Climate Change and Food Insecurity Dynamics in the Rural Limpopo Province of South Africa

In the developing nations of the world, poor gross domestic product growth has shown serious vacuum to be filled in order to achieve the sustainable development goals. In that regard, this research article intends to contribute to the sustainable development goals of the United Nation’s goal by explaining the rural food insecurity in the light of climate change dynamic in some selected rural communities of Limpopo Province, South Africa. The data employed in the study were collected from 120 randomly selected rural household heads. Data were analysed with descriptive (frequency, mean etc.) and inferential statistics (Principal component Analysis (PCA), Tobit and Probit Regression) which were properly fitted (P<0.05) for the set research objectives. Descriptive results indicate that the average age of the respondents was 52 years with 60% of the household heads being married and a mean household size of 5.The study concluded that there is climate change effect and food insecurity in the study area and therefore recommended among others that the government of South Africa should endeavour to implement a more rural focused food securityclimate change policies in order to relieve the intensity of food insecurity situations among these disadvantaged rural dwellers of the province as well as to entrench a policy of long term development of agriculture. Finally, the study emphasized that the rural farming households should be enlightened through proper extension services to carry out climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in alleviating the food insecurity situation in the rural communities of the province.&nbsp

Social Protection: A Panacea To Alleviating Poverty In The Republic Of South Africa

This paper examined the effectiveness of Social Protection as means of alleviating poverty in the Townships of Tsakane, Kwa-Thema and Duduza of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of Gauteng Province in South Africa. The study was expected to contribute to the body of knowledge in social protection services as a way of alleviating poverty. Stratified random sampling with a proportional representation method was employed to select 200 respondents. The data collection tool used was simple closed-ended questionnaires.  Interviews were conducted face-to-face with respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data.  Both descriptive (percentage, frequency et.c) and inferential statistics (binary logistic regression) were employed to analyze the collected data. The descriptive result reveals that secondary education was the highest (59, 5%) form of education among the respondents while 42 percent of the respondents have no income. Also the results revealed that 61, 5% of the respondents thought that government assistance made a difference in their welfare while 38, 5% thought otherwise. The binary regression analysis result revealed that the significant variables that had an effect on social protection were: the location of the respondents; their gender; their level of education; the type of dwelling of the respondents; and their income outside farming. The study concluded that assess to social protection is a good panacea to poverty alleviation in the study areas. The study therefore recommends that the significant variables that had an effect on social protection be considered when measures of social protection are implemented. &nbsp

Food Security Situation among South African Urban Agricultural Households: Evidence from Limpopo Province

The challenges posed by risk factors in the urban agricultural sector have been an issue of general concern among various stakeholders and the international communities. This concern is attributable to the negative impacts of food insecurity risk on urban agriculture and socio-economic development of South Africa. This study analyzed the food security situation among urban agricultural households of Limpopo Province using a well-structured questionnaire for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that male respondents were more in the study area with an average age of 46 years. Public tap water was the most used source in the study area with an average monthly income of R 2668.75 recorded. In addition, an average of R1284.75 is expended on food on monthly basis by the agricultural households. Finally, some implications for national food security were drawn from the overall result of the study. It was suggested among other things that interest-free credit should be made available to small scale farmers to enable them to access improved risk (such as health, drought etc.) management technologies. This will help them to contribute more meaningfully to national food security through enhanced productivity

Assessing the Zero Hunger Target Readiness in Africa in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic

Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) is hinged on achieving zero hunger target globally by 2030. Many developing countries, especially African countries, are challenged with extreme hunger that are often caused or compounded by bad governance, conflicts and climate change. In this paper, we assess Africa’s readiness towards attaining the zero hunger target by 2030 in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. Patterns of Global Hunger Index (GHI) and each of its indicators across Africa are compared before the pandemic (2000-2019). The effect of the pandemic on the hunger situation in Africa is discussed by highlighting the mitigating measures put in place by selected African governments. We have found that most African countries have recorded steady reduction in their child mortality rates but high prevalence of undernourishment, stunting and child wasting indicates significant challenges hampering the achievement of the zero hunger target. The study recommends that African governments should prioritize sustainable agricultural practices and give serious attention to the formulation and implementation of policies that reduce hunger against the COVID-19 pandemic

The Growth Enhancement Support Scheme: Productivity and Shortcomings among Rice Farmers in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Increasing access to improved farm inputs at a subsidized rate has urgently become the focus of government programmes. This study therefore examined the effect and shortcomings of GES Scheme on rice farmers’ productivity. A cross-sectional data of 160 smallholder rice farming households was selected through multistage random sampling technique from three major rice-producing local government areas. The total number of communities randomly selected was six. The data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire and the objectives were analysed using descriptive statistics and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index. The results revealed that the average age of the rice farmers in the study area was about 46 years. More male farmers (73.1%) were involved in the Scheme than their female counterparts. Among the registered rice farmers, 58.7 percent received telephone alerts for the subsidized inputs (fertilizer and seeds), but not all the farmers were able to gain access to the inputs due to cash constraint, missing names at the redemption centres, untimely supply, among others. The results from the TFP index showed that the participants were productive. They had an average of 10% net gain from the cost incurred in production. Using the TFP index, it was revealed that rice farmers in Gbonyin local government area are the most (80%) productive among others. It was therefore recommended that timely supply of inputs should be ensured and an efficient monitoring team should be in place to check inadequacies in this Scheme

