The contribution of municipal commonage to local people's livelihoods in small South African towns
- Authors: Davenport, Nicholas Ashbury
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Land tenure -- South Africa , Land reform -- South Africa , Property -- South Africa , Property rights -- South Africa , Commons -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Natural resources, Communal -- Management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4749 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006976 , Land tenure -- South Africa , Land reform -- South Africa , Property -- South Africa , Property rights -- South Africa , Commons -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Natural resources, Communal -- Management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: To redress past discrepancies in land tenure, the ANC government acknowledged that land needs to be made accessible to the previously disadvantaged, announcing that commonage would be a pillar of their land reform programme. Municipal commonage is land granted by the state to municipalities for urban households to use. Presently many urbanites in South Africa seek a livelihood from commonage. However, there has been no livelihood valuation of the contribution commonage makes to previously disadvantaged households. Thus there is a need to calculate the benefits of the commonage programme. Through a two phase approach, this thesis investigated firstly, the proportion of township households which use commonage; and the main characteristics of those households. Secondly, the thesis looks at the extent to which commonage contributes to users' livelihoods and the dominant livelihood strategies pursued by user households. Data was collected for three towns in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; Bathurst, Fort Beaufort, and Grahamstown. Firstly it was found that between 27-70% of households used commonage, with the largest town having the lowest proportion of users, and vice versa for the smallest town. In terms of household characteristics, each study town was unique. Both Bathurst and Grahamstown user households were poorer than non-using households, however all Fort Beaufort households were considered poor. To assess the benefits of the commonage programme, the marketed and non-marketed consumptive direct-use values of land-based livelihoods on commonage were calculated via the 'own reported values' method. Commonage contributions to total livelihoods ranged between 14-20%. If the contributors from commonage were excluded, over 10% of households in each study town would drop to living below the poverty line. Additionally, commonage was being used productively, with the productivity at each study town being worth over R1 000 per hectare and over R4.7 million per commonage. Finally, a typology of subsistence/survivalist commonage users is presented, with four types being identified. Overall, results suggest that commonage use has increased over the last decade. Moreover, due to food inflation and urbanisation the use of commonage is expected to increase further, highlighting the need for holistic commonage management plans to be created, which should include strategies such as sustainable grazing regimes and natural resource management.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Davenport, Nicholas Ashbury
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Land tenure -- South Africa , Land reform -- South Africa , Property -- South Africa , Property rights -- South Africa , Commons -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Natural resources, Communal -- Management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4749 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006976 , Land tenure -- South Africa , Land reform -- South Africa , Property -- South Africa , Property rights -- South Africa , Commons -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Natural resources, Communal -- Management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: To redress past discrepancies in land tenure, the ANC government acknowledged that land needs to be made accessible to the previously disadvantaged, announcing that commonage would be a pillar of their land reform programme. Municipal commonage is land granted by the state to municipalities for urban households to use. Presently many urbanites in South Africa seek a livelihood from commonage. However, there has been no livelihood valuation of the contribution commonage makes to previously disadvantaged households. Thus there is a need to calculate the benefits of the commonage programme. Through a two phase approach, this thesis investigated firstly, the proportion of township households which use commonage; and the main characteristics of those households. Secondly, the thesis looks at the extent to which commonage contributes to users' livelihoods and the dominant livelihood strategies pursued by user households. Data was collected for three towns in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; Bathurst, Fort Beaufort, and Grahamstown. Firstly it was found that between 27-70% of households used commonage, with the largest town having the lowest proportion of users, and vice versa for the smallest town. In terms of household characteristics, each study town was unique. Both Bathurst and Grahamstown user households were poorer than non-using households, however all Fort Beaufort households were considered poor. To assess the benefits of the commonage programme, the marketed and non-marketed consumptive direct-use values of land-based livelihoods on commonage were calculated via the 'own reported values' method. Commonage contributions to total livelihoods ranged between 14-20%. If the contributors from commonage were excluded, over 10% of households in each study town would drop to living below the poverty line. Additionally, commonage was being used productively, with the productivity at each study town being worth over R1 000 per hectare and over R4.7 million per commonage. Finally, a typology of subsistence/survivalist commonage users is presented, with four types being identified. Overall, results suggest that commonage use has increased over the last decade. Moreover, due to food inflation and urbanisation the use of commonage is expected to increase further, highlighting the need for holistic commonage management plans to be created, which should include strategies such as sustainable grazing regimes and natural resource management.
