The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Local Economic Development (LED) in alleviating poverty in Nkonkobe Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province, a municipality that is predominantly rural in nature and also stricken by poverty. The research objectives were; to explore the implementation of LED strategies, to assess the degree to which various spheres of government work collaboratively to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in development planning; and to evaluate the extent to which job opportunities have been created as a result of LED practices in the municipality. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative research approach was utilised. The sample was selected using a purposive sampling technique whereby individuals who are directly involved in integrated development planning and LED planning were targeted. Those who met this criterion were considered suitable for providing relevant information regarding the implementation of LED in Nkonkobe Local Municipality. Based on the literature review presented in chapter 2, LED can be perceived as an integrated, multidisciplinary approach that seeks to alleviate poverty through pro-poor economic growth by promoting economic development initiatives in municipalities. Moreover, the legislative framework presented in the same chapter reveals that the South African government has employed various strategies in the implementation of LED in local communities. The study showed that the Nkonkobe Local Municipality LED strategy has limited impact on poverty alleviation due to a myriad of factors which reinforce and interact with each other, thereby limiting development and thus trapping residents in poverty. The findings suggest that there is significant room for a paradigm shift from predominantly pro-growth LED to pro-poor LED, and the need to adopt a comprehensive LED strategy that seeks to include both pro-growth and pro-poor strategies.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management)) Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / In the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, there is a need to supplement income for farmers and to create employment to assist in the alleviation of poverty. Agritourism has been identified as an opportunity for growth and development as it has the potential to meet those needs. A study was undertaken to evaluate the nature of Agritourism in Buffalo City Municipality. The research was undertaken to investigate the characteristics of farms; demographic information of farmers; details of the type of farming and/or other relevant income-generating activities that are being undertaken; and the resources available. The study also included research into the activities that farmers would like to introduce on to farms; resources required and obstacles preventing farmers from developing Agritourism; and assistance required in developing Agritourism knowledge and skills. Data was collected from farmers in BCM. Non-probability, purposive, snowball sampling was used due to the lack of an adequate database of rural land ownership in BCM although this did not lead to a sample that was representative of the population, it was the most suitable for the study. Thirty-six farmers were visited by fieldworkers who administered structured questionnaires. The data was then analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

Despite phenomenal success of the commercial agricultural sector in South Africa and significant progress in integrating smallholders since democratic reforms, food security concerns remain. Recent global increases in food prices have further exacerbated vulnerabilities and made it imperative to examine alternative food production questions in the country. Organic agriculture is identified as one of the sustainable approaches to farming and offers insights towards a paradigm shift in food and nutritional security. Notwithstanding, consumer awareness, knowledge and consumption of organic foods are significantly lower in developing than developed countries. Risks associated with adoption of organic practices need to be explored to address the supply and demand constraints. Similarly, while consumer awareness of organic foods is the first step in developing demand for organic products, it does not necessarily translate to consumption. Therefore it is important to investigate these issues. The objectives of this study were to: (i) describe the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of organic farmers and consumers; (ii) establish the determinants of farmers‘ decision to participate in organic farming distinguishing between the fully-certified organic, partially-certified organic and non-organic farmers; (iii) elicit farmers risk preferences and empirically analyse farmers sources of risk and risk management strategies; (iv) explore consumer awareness, perceptions and attitudes regarding organic products; and (v) identify the factors that influence consumer‘s preference and consumption of organic products. A total of 400 respondents were surveyed, consisting of 200 smallholder farmers in KwaZulu-Natal and 200 consumers in the Eastern Cape. The KwaZulu-Natal study was conducted earlier and identified the following as major sources of risk, lack of consumer awareness of organic products and lack of information among producers about consumer preferences for organic products. This informed the need to undertake a consumer awareness and preference study, in order to inform producers. The Eastern Cape is a bordering province to KwaZulu-Natal with similar socio economic conditions and a major consumer of produce from KwaZulu-Natal. It was also expected that in the intervening period there could have been awareness about the product. An vii indication of its appeal would not be in the consumption of the product by the people who grow it, but by consumers who reside in bordering regions. Producer and household questionnaires were used to record household activities, socio-economic and institutional data as well as household demographics through personal interviews. The Arrow Pratt Absolute Risk Aversion (APARA) coefficient was used to measure the farmer‘s degree of risk aversion and the experimental gambling approach to establish the risk classification. Consumers were also asked about their awareness and knowledge about organics, attitudes and perceptions towards organics, preference and consumption patterns. The ordered probit results indicate that older farmers, who are less risk averse and reside in the sub-ward Ogagwini, Ezigani, and Hwayi were more likely to be certified organic farmers. Similarly, the propensity to adopt organic farming is positively correlated to household size, livestock ownership, asset base and tenure security. The risk analysis indicates that at higher pay-offs most farmers are intermediate to moderately risk-averse, with little variation according to personal characteristics, and that non-organic farmers tend to be more risk averse than fully-certified and partially-certified farmers. In general, price, production and financial risks were perceived as the most important sources of risk. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), seven principal components (PCs) explaining 66.13% of the variation were extracted. Socio economic factors having a significant effect on the various sources of risk are age, gender, education, location, information access and risk taking ability. The most important traditional risk management strategies used by the surveyed farmers are crop diversification, precautionary savings and participating in social networks. There was general awareness of what constituted organic foods with many consumers associating organic foods with health and nutrition, chemical free and produced using indigenous methods of production. However, there was low awareness of organic products among consumers with little or no knowledge of organic certification and standards. According to the logit model the major factors influencing consumer awareness of organic products are: gender, education, employment status, and location of the respondents, person/household member responsible for shopping and the price perception of the decision maker. The discriminant analysis showed that the consumption of organic products is significantly affected by age of the consumer, viii location, person/household member responsible for shopping, consumer awareness of organics, price perception and label trust. The findings from this study provides useful practical insights for policy makers, farm advisers and researchers in the design of effective and efficient policies, programmes and projects which can affect the adoption of organic practices, increase smallholder farmers capacity to manage risk and drive growth in the organic food market.

