The impact of government agricultural development support on agricultural income, production and food security of beneficiary small-scale farmers in South Africa

Abstract

Enormous Literature indicates that agriculture remains a source of livelihood for about 86% of rural people and generates job opportunities for approximately 1.3 billion small-scale farmers and landless workers. Over the past couple of years, the South African government has been offering varied support to households that are engaged in small-scale farming to improve their livelihoods, income and food security. Although the various rounds of the General Households Survey (GHS) gathered information on the type of agricultural support received by the farmers about their food production, agricultural income and food security status, there is still limited pragmatic evidence on the extent to which programme is yielding the intended results. The main aim of the study was to use GHS data spanning the period 2013 to 2016 to assess how government agricultural development support influences the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in South Africa. Using both descriptive analyses with Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Logistics estimations, the result of the study indicates that the proportion of households who have access to the agricultural development support have decreased marginally by two percent from 16% in 2013 to 14% in 2016. The study also reveals that agriculture development assistance given by the South African government is effective in reducing food insecurity, improving agricultural production and income of the beneficiary small-scale farmers. Following the observed marked gender, racial and geographical differences in households’ access to the agricultural development support, the Ministry of Agriculture and its allied ministries and departments responsible for the implementation of the agricultural development support programmes must streamline policies to account for the lack of support to farmers in general. Addressing such differences is necessary to ensure that the programme achieves its intended overall objectives.