- Full Text:
The impact of HIV and AIDS on household food security and food acquisition strategies in South Africa
- Authors: Kaschula, S A H
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Food security -- South Africa Food supply -- South Africa AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- South Africa HIV infections -- Social aspects -- South Africa Chronically ill -- Economic conditions -- South Africa Chronically ill -- Social conditions -- South Africa Food -- Social aspects -- South Africa Food -- Economic aspects -- South Africa Rural development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4754 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007137
- Description: How should the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural livelihoods be factored into efforts to monitor and stabilise household food security? With both HIV and AIDS and food security at the top of the global development agenda, this is a question posed by many scholars, practitioners, donor agencies and government departments. However, while there is an excess of discourse outlining the theoretical bases for how HIV and AIDS can, and is, radically transforming household food acquisition; there is a lack of empirical evidence from the South African context that demonstrates if, and how, HIV and AIDS changes household-level strategies of food acquisition and intake. This thesis explores the association of household-level mortality, chronic illness and additional child-dependent fostering with household experience of food security and food acquisition strategies, in three rural villages in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data-collection were applied to 307 households in the three sites. For twelve months, both HIV and AIDS-afflicted and non-afflicted households were repeatedly visited at 3-month intervals, in order to be assessed for levels of food security, dietary intake and method of food procurement (purchased, cultivated, wild or donated). Overall, HIV and AIDS-afflicted households showed a significantly higher experience of food insecurity, probably attributable to shortages in food quantity. Dietary composition and overall diversity, however, was not significantly different. Although households with chronic illness and recent mortality showed a heightened investment in cultivation sources, the success of these strategies were to a great extent mediated by household income, and the level of medical treatment received by those who were chronically ill. Chronic illness was also associated with more donations, but these required considerable investments in social capital networks. Finally, use of wild leafy vegetables was not associated with household HIV and AIDS status, despite the financial, nutritional and labour-saving properties of these foods. Overall, the study suggests that there was little evidence of long-term planning and strategy in household food security responses. There was no evidence for shifts to labour-saving crops or foods and, in some instances, child labour was being used to ameliorate prime-adult labour deficits. Moreover, given that the vast majority (89.2%) of food groups were sourced through purchase, it is questionable whether investing in diverse food acquisition strategies would be advisable. Unless supported by medical treatment and steady earned household income, policies to promote intensified household agricultural subsistence production in the wake of HIV and AIDS are unlikely to provide households with anything more than short-term safety-nets, rather than long-term, sustainable food security solutions.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kaschula, S A H
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Food security -- South Africa Food supply -- South Africa AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- South Africa HIV infections -- Social aspects -- South Africa Chronically ill -- Economic conditions -- South Africa Chronically ill -- Social conditions -- South Africa Food -- Social aspects -- South Africa Food -- Economic aspects -- South Africa Rural development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4754 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007137
- Description: How should the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural livelihoods be factored into efforts to monitor and stabilise household food security? With both HIV and AIDS and food security at the top of the global development agenda, this is a question posed by many scholars, practitioners, donor agencies and government departments. However, while there is an excess of discourse outlining the theoretical bases for how HIV and AIDS can, and is, radically transforming household food acquisition; there is a lack of empirical evidence from the South African context that demonstrates if, and how, HIV and AIDS changes household-level strategies of food acquisition and intake. This thesis explores the association of household-level mortality, chronic illness and additional child-dependent fostering with household experience of food security and food acquisition strategies, in three rural villages in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data-collection were applied to 307 households in the three sites. For twelve months, both HIV and AIDS-afflicted and non-afflicted households were repeatedly visited at 3-month intervals, in order to be assessed for levels of food security, dietary intake and method of food procurement (purchased, cultivated, wild or donated). Overall, HIV and AIDS-afflicted households showed a significantly higher experience of food insecurity, probably attributable to shortages in food quantity. Dietary composition and overall diversity, however, was not significantly different. Although households with chronic illness and recent mortality showed a heightened investment in cultivation sources, the success of these strategies were to a great extent mediated by household income, and the level of medical treatment received by those who were chronically ill. Chronic illness was also associated with more donations, but these required considerable investments in social capital networks. Finally, use of wild leafy vegetables was not associated with household HIV and AIDS status, despite the financial, nutritional and labour-saving properties of these foods. Overall, the study suggests that there was little evidence of long-term planning and strategy in household food security responses. There was no evidence for shifts to labour-saving crops or foods and, in some instances, child labour was being used to ameliorate prime-adult labour deficits. Moreover, given that the vast majority (89.2%) of food groups were sourced through purchase, it is questionable whether investing in diverse food acquisition strategies would be advisable. Unless supported by medical treatment and steady earned household income, policies to promote intensified household agricultural subsistence production in the wake of HIV and AIDS are unlikely to provide households with anything more than short-term safety-nets, rather than long-term, sustainable food security solutions.
- Full Text:
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