8 research outputs found

    CREATING AGRIBUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN THABA NCHU BY INTRODUCING WATER HARVESTING TECHNIQUES: A PROFITABILITY AND RISK ANALYSIS

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    Thaba Nchu is a semi-arid area with low and erratic annual rainfall not exceeding 600mm. Various dryland crops are produced with relatively low yields and high risk of failure. Lack of appropriate technology and other constraints has led to most of the arable land being unused thus restricting agribusiness opportunities in an area where unemployment and food insecurity are thriving. Rainwater harvesting has a huge potential to increase crop yields in Thaba Nchu and reduce the risk of losses, and thus improve food security and enhance sustainability. Different in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) techniques have been tested and applied at Glen and Thaba Nchu. This paper gives comparative results for three crops produced with regard to relative profitability and risk of failure. This is done by integrating crop enterprise budgets with crop yield simulations models to calculate per hectare profits over an 81-year period and developing and analyzing cumulative probability functions.Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

    Enhancing food and livelihood security in the context of the food and financial crisis: challenges and opportunities for small scale rainwater harvesting and conservation

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    The world recently experienced the food and financial crisis. The food crisis was an indicator of the challenges towards sufficiently feeding an increasing world population. Food production through rainfed and irrigated agriculture account for the bulk of the freshwater used globally but the water is still sufficient to meet the MDG goal on hunger reduction. Agricultural water management is thus an important challenge for feeding humanity; creates the need to find sustainable methods of managing water that will include all water users. Some of these methods include rainwater harvesting which has great potential in increasing food production as compared to irrigation. This paper aims to identify challenges and opportunities for small scale rainwater harvesting in enhancing food and livelihoods security. Given the large array of practices that are classified as rainwater harvesting, infield rainwater harvesting (IRWH) developed and mainly practised in the Free State Province, South Africa is used. The technique has been in use in villages around Thaba Nchu for a couple of years. Previous studies have shown that the technique increased yield significantly, reduced risk and thus improved household food security. The paper traces the evolution of the technique based of previous studies and recent data, to identify the potential and challenges faced by adopting households. It is concluded that IRWH has great potential to improve household food security as well as contribute to sustainable rural livelihoods mainly as it can reduce dependence on market sourced food supplies.food security, livelihoods, rainwater harvesting, household, yield, Food Security and Poverty, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

    The contribution of subsistence farming to food security in South Africa

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    Poor households access their food from the market, subsistence production and transfers from public programmes or other households. In the past rural households produced most of their own food, but recent studies have shown an increase in dependence on market purchases by both urban and rural households, in some cases reaching 90% of the food supplies. Food expenditures can account for as much as 60–80% of total household income for low-income households in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Subsistence/smallholder agriculture can play an important role in reducing the vulnerability of rural and urban food-insecure households, improving livelihoods, and helping to mitigate high food price inflation. There is a need to significantly increase the productivity of subsistence/smallholder agriculture and ensure long-term food security. This can be achieved by encouraging farmers to pursue sustainable intensification of production through the use of improved inputs. This will require a dramatic increase in the use of fertiliser, organic inputs and conservation investments, combined with the development of well-functioning input and output markets to help farmers acquire and use improved inputs, market their (surplus) output and reduce transaction costs and risks. Increased productivity will reduce pressure on marginal lands, as the intensification of cultivated land will reduce pressure to crop fragile marginal lands. There is a need to determine methods of identifying cost-effective ways to improve access to inputs by, among other things, improving delivery, and assisting farmers to earn cash to purchase inputs and invest in infrastructure, thereby improving food security.subsistence farming, livelihoods, agro-food markets, farm inputs, food security, Consumer/Household Economics,

    The contribution of subsistence farming to food security in South Africa

    No full text
    Poor households access their food from the market, subsistence production and transfers from public programmes or other households. In the past rural households produced most of their own food, but recent studies have shown an increase in dependence on market purchases by both urban and rural households, in some cases reaching 90% of the food supplies. Food expenditures can account for as much as 60–80% of total household income for low-income households in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Subsistence/smallholder agriculture can play an important role in reducing the vulnerability of rural and urban food-insecure households, improving livelihoods, and helping to mitigate high food price inflation. There is a need to significantly increase the productivity of subsistence/smallholder agriculture and ensure long-term food security. This can be achieved by encouraging farmers to pursue sustainable intensification of production through the use of improved inputs. This will require a dramatic increase in the use of fertiliser, organic inputs and conservation investments, combined with the development of well-functioning input and output markets to help farmers acquire and use improved inputs, market their (surplus) output and reduce transaction costs and risks. Increased productivity will reduce pressure on marginal lands, as the intensification of cultivated land will reduce pressure to crop fragile marginal lands. There is a need to determine methods of identifying cost-effective ways to improve access to inputs by, among other things, improving delivery, and assisting farmers to earn cash to purchase inputs and invest in infrastructure, thereby improving food security

