Food security and self-sufficiency in the rural areas has been and remains a major concern for the South African government. The study aimed to investigate farmer’s perception of factors influencing small-scale vegetable production in Tsengiwe village in the Eastern Cape. The research focus was on the following aspects that may have an influence on small-scale vegetable production: socio-economic factors, production and resource deficiencies and the impact of indigenous leafy vegetables. The researcher conducted several demonstration workshops during the field work. The pilot studies and community engagements were essential to extract knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of indigenous or local communities. The action research was part of the reflective process of broadminded problem solving led by researcher and community. The research approach used a triangulation research method to extract information, whereby both quantitative and qualitative research was used to ensure greater accuracy. The main data collection was obtained from interviews with small-scale farming households in the Tsengiwe area. The study revealed that households were dependent on elderly female pensioners to source food and water. These women received most of their income from social grants and were mainly responsible for all farming activities in the households. Most households attempted to produce vegetables, although food security and self-sufficiency through own production was rarely achieved.Other perceived farming challenges included: lack of market accessibility, irrigation infrastructure, drought, financial limitations and soil degradation. Indigenous leafy vegetables were found to play a nutritional role in times of food shortage and not as much for their medicinal value. The study recommended the following interventions: Support for the elderly women in development and production practices, interventions to address factors affecting vegetable production, improving soil structure, working towards food self-sufficiency, moving away from dependence on mechanisation in rural farming.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:28210 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Gqibityala, Akhona |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Science |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MTech |
| Format | xiv, 133 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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