Abstract:
The Siyazondla Homestead Food Production Programme (SHFPP) was implemented in the Amathole District Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province to support homestead food production for improved household food security and possible household income purposes. The expectation was that land sizes and complementary extension support would increase food production of beneficiaries. The purpose of this report was to evaluate the impact of SHFPP in improving food security and socio-economic conditions of the benefiting households in Amathole District. A structured questionnaire was administered to a total of 212 farmers using simple random sampling, from which 132 were the beneficiaries of SHFPP and 80 were non-beneficiaries from Amahlathi and Raymond Mhlaba local municipalities under Amathole District. A total of 10 extension officers who were involved in the programme were purposively sampled and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Primary data was coded on Microsoft Excel and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 24.
Findings showed that 83.3% of the beneficiaries were females, and the mean age of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was 47.4 and 46.6 years respectively. The mean household size of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was 5.12 and 5.18 household members respectively. The study showed that the Siyazondla programme has improved the food security of beneficiary households, by increasing the availability and access to fresh vegetables when compared to non-benefiting households. Household food insecurity decreased from 30.2% during 2017/18 to 23.6% during 2018/19.
Seventy-three of the beneficiaries perceived a major improvement in food production due to the programme, with Amahlathi having the highest proportion of beneficiaries (81.8%) who shared this perception. A possible reason for this may be the relatively higher input access and extension support experienced in this municipality compared to Raymond Mhlaba. Although the agricultural production has improved due to the Siyazondla programme, only 35.8% of beneficiaries indicated that they sell surplus fresh produce mainly on local markets (58%) and to family members (46%). However, all the non-beneficiaries in both municipalities were not able to sell on-farm produce since it was entirely used to sustain household food security.
The main challenges facing the programme included the lack of funding, low access to production inputs and lack of market opportunities for beneficiaries. Although one of the objectives of SHFPP was to increase access to extension services, 91.7% of the beneficiaries experienced no or little improvement in access to agricultural extension services. This should be a concerning observation to the staff in the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform who is responsible for the implementation of the programme.
Some of the key recommendations made are as follows: (i) SHFPP should be integrated into the Provincial Growth and Development Plans and (ii) the selection criteria of eligible beneficiaries should be revised to also include more young people into the programme; (iii) strengthening the linkages with other stakeholders in the programme to improve the coordination between role players; (iv) funding opportunities should be considered to address the current challenges with regard to impact; (v) political interference should be minimised.
