Browsing by Author "Ndokweni, Mimi Faith."

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Improving sustainable livelihoods through organic produce marketing opportunities : evaluation of the Ezemvelo Farmers Organisation.
(2002) Ndokweni, Mimi Faith.; Hendriks, Sheryl Lee.; Modi, Albert Thembinkosi.; Green, Jannette Maryann.
For many poor rural South African communities, involvement in agriculture remains one of their most secure livelihood strategies. For the majority of these people, indigenous knowledge and the use of local materials, resources and skills is often the only asset they possess. The Ezemvelo Farmers Organisation (EFO) from the community of Embo in KwaZulu-Natal is one such group of rural people befitting this description. In the absence of financial resources to purchase relatively expensive agricultural inputs, accompanied by a lack of infrastructural development in their community, EFO farmers have become organic farmers by default. EFO members produce mainly traditional organic crops. However, little has been documented about the potential value of trade in these products. The purpose of this study was to explore potential marketing opportunities for traditional organic products through the mobilisation of indigenous knowledge, skills, and natural resources to improve the livelihoods of EFO members. A research team of three postgraduate students, each involved in his/her own independent study, worked in collaboration to collect relevant research information. Five data collection tools were used to collect this information. These were a household survey, a sustainable livelihoods analysis, a forcefield analysis, a stakeholder analysis, and a workshop. Research results showed that there are five stakeholders involved in EFO activities, each with his/her own personal interests. EFO members mainly produce amadumbe, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, which they market to a packhouse, the local community, and to hawkers. Other crop varieties are produced for household consumption and small quantities are sold to the local community and hawker markets. Farmers obtained a slightly higher price for crops sold to the packhouse as compared to the other two markets. The packhouse was the farmers' largest market for the 2002 season. However, the packhouse market was unsustainable for farmers because of problems due to the delays in payments for produce, the high quantities of crops that are rejected because they did not meet the quality control standards of the packhouse, and problems due to the unreliability of transport from Embo to the packhouse. The majority of EFO members' farms were also found to be unprofitable due to the high costs of inputs and losses to production. Constraints such as a shortage of kraal manure for soil conditioning, unfenced properties, a lack of water for irrigation, and the unavailability of a tractor for ploughing were found to be contributing factors to the unprofitability of member farms. Recommendations for improving marketing and profitability were that projects involving farmers should be regularly evaluated, EFO members seek business management skills, direct contracting agreements with their suppliers, explore value added products, and for Government to play a role for rural enterprise development to take place.
Informality and urban agricultural participation in KwaZulu-Natal : 1993-2004.
(2012) Ndokweni, Mimi Faith.; May, Julian Douglas.
The aim of the study was to find out whether or not engagement in urban agriculture for individuals and households is a response to a lack of formal wage employment in the post-apartheid period. This period is characterised by changes in the economy of South Africa which led to an observed increase in poverty and unemployment and an increase in informal employment. The study utilised both quantitative and qualitative methods to look at urban farming issues in KwaZulu-Natal. The quantitative data came from the KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Surveys (KIDS), which carried out surveys in three waves spanning the period of democratic transition over a 10-year period in 1993, 1998 and 2004. This data was analysed using the statistical package STATA and employed regression modelling techniques to investigate the odds of engagement in urban agriculture, given certain individual and household characteristics, which is a particular nuance for this study. Because of its potential in food production and income generation, a smaller-scale qualitative farmer survey was undertaken in two different communities, comparing three different categories of home gardening, community gardening and market gardening in KwaZulu-Natal, using a semi-structured questionnaire. This component sought to document, in farmers’ own words, their experiences and practice of farming in an urban environment and gave in-depth insights about the motivation of the people involved, the types of food crops grown, and so on. Key informant interviews were conducted with a community of professionals for illuminating their perspectives on the practice of urban agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal. The key findings of the study are that urban agriculture is an activity that is undertaken by people seeking a survival strategy when their preferred activity (such as formal employment) is not available and it can be an activity undertaken by entrepreneurs for income generation. According to their main activity status, the types of people that engage in urban agriculture include those in wage employment and the unemployed, as well as the non-economically active. The contribution of agricultural income to total household income represents miniscule amounts, at an average of less than one percent. Regression modelling results, combining person level and household level variables, predicted more likely odds of farming for women, by a factor of 1.67. Increase in the number of years of education decreased the odds by 0.90 times. If a person lost employment, this increased their odds of engaging in urban agriculture by 1.23 times. People in the age group 36-46 years predicted the highest likelihood for participation in urban agriculture, by a factor of 2.54. Larger household size predicted odds more likely to engage while poor households also predicted odds more likely to engage, by a factor of 2.07 times. Urban agriculture is vastly heterogeneous and is undertaken by all income groups. It is a result of both push and pull factors. People engage in it neither as a survival strategy nor an entrepreneurial strategy only. It is, however, an activity in which the poor are disproportionately represented. The potential of urban agriculture to generate employment is linked to the nature of support received from government and non-governmental organisations.