Local Economic Development has (LED) become essential in the ever changing global economy. It is seen as a sustainable substitute to traditional development approaches in a dynamic global environment characterised by the emergence of local political players and territorial governance. The research investigated to what extent the implementation of Local Economic Development strategies have turn to be necessary and viable in improving the social and economic state of people in lntsika Yethu Local Municipality. The population for the study was council employees, the mayoral committee and councillors of the lntsika Yethu Local Municipality. The study unity was limited to lntsika Yethu Municipal area. Convenience sampling method or theoretical sampling method was used for the sampling purposes. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was gathered through the completion of the questionnaire and through focus group interviews using the same set of questions in the questionnaire.

This study investigated the impact of government support on growth, survival and performance of agricultural cooperatives in selected areas of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The objectives of this empirical study were to examine (1) the impact of government support on growth of cooperatives, (2) assess the impact of government support on the performance of cooperatives, (3) reviewing the impact of government support on survival of cooperatives. A total sample of 157 agricultural cooperatives which consisted of poultry, maize, goat, nursery, sheep and vegetable coops was used. Stratified random sampling technique was used and a self-administered questionnaire used to gather primary data. The primary data of the study was gathered from the cooperatives managers only as they were the targeted respondents. Gathered data went through factor analysis, anova test and correlation analysis for the statistical analysis purposefully to arrive in study findings and conclusion. The findings of the study drawn from the 66% response rate concluded that government support has a statistical significant impact on growth of cooperatives. The study also indicated that government support has a significant impact on the survival of cooperatives. It is also reported that the performance of cooperatives is significantly impacted positively by government support. The findings of the study also indicated that agricultural cooperatives are not satisfied with the present government support.

