Boosting smallholder production for food security: some approaches and evidence from studies in sub-Saharan Africa

Matshe, Innocent

doi:10.1080/03031853.2009.9523837

Cited by 29 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Several authors agree that reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty and hunger by 2015 in this region requires giving high priority to smallholder agriculture (Smith, 2004;Matshe, 2009;Tshuma, 2012). A general consensus is that smallholder irrigation remains a feasible and key strategy for achieving improved agricultural production, household food security and rural poverty reduction in the developing world (Kumar, 2003;Lipton et al, 2003;Hussain and Hanjra, 2004;Gebregziabher et al, 2009;Bacha et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of smallholder irrigation on household welfare: The case of Tugela Ferry irrigation scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Sinyolo

Mudhara

Wale

2014

WSA

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The potential of smallholder irrigated agriculture to enhance food security and alleviate rural poverty has led the South African Government to prioritise and invest significantly in irrigation establishment, rehabilitation and revitalisation. The question addressed in this study pertains to the extent to which smallholder irrigation has been able to reduce poverty in the rural communities to justify this investment. Using a sample of 251 farmers, this study found that factors such as land size, perceived soil fertility, household size, and access to support services were significant predictors of irrigation participation. The results from the treatment effect model indicated that access to irrigation plays a positive role in the welfare of rural households, with irrigators spending about ZAR2 000 per adult equivalent on consumption more than the non-irrigators. The study, therefore, concluded that government investments in smallholder irrigation for poverty reduction are justified. The other factors that influenced household consumption were off-farm income, land size, livestock size, education level, family size and access to support services and infrastructure. The study recommends that investments in smallholder irrigation continue for poverty reduction, and that priority should also be on finding other feasible rural micro-projects and development initiatives to complement smallholder irrigation and significantly reduce rural poverty.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of smallholder irrigation on household welfare: The case of Tugela Ferry irrigation scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Sinyolo

Mudhara

Wale

2014

WSA

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“…Most smallholder households in sub-Saharan Africa rely on agriculture for a significant portion of their income; however, productivity is typically low. Enhancing agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers is one strategy for reducing food insecurity and rural poverty (Matshe, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association Between Duration of Community-based Group Membership and Sustainable Livelihoods for Kenyan Women Dairy Farmers

Walton

VanLeeuwen

Yeudall

et al. 2012

JAFSCD

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. Association between duration of community-based group membership and sustainable livelihoods for Kenyan women dairy farmers. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 3(1) AbstractKenyan community leaders called for strengthened sustainable livelihoods for farmers and in 1992 formed a self-help dairy group that was reorganized in 2009 to form the Wakulima Dairy Ltd. (WDL). At WDL, members sell surplus milk to the dairy and, through nongovernmental organization (NGO) partnerships, receive training to enhance dairy farm productivity. As a result, higher milk production has been reported; however, data are lacking on sustainability and livelihood outcomes of dairy training for women farmers. To inform future projects and interventions, our study objectives were to determine the relationships between dairy group membership and duration of membership, sustainable livelihood assets, household income, and food security. We thus conducted a cross-sectional survey of 88 WDL members (among four membership duration groups) and 23 nonmember farmers. Milk production and herd size were higher for greater-thanthree-year members compared to nonmembers and one-to-three-year members. The proportion of households with an income from dairy of greater than 5,000 ksh/month (ranging from 0 to 40 percent), food security (ranging from 4 to 30 percent), and number of improved household characteristics

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“…The extent to which these households worry about food shortage is also different. Likewise, the finding of Matshe (2009) confirmed that in settings where farming is unable to generate viable livelihoods, policy should promote non-covariate, non-agricultural livelihood options. Hence, diversification efforts, which do not erode the livelihood of farmers, are important in ensuring household food security.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Rural Livelihood Strategies and Household Food Security of Farmers Surrounding Derba Cement Factory, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Tesema

Berhanu

2018

Rural Sustainability Research

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This study examined the livelihood strategies and food security situation of rural households around Derba Cement Factory by taking a randomly selected sample of 215 heads of farm households from three rural kebeles. A mixed research approach was employed to triangulate concurrently collected data through household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Informed by the sustainable rural livelihood framework, descriptive statistics were used to describe rural households’ livelihood strategies and challenges they faced while inferential statistics was employed to explain households’ food security situations with different livelihood combinations. While mixed farming was found to be the mainstay of the household economy, small-scale irrigation and extracting forest products were also used as supplementary economic activities. More than a half of the respondents (52.5%) reported at least one non-farm activity. Land shortage was identified as a major constraint to expand crop production and this was further aggravated by the activities (e.g. querying leading to displacement) of the Derba Cement Factory. This further affected household labor allocation and natural resources utilization. The result of household food (in) security access scale indicated that 59% of the respondents have experienced food access insecurity in 2016. However, respondents who combined agriculture and non-farm activities appeared relatively more food secure than those engaged in agriculture alone or in non-farm activity only. Overall, households with multiple livelihood strategies had diverse food entitlements to maintain sustainable food consumption. Yet, necessity induced diversification was found to affect food access security of households. This calls for inclusive policies and strategies that integrate rural non-farm activities to subsistence farming in order to assure sustainable livelihood in rural communities.

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Boosting smallholder production for food security: some approaches and evidence from studies in sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 29 publications

References 14 publications

The impact of smallholder irrigation on household welfare: The case of Tugela Ferry irrigation scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The impact of smallholder irrigation on household welfare: The case of Tugela Ferry irrigation scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Association Between Duration of Community-based Group Membership and Sustainable Livelihoods for Kenyan Women Dairy Farmers

Rural Livelihood Strategies and Household Food Security of Farmers Surrounding Derba Cement Factory, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

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