Household sustainability through wage labour and land-use in Zwelibomvu.
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Date
2021
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Abstract
This study probed "Household sustainability through wage labour and land-use in Zwelibomvu". The rationale for this qualitative investigation was on studying challenges associated with poverty and economic hardship in South Africa using the Zwelibomvu rural area as a microcosm. The research drew on the appraisal of agriculture issues, land use, distribution and ownership, and rural household wage contributions. The critical argument for the study was that most societies still lack legitimacy over their land, and most societies are still without financial gain such as wages. This study was within the scope of agricultural and economic anthropology, while Agricultural anthropologists advocate that any piece of land is a symbolic identity of those forcefully removed and those who continue to be denied access from their ancestral land. Agricultural anthropologists believe that land is a resource that promotes human agency and healthy households and societies. Agricultural anthropology supports this study and might agree that land-use and wage labour may deepen socioeconomic inequalities. The economic anthropology is the study of how human cultures offer the products and services that allow people to make ends meet in order to escape socio-economic hardships and poverty. The literature reflected on the land issues paying critical attention to what happened during the apartheid era, and redressed these issues within a democratic exemption. This study was embedded mainly in marginalisation theory, social capital theory, and family systems theory. All theoretical frameworks are relevant because they allowed the expression of the research objectives, influenced data collection, analysis, interpretation and shaped the research recommendation. The qualitative research design permitted collecting data using an ethnographic method, participant observations, and in-depth interviews on a purposive and random sample of 30 households from the Zwelibomvu community.
Research findings through emic perspectives of research participants revealed three households in Zwelibomvu (small, medium, and large households). Narratives in the data analysis chapter depict engaging narratives generated from the community concerning land use and wage labour. These narratives indicate that since the community of Zwelibomvu has access to land, their socioeconomic situation accommodates more wage labour income, although some members of rural households are informally employed. This community has achieved gender equality as findings show men recognise women's agency, specifically on small-scale farming. This community has created food production through subsistence farming this community and access to land (cocoyams, potatoes and spinach). This agricultural production has allowed families and households of Zwelibomvu to escape rife poverty. Religious and traditional elements were also noted as crucial elements or pillars to maintain order and create values for Zwelibomvu households; hence this community still holds values of collectiveness and has achieved solidarity in food production. The community of Zwelibomvu survive through an interactive process of subsistence farming to tackle balanced food security and reciprocity. Balanced food security and reciprocity in this study are confirmed to shape the family socioeconomic status and achieve a sustainable communal system. This study's contribution is that dynamics from these households discussed as case studies in the analysis chapter could potentially enhance the content of the module called "Families and Households" offered by the Anthropology discipline at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The study recommended that community members with smaller and larger plot sizes in Zwelibomvu merge them to increase or double their vegetable harvest. They could even sell more food through this strategy. This can establish opportunities to supply the nearest supermarkets such as Pick n Pay and Checkers, which are not far from the community. Rural communities should get educated so their land-use their plots productively. This education could further promote young agricultural entrepreneurship skills for self-employment. It may lessen the burden on expecting the government to create employment for every single youth person in South Africa. The youth of Zwelibomvu could become successful commercial farmers in the future and possibly employ other community members. More government support is needed to boost the locals' attempts to expand their agricultural plots with seeds to produce more. The community requires government support to mitigate some of the topographic and climate issues that threaten the sustainability of their small agricultural patterns. This study also recommends that future research employ ethnography to understand how other rural communities use land and wage labour to sustain their families amid increased unemployment numbers due to Covid-19 in South Africa.
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Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.