Repository logo

Doctoral Degrees (Food Security)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/6609

Browse

Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Food Security) by Author "Chitja, Joyce Magoshi."

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Exploring agricultural knowledge systems and smallholder farmers empowerment: implication on household food security.
    (2020) Tamako, Nthabeleng.; Chitja, Joyce Magoshi.
    The association between the various actors of knowledge and the generation of common knowledge is expanding in agricultural sector. Smallholder farmers engages in multiple informative networks both formal and informal knowledge systems. These heterogeneous networks expose farmers to diverse agricultural knowledge. To assess their effect on the empowerment and food security of farmers, it is important to categorise the information and knowledge structures that are accessible to farmers. Firstly, the agricultural knowledge systems and the types of knowledge that occur in smallholder farmers. Secondly, by identifying the opinion leaders’ social networks and their influence on the quality of agricultural knowledge. Thirdly, by assessing the agricultural knowledge systems in relation to farmers’ empowerment levels and food security. The study was guided by the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) and knowledge systems. The SLF identifies five capitals that can be classified as tangible and intangible and referred to as capabilities. The study argues that while building the smallholder farmers’ asset base through existing systems, it is important to categorise active knowledge systems, identify opinion actors within these networks and measure the level of empowerment brought about through these systems. A purposive sampling method was employed to collect data from 219 smallholder farmers. A descriptive analysis was used, a Chi-square test and running ordered probit and multinomial models. The study indicated that knowledge systems at Bergville and Appelsbosch emerge from the bottom level to outside sectors. The participation level of farmers in local technical and scientific knowledge systems showed a positive statistically significant with regard to farmers’ food security. The study further indicated that opinion leaders are from formal and informal systems and are currently working for local government and other farmers organisations and have years of farming experience. Not only do they have frequent contact with the farmers, but they also have other communicating channels they use for technical skills with farmers. The results revealed that farmers require leaders who can quickly access reliable and relevant information pertinent to their agricultural problems. These opinion leaders require continuous assessment to enhance and integrate their leadership skills and promote empowerment programmes for farmers. These facts explained why many of the farmers chose to seek information and advice from their opinion leaders. These research findings may help agents to develop their understanding of the dynamics of local communities and the social complexity that shapes farmers’ environment and decisions. The results also revealed that although the smallholder farmers were moderately and highly competent in areas of self-efficacy, sense of control, agricultural knowledge and food security, the majority of them had only low or moderate leadership skills. However, the significant number of severely food insecure farmers who regard themselves as having moderate or high self-efficacy still need to be improved. This implies that there is still work and improvement needed to reduce the number of food insecure farmers. While most programmes implemented by the Department of Agriculture and the private sector include the tangible empowerment of small-holder farmers, programmes should also focus on their psychological empowerment. As indicated by the results of this study, there is an association between knowledge systems, empowerment levels and farmers’ food security status and the effectiveness of agricultural knowledge systems could, therefore, be augmented by improving farmers’ psychological empowerment to enhance resilient agriculture and food production.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Women empowerment in agriculture : agency and institutions for improved market access and household food security in Limpopo Province.
    (2016) Murugani, Vongai Gillian.; Chitja, Joyce Magoshi.
    Developing the smallholder agricultural sector has been proposed as a way of developing rural communities. These assertions are partly based on the results of the Asian Green Revolution. Women’s contribution to agricultural development as workers and farmers is acknowledged, but, what is questioned is the extent to which agriculture will result in their empowerment. Local institutions and social norms have largely resulted in women owning and controlling very few productive assets and this is thought to contribute to their disempowerment. It is argued that unless women are empowered through transformed institutions, they may be further disempowered by any interventions to uplift smallholder farmers. Empowering women is considered an essential part of sustainable development and agriculture offers the right platform, since it employs almost half of the rural women in the developing world. Although they are the backbone of smallholder agriculture, female smallholder farmers do not always fully benefit from their work, particularly financially. Their limited access to productive resources and their exclusion from formal markets restricts their capacity to contribute more to agriculture and household food security. Women’s contribution to decision-making has long been used as a proxy measurement for empowerment. For empowerment to take place women must have access to resources and the agency required to transform their resources into livelihoods outcomes. In spite of their aspirations to increase production and access markets, prevailing institutional and social norms may limit female smallholder farmers from achieving their goals. Transformed agricultural, social and market institutions and secure access to productive resources are important to improve women’s productivity and raise the numbers of women participating in formal markets. This study was grounded in the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and people-centred approaches to development. Research was conducted in three purposively selected irrigation schemes in Limpopo Province, to assess the current institutions and their effect on smallholder market access, to determine the level of empowerment in the study area and the determinants of market access and finally to measure the effect of women empowerment on household food security. A mixed methods approach was used in the study and data was collected in August and December 2013, using questionnaires from purposively selected respondents, observations and focus group discussions. The December survey was conducted using an adapted Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) questionnaire. The quantitative data was analysed using Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS) for descriptive statistics and to generate the 5DE index, farmer GPI and modified WEAI. The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The results show that, firstly, the current institutions restrict farmers to subsistence farming as there are few capacity building initiatives in the communities. Secondly, just over half of the respondents were empowered and were at par with their male colleagues. The women’s adequacy in the access to credit and leisure satisfaction indicators contributed least to women’s empowerment. Finally, the study showed that the households were predominantly food secure, although there was a relationship between women empowerment and food security. In conclusion, the importance of institutions in defining the opportunity structure and as enablers of agency is demonstrated by the prevalence of predominantly subsistence-oriented agriculture in the study. Empowerment is a complex process that requires a combination of personal attributes and an environment which is enabling. It is recommended that the government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) working in the community work to address women’s secondary access to resources, capacity building needs of extension officers and smallholder farmers and to integrate the different training activities currently available to smallholder farmers.