Effect of Income Diversification on Household’s Income in Rural Oyo State, Nigeria

Analysis of income diversification conceives of diversification in terms of strategies employed to earn cash income in addition to primary production activities from a variety of sources. It is often argued that this is a strategy primarily intended to offset risk. This study focused on analyzing the effects of diversification on household income in rural farming household in Oyo State, Nigeria. The result presented was based on primary data collected from a random sample of 120 households from two Agricultural zones (Ibadan/Ibarapa and Ogbomoso) of Oyo State. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the socioeconomic characteristics such as age, marital status and primary occupation of the respondents while two-stage least square (2 SLS) was employed to determine effect of diversification of income on per household income and income diversification of rural farming household. Results of descriptive statistics revealed that majority of the farmers were married with mean household size and age of 8 persons and 44 years respectively.2SLS showed that number of income source (NIS), share of off-farm income (OFS), Herfindahl Diversification Index (HDI), years of experience and farm size were positively significant to the per capita household income. Selected human capital variables such as years of education, years of vocational training and extension agent contacts have positive significant effect on income diversification of the farmers in the study area.  The study concluded that number of income source and years of education were the major factors affecting per household income and income diversification of rural farming household

Food Security Situation among South African Urban Agricultural Households: Evidence from Limpopo Province

The challenges posed by risk factors in the urban agricultural sector have been an issue of general concern among various stakeholders and the international communities. This concern is attributable to the negative impacts of food insecurity risk on urban agriculture and socio-economic development of South Africa. This study analyzed the food security situation among urban agricultural households of Limpopo Province using a well-structured questionnaire for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that male respondents were more in the study area with an average age of 46 years. Public tap water was the most used source in the study area with an average monthly income of R2668.75 recorded. In addition, an average of R1284.75 is expended on food on monthly basis by the agricultural households. Finally, some implications for national food security were drawn from the overall result of the study. It was suggested among other things that interest-free credit should be made available to small-scale farmers to enable them to access improved risk (such as health, drought etc.) management technologies. This will help them to contribute more meaningfully to national food security through enhanced productivity

Does agricultural cooperative membership impact technical efficiency of maize production in Nigeria: An analysis correcting for biases from observed and unobserved attributes

Publication history: Accepted - 31 December 2020; Published online - 22 January 2021The formation of agricultural cooperatives has been widely promoted as an agricultural development policy initiative to help smallholder farmers cope with multiple production and marketing challenges. Using a nationally representative survey dataset of smallholder maize producers from rural Nigeria, this study assesses the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on technical efficiency (TE). We based our estimation approach on the combination of a newly developed sample selection stochastic production frontier model with propensity score matching to control for possible selectivity biases from both observables and unobservables. We estimate stochastic meta-frontiers to examine TE differences between cooperative members and non-members. Our results reveal that TE levels of members are consistently higher than that of non-members. This calls for continued policy incentives targeted at encouraging farmers to form as well as participate in agricultural cooperatives

What Drives Households’ Payment forWaste Disposal and Recycling Behaviours? Empirical Evidence from South Africa’s General Household Survey

Publication history: Accepted - 22 July 2020; Published - 1 October 2020.Safeguarding the environment and its citizens’ health remains one of the key policy priorities of the governments of many developing and emerging countries. Using the 2017 General Household Survey (GHS) dataset, this study examines the driving factors a ecting households’ recycling behaviour and payment for waste disposal in South Africa. The methods of data analysis were based on descriptive statistics and a Bivariate Probit regression model. The descriptive statistics results indicate that there are 56.29% male-headed and 43.71% female headed households, with an average age of 49 years. In addition, the study shows that 89.97% of household heads had formal education with a mean monthly income of 11,099.07 ZAR/650.504 USD. The study also revealed that 22% of the households sampled had access to social grants. The results from the Bivariate Probit regression model show that household’s income, access to social grants, formal educational attainment and the age of the household were significant (p < 0.01) driving factors a ecting households’ recycling behaviour and payment for waste disposal. The study concludes that the households’ socio-economic factors a ect their recycling behaviour and willingness to pay for waste management in South Africa. Actions targeted at poverty alleviation and environmental sensitization programmes are key for facilitating environmental conservation behaviours of households in South Africa in order to achieve the environmental sustainability Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of the United Nations

Effect of Income Diversification on Household’s Income in Rural Oyo State, Nigeria

Analysis of income diversification conceives of diversification in terms of strategies employed to earn cash income in addition to primary production activities from a variety of sources. It is often argued that this is a strategy primarily intended to offset risk. This study focused on analyzing the effects of diversification on household income in rural farming household in Oyo State, Nigeria. The result presented was based on primary data collected from a random sample of 120 households from two Agricultural zones (Ibadan/Ibarapa and Ogbomoso) of Oyo State. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the socioeconomic characteristics such as age, marital status and primary occupation of the respondents while two-stage least square (2 SLS) was employed to determine effect of diversification of income on per household income and income diversification of rural farming household. Results of descriptive statistics revealed that majority of the farmers were married with mean household size and age of 8 persons and 44 years respectively.2SLS showed that number of income source (NIS), share of off-farm income (OFS), Herfindahl Diversification Index (HDI), years of experience and farm size were positively significant to the per capita household income. Selected human capital variables such as years of education, years of vocational training and extension agent contacts have positive significant effect on income diversification of the farmers in the study area. The study concluded that number of income source and years of education were the major factors affecting per household income and income diversification of rural farming household