Through collaborative monitoring and case study comparison, this thesis explores conceptual and methodological approaches to monitoring transitions toward adaptive co-management. In so doing, a number of knowledge gaps are addressed. Firstly, conceptual and methodological frameworks are developed for monitoring transitions toward adaptive co-management. Secondly, a conceptual and practical approach to monitoring the processes of collaboration and learning is developed and tested. Thirdly, a conceptual and practical approach to monitoring the governance outcomes of adaptive co-management is developed and tested. Fourthly, a conceptual and practical approach to monitoring the livelihood outcomes of adaptive co-management is developed and tested. Based on the outcomes from these four components of the study, this thesis explores the ways in which transitions toward adaptive co-management might be initiated under the resource poor conditions that characterise South Africa's communal areas. The four case studies explored in the study are described as 'resource poor' in terms of institutional capacity, ecosystem productivity and social vulnerability. From a resilience perspective these case studies can be described as being in the re-organisation phase of the adaptive cycle following multiple disturbances over time, largely due to South Africa's historical 'separate development' policies. Scholars have suggested that it is in this re-organisation phase that innovation and novelty might occur. The lens of social learning is applied to analyse collaborative processes within these contexts. Results indicate that the institutional innovation necessary for transitions toward adaptive co-management relies on careful facilitation by an 'honest broker'. Equally important is finding a balance between maintaining key individuals and knowledge holders within decision making networks, and preventing rigidity and vulnerability within communities of practice. The results point to an over simplification in the rhetoric that currently surrounds the learning outcomes of multi level networks. The governance outcomes of the initiatives are explored through the lenses of adaptive governance, social capital, adaptive capacity and self-organisation. Results indicate that under resource poor conditions creating the conditions that facilitate self-organisation is the major challenge facing transformations toward adaptive governance. Long term access to reliable information and capacity and financial support for adaptive management are key constraining variables. The livelihood outcomes of the initiatives are analysed through the lens of resilience and diversification. Results suggest that flexibility, rather than livelihood diversity, is the key livelihood strategy employed by households in situations were options are limited. Interventions that enhance opportunities for households to specialise in situ by actively dealing with structural constraints, such as access to markets and credit, is vital to encouraging innovation during transitions toward adaptive co-management. Based on the results from monitoring, this study identifies key focus areas that require a great deal more attention if transitions toward adaptive co-management are to be initiated under resource poor conditions.

International awareness and demands for the protection of the environment by the public on industry has only been pushed into the limelight in the past couple of decades. Prior to this it could be argued that it was accepted that environmental protection and economic development were at odds. However it has since been recognised that there is a need to achieve environmental sustainability, the concept of which was released in the 1987 Brundtland Report released by the United Nations. There are a number of ways that industry can reduce its impact on the environment and thus help reach this goal. While some advocated that stricter legislation would result in greater innovation by industry in “cleaning-up” its act, such as the Porter Hypothesis, there were also a number of new concepts and voluntary industry codes being developed. These new practices and codes have been promoted by organisations such as the International Chamber of Commerce and include technological improvements within organisations and improved resource productivity. The aim of this case study research was to find out what the environmental policy and related performance of Summerpride Foods Ltd, a pineapple processing factory in East London was and does an understanding of its environmental performance provide insights for improved efficiency. This involved the identification and analysis of what resources were used during the processing of pineapples as well as making recommendations that would result in increased efficiencies of their use. Due to the number of resources identified, only the use of water and coal which were ranked as having the highest impact were investigated further. The literature review showed that there are industry moves to applying cleaner production and eco-efficiency concepts as a means to attaining environmental sustainability. There are a number of voluntary environmental management system standards and codes that organisations can subscribe to with most probably the ISO 14001 standard being the most internationally recognised. There are many benefits to organisations adopting such standards. The use of lifecycle assessments is a useful tool that can be used to assess the environmental impact of a product through its entire life and thus enable one to identify all resources used and their impact, as well as to provide the information required to quantify areas where the greatest improvements can be made. The results of this research showed that at the start of the study, there was no formal environmental policy in place at Summerpride Foods Ltd and that this was starting to become a requirement with some customers. The detailed results which focused on water and coal usage showed that current operating methods do not recognise the importance of any wastage and that there are a number of changes that could be made that would not only result in better efficiency of use but would also result in substantial financial savings to the organisation. Summerpride Foods Ltd currently has a number of systems in place that help reduce its impact on the environment but these are not formally recorded. Summerpride Foods Ltd should adopt the principles of eco-efficiency and record all systems that impact on the environment. This would be the first step to attaining a formal environmental management system accreditation which due the increasing competitiveness of the international market in which Summerpride Foods Ltd operates, would give it a degree of advantage over those competing pineapples processing factories that do not have such accreditation.

This research investigates cases of learning pathways for improving rehabilitation practices for key occupations in the mining industry. The study is set up as a partnership research programme between Rhodes University Environmental Learning Research Centre in South Africa, and the South African Qualification Authority, focussing on workplace learning and sustainability practices. This research programme seeks to understand the implications of the move to a knowledge society, with its emphasis on knowledge building over time, particularly in and for the environmental sector. The research was conducted as a qualitative case study that made use of semi-structured interviews, document analysis, visual photographs and observations as instruments of data gathering. Participants were sampled from two case studies, one in Limpopo province and the other one in Mpumalanga Province, who are directly involved in rehabilitation practices and related education and training programmes. The study makes use of career stories from the key occupations to provide insight into workplace learning pathways to inform education and training in the mining industry. A series of analytical statements captures some of the main findings on early education histories, career choices, learning pathway decisions and experiences related to sustainable practices and some complexities related to learning pathways. Environment and sustainability education is a cross-cutting issue in the NQF; and it pertains to the mining sector, especially to rehabilitation practices, which form the focus of this study as little is known about learning pathways associated with these sustainability practices. Insights from the study should enable the sector to enhance rehabilitation training for key occupations and at the same time encourage lifelong learning contributing towards sustainable development.

