- Title
- Exploring the role of livelihood diversification of household food security in Umzimvubu Local Municipality
- Creator
- Tikilili, Noluthando
- Subject
- Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Sustainable agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Food industry and trade -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Date Issued
- 2023-12
- Date
- 2023-12
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66054
- Identifier
- vital:74324
- Description
- The study sought to explore the role of livelihood diversification for household food security in rural communities of Umzimvubu Local Municipality for sustainable development. The study adopted an interpretive paradigm as it gave the researcher appropriate information from a group of participants who better understand the livelihood assets. The qualitative research approach was adopted for the study due to its ability to appreciate the opinions, feelings and experiences of distinct individuals in order to give meaning to their behaviours. To gain better inferences and insights into this phenomenon, the researcher used semi-structured interviews with smallholder farmers who depend on practising farm activities for their livelihoods. The findings of the study revealed that due to retrenchment and the increase in unemployment rate, families are experiencing income inadequacy that has urged rural households to engage mostly in on-farm activities as a way of generating income and supplementing their livelihoods to sustain their families. Additionally, the findings unveiled that the efforts by government as well as non-government stakeholders to mitigate the effects of poverty by introducing the local entrepreneurs to the formal market, were evident. However, there are no consistent and stable programmes and policies to extend the market, or to encourage commercial farmers and smallholder farmers to work together to improve rural economies and transfer the much-needed skills to subsistence farmers. The study recommends that the government should play a leading role in capacitating rural communities and adequate funding should be made available to execute off-farm and non-farm activities to tackle the issues of food security and eliminating poverty. Also, with the emergence of a changing climate, there is a need for the Eastern Cape government to erect irrigation schemes, which can be done to sustain on-farm production and productivity for the rural communities. There is a need for the government to facilitate the introduction of stable and consistent programmes and efficient and effective policies which will enforce the commercial and small-holder farmers to work together and ensure that the much-needed skills and expertise are transferred to the marginalised group whilst improving the rural economy and meeting the market demands.
- Description
- Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Economics, Development and Tourism, 2023
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (xii, 98 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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NMU School for Economics, Development and Tourism
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Tikilili, N.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |