Contribution of Home Gardens to Rural Household Income in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
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CONTRIBUTION OF HOME GARDENS TO RURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN RAYMOND MHLABA LOCAL MUNICIPALITY, EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA By ALAKA KOLAWOLE .O (201407116) Project Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agriculture (Agricultural Economics) Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Faculty of Science and Agriculture University of Fort Hare Alice SUPERVISOR: Professor Ajuruchukwu Obi January , 2017 i DECLARATION I hereby certify that this dissertation is the result of my own original work and has not previously been submitted to another university for the purpose of a degree. Where use has been made of the work of others, such work has been duly acknowledged in this text. Signed ………………………………………… Date: …………………………….. I, Alaka kolawole.O, student number 201407116, hereby declare that I am fully aware of the University of Fort Hare’s policy on plagiarism and I have taken every precaution to comply with the regulations. Signature: ……………………………………………… I, Alaka Kolawole.O, student number 201407116, hereby declare that