The contribution of rural enterprises to rural development within the Zululand district municipality in KwaZulu Natal
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Date
2019-01
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University of Zululand
Abstract
The role that both farming and non-farming rural enterprises play in rural development has been recognised worldwide. These enterprises are able to create jobs, alleviate poverty and help in achieving food security. This study focuses on assessing the contribution of rural enterprises on rural development in the Zululand District Municipality (ZDM). Various methods such as: snowball, purposive sampling technique were used in selecting participants in this study. For instance, snowball method was used to select twenty rural enterprises, a purposive method was used to select seventeen government officials from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Rural Development and Land Reforms, while purposive method was used to select fifty employees of rural enterprises. Data was collected using a mixed method approach which included the structured questionnaire which was administered to rural enterprise owners and government officials, and an interview schedule which was used for focus groups formed by employees of the rural enterprises. The results revealed that there were more farming enterprises than non-farming enterprises. The rural enterprises were not sustainable since there were challenges which included: lack of access to finance, lack of entrepreneurship skills, and limited access to markets. The well formulated policies to support both farming and non-farming enterprises. However, the non-farming enterprises were neglected when during the implementation of the policies. Associations that existed and which the participants were members of were those aiming at stimulating rural farming, conversely, there was no evidence of associations for non-farming enterprises. In conclusion, for the rural enterprises to contribute significantly to rural development, the government, non-governmental organisations and financial sector must work together and find better mechanisms of stimulating them.