicated that the participation of beneficiaries in decision making could contribute positively to the attainment of food security. A positive relationship with food security was determined and confirmed the study hypothesis. Knowledge was also found to have a significant relationship with the attainment of household food security. Knowledge was again found linked to training of beneficiaries which in general was inadequate. The study further revealed that almost all beneficiaries were failing to maintain production and financial obligations. Contrary to the hypothesis, enterprise was not found to be significant to the attainment of beneficiaries’ household food security. v The study concluded that land reform is still relevant to food security in the area. It was also concluded that there is a need to develop a comprehensive agricultural development plan to advance the objective of the land reform programme. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.Sc. (Agriculture)

MRDV / Institute for Rural Development / Subsistence agriculture is regarded as a primary strategy adopted by the rural households for increasing their access to food for their families. Food system options for rural households are mainly through own production and purchase from markets. In some cases people require more than what they produce hence they access food through donations and gifts. The main objective of this study was to determine the contribution of subsistence farming to household food system. The specific objectives were to characterize the rural household food system, analyse the contribution by subsistence farming to rural household food system and to suggest possible strategies that can be used to enhance rural household food system. This study was guided by mixed methods in which quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to collect and analyse data that was collected from the households around various aspects of the household food system. Systematic sampling was applied to select the research respondents. A questionnaire was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. To achieve the overall aim and objectives of the study, data was entered into Microsoft Excel and transferred to Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) vision 24.0. Various tools of SPSS were used to interpreted and make sense of the data collected. Furthermore, descriptive statistics were computed to understand variables constituting the data. Furthermore, Chi square test was performed, with the latter applied to achieve objective two and to analyze the association between subsistence farming and variables related to household food system. Discourse analysis was used to sort, categorize, combine and then interpret results for the qualitative data collected. Subsistence farming in the study area is characterised by low level of production. The main sources of food for households are markets, subsistence production and transfers from other households or public programmes. The main findings indicate that subsistence farmers spent most of their money on market food rather than on own production. The Chi square test P-value results indicate that there is relationship significant (P<0.1) relationship between subsistence farming and quality of harvest and there is insignificant (p=0.123) relationship between subsistence farming income used for household food consumption. Therefore, subsistence farmers’ households should be provided with resources required for farming to increase productivity in the study area. Furthermore, the attributes and dynamics of subsistence agriculture need to be understood by all households in the subsistence farming sector to advance the sector as a possible solution to food system and food security in the study area. / NRF