    CREATING AGRIBUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN THABA NCHU BY INTRODUCING WATER HARVESTING TECHNIQUES: A PROFITABILITY AND RISK ANALYSIS

    No full text
    Thaba Nchu is a semi-arid area with low and erratic annual rainfall not exceeding 600mm. Various dryland crops are produced with relatively low yields and high risk of failure. Lack of appropriate technology and other constraints has led to most of the arable land being unused thus restricting agribusiness opportunities in an area where unemployment and food insecurity are thriving. Rainwater harvesting has a huge potential to increase crop yields in Thaba Nchu and reduce the risk of losses, and thus improve food security and enhance sustainability. Different in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) techniques have been tested and applied at Glen and Thaba Nchu. This paper gives comparative results for three crops produced with regard to relative profitability and risk of failure. This is done by integrating crop enterprise budgets with crop yield simulations models to calculate per hectare profits over an 81-year period and developing and analyzing cumulative probability functions

    Enhancing food and livelihood security in the context of the food and financial crisis: challenges and opportunities for small scale rainwater harvesting and conservation

    No full text
    The world recently experienced the food and financial crisis. The food crisis was an indicator of the challenges towards sufficiently feeding an increasing world population. Food production through rainfed and irrigated agriculture account for the bulk of the freshwater used globally but the water is still sufficient to meet the MDG goal on hunger reduction. Agricultural water management is thus an important challenge for feeding humanity; creates the need to find sustainable methods of managing water that will include all water users. Some of these methods include rainwater harvesting which has great potential in increasing food production as compared to irrigation. This paper aims to identify challenges and opportunities for small scale rainwater harvesting in enhancing food and livelihoods security. Given the large array of practices that are classified as rainwater harvesting, infield rainwater harvesting (IRWH) developed and mainly practised in the Free State Province, South Africa is used. The technique has been in use in villages around Thaba Nchu for a couple of years. Previous studies have shown that the technique increased yield significantly, reduced risk and thus improved household food security. The paper traces the evolution of the technique based of previous studies and recent data, to identify the potential and challenges faced by adopting households. It is concluded that IRWH has great potential to improve household food security as well as contribute to sustainable rural livelihoods mainly as it can reduce dependence on market sourced food supplies

    Quantifying the impact of in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) production techniques on household food security for communal farmers in Thaba Nchu, Free State Province

    No full text
    The paper investigates the impact of employing in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) production techniques on household food security for communal farmers in Thaba Nchu, by estimating the minimum area of land that a representative household needs to cultivate in order to meet its requirements. First, using a poverty datum line for South Africa, annual income required by an average household for food and other basic necessities (shelter and clothes) is calculated, given a specific level of non-farm income for a typical household in the study area. Second, the caloric requirement for an average household's is estimated by using the daily caloric requirement of each member of the household. The household uses its income from non-farm sources to purchase food and where necessary supplemented with income from the sale of non-food agricultural production. In both cases minimum farm size is influenced by output levels and by profitability of crop production under IRWH techniques

    Quantifying the impact of in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) production techniques on household food security for communal farmers in Thaba Nchu, Free State Province

    No full text
    The paper investigates the impact of employing in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) production techniques on household food security for communal farmers in Thaba Nchu, by estimating the minimum area of land that a representative household needs to cultivate in order to meet its requirements. First, using a poverty datum line for South Africa, annual income required by an average household for food and other basic necessities (shelter and clothes) is calculated, given a specific level of non-farm income for a typical household in the study area. Second, the caloric requirement for an average household's is estimated by using the daily caloric requirement of each member of the household. The household uses its income from non-farm sources to purchase food and where necessary supplemented with income from the sale of non-food agricultural production. In both cases minimum farm size is influenced by output levels and by profitability of crop production under IRWH techniques.Food Security and Poverty,
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