Assessing strategies to up-scale urban agriculture for income generation at Esikhaleni township, Richards Bay, South Africa
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Date
2019
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University of Zululand
Abstract
Since 2014, the South African government has recognised township economies as important components for attaining improved and inclusive rates of economic growth. Consequently, the government implemented the strategy of township economic revitalisation through urban agriculture. Thus, this study assessed strategies that those involved in township urban agriculture could use so that they could up-scale their township agricultural activities from subsistence and survivalist economy to income generating ventures. This study was conducted in Esikhaleni Township, city of Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal.
The literature of this study showed that urban agriculture was not a recent phenomenon, but, was an important element of urban living, mostly during the period of great depression in the early 1930s. However, urban agriculture did not start in the 1930s, as it dated back to the 19th century in the USA and in Europe. From the USA and Europe, it was to spread to Africa as a result of industrialisation, which was an offshoot of colonisation. Urban agriculture was mostly practiced for survival. Urban agriculture could be theorised from the Neo-liberal and Neo-Marxist perspectives. Under the Neo-liberal framework, it was shown that urban agriculture could be viewed in three ways, that is, as a form of municipal entrepreneurship, as part of greening cities, and as shared political spaces.
The municipal entrepreneurship views urban agriculture as formal business activities that contribute towards urban economies. Further, as part of greening cities, urban agriculture was understood as a way of keeping city green and beautiful. Lastly, as shared political spaces, urban agriculture was seen as an activity to unite communities. On the other hand, neo-Marxist theory understood urban agriculture as an activity that perpetuates capitalism and exploitation of workers. Literature also showed that there were no economic benefits that could be obtained from urban agriculture.
The study used the interpretive philosophy and thus adopted a qualitative research approach. The participants of this study consisted of urban agricultural practitioners (n=28) of the study area, and public officials (n=2): an official from the city of Umhlathuze and the other official from Agricultural Department of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Data
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was collected using semi-structured interviews. Though the study was principally qualitative, however, some of the data was quantitative. Qualitative data was analysed by developing themes out of the interview narratives while the quantitative data was analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences, SPSS. The main finding of the study was that the security and certainty about the availability of land for gardening. This hampered the capacity of the urban agricultural practitioners to produce quality products which could be sold to wholesalers. Furthermore, the study revealed that there were two role players in urban agriculture in the study area: the uMhlathuze Local Municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The uMhlathuze Local Municipality understood urban agriculture as both an entrepreneurial and an income generation strategy, which would contribute to the economic development of the local municipality. With regards to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the study showed that the department did not have any concrete policy on urban agriculture.
The study also found that there was a potential to up-scale the agricultural activities as the uMhlathuze Local Municipality organised workshops to help with the agricultural and business skills. Secondly, the strategy to sell the products directly to the customers or selling from door-to-door helped in building mutual trust between the sellers and the buyers. However, there were challenges, such as land issue and market access, that hindered urban agricultural practitioners in their efforts to scale-up. Urban agricultural practitioners reported that they did not own the land they farm on, as the land was owned by municipality who could claim it any-time.
In terms of marketing, it was shown that urban agricultural practitioners relied on informal market to sell their products as local wholesalers and shops did not buy from them and they appeared not to have trust in the local agricultural producers. With regards to municipality, the study recommended that the municipality find ways to assist with agricultural land and policy formulation. Finally, further research can be carried out to assess the factor of trust between small scale urban agriculturalists and the market, as the study found that there was a lack of mutual trust between the local wholesalers and local urban agricultural practitioners.
Description
A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies, Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2020.
Keywords
Township economies, Up-scale urban agriculture, Urban Agriculture