It is evident that natural fish stocks are in rapid decline and that millions of people around the world rely on these resources for food and for securing a livelihood. This has brought many social scientists, biologists and fisheries experts to acknowledge that communities need to take more control in managing their natural resources. The paradigm shift in fisheries management from a top-down resource orientated control to a participatory people-centred control is now being advocated in many maritime nations in facilitating community-based natural resource management. At the heart of these projects is the establishment of institutions and social networks that allow for clear communication and information sharing, based on scientific data and traditional knowledge which ultimately allow empowered communities to collectively manage their resources in partnership with government, market actors and many other stakeholders. Central to the problem is the issue of access rights. In many situations where co-management of natural resources through community-government partnerships is advocated, the failure of coastal states to provide adequate legislature and regulatory frameworks has jeopardised such projects. A second issue is the failure of many states to provide adequate investments in social and human capital which will enable communities to become the primary stakeholder in the co-management of their natural resources. Whilst investments like capacity building, education, skills training and development, communications and institution building can initially require high financial investments, the regulatory costs for monitoring, controlling and surveying fish stocks along the coastline will go down as communities take ownership of their resources under sustainable awareness. The main unit of investment therefore is social capital which allows for the increase in trust, cooperativeness, assertiveness, collective action and general capabilities of natural resource governance. High levels of social capital require good social relations and interactions which ultimately create a social network of fishers, community members and leaders, government officials, market players, researchers and various other stakeholders. Co-management thus has an inherent network structure made up of social relations on a horizontal scale amongst community members as well as on a vertical scale with government and fisheries authorities. These bonding relations between people and the bridging relations with institutions provide the social capital currency that allows for a successful co-management solution to community-based natural resource governance. The South African coastline is home to thousands of people who harvest the marine resources for food security and securing a basic income. Fishing is a major cultural and historical component of the livelihoods of many people along the coastline, particularly along the Wild Coast of South Africa located on its South-eastern shoreline. Due to the geopolitical nature of South Africa’s apartheid past many people were located in former tribal lands called Bantustans. The Transkei, one of the biggest homelands, is home to some of South Africa’s poorest people, many of whom rely on the marine resources. By 1998 the government sought to acknowledge the previously unrecognised subsistence sector that lived along the South African coastline with the promulgation of the Marine Living Resources Act. The act sought to legalise access rights for fishers and provide opportunities for the development of commercial fisheries. The act and many subsequent policies largely called for co-management as a solution to the management of the subsistence sector. This thesis largely explains the administrative and legislative difficulties in transporting the participatory components of co-management to the ground level. As such co-management has largely remained in rhetoric whilst the government provides a contradictory policy regarding the management of subsistence and small-scale fishers. This thesis attempts to provide qualitative ethnographic research of the East Coast Rock Lobster fishery located in a small fishing village in the Transkei. The fishery falls somewhere on the spectrum between the small-scale and subsistence sector as there are a basket of high and low value resources being harvested. It will be argued that in order to economically and socially develop the fishery the social capital and social networks of the community and various stakeholders needs to be analysed in order to effectively create a co-management network that can create a successful collective management of natural resources thereby sustaining these communities in the future.

In South Africa the economic gaps imposed by the previous apartheid government aggravated economic inequalities and caused considerable disparities, which has resulted in high unemployment rates. Inequalities were also manifest in the neglect of infrastructural and service provision as well in the effective absence of independent governance among some race groups. This led to a call for pro-active initiatives by the post-1994 democratic government to remedy the living condition of the previously disadvantage people. As part of this poverty relief drive the South African government has embarked on a series of developmental initiatives in bringing infrastructure related service to the poor and to reduce the enormous prevailing backlog, with the aim of increasing community participation, improving service delivery and promoting the upliftment of the lives of poor people through the medium of local governance. This study investigated the integrated Development Planning, which has been undertaken in Cookhouse in Blue Crane Route Municipality in the Eastern Cape to respond to the prevailing poverty and underdevelopment among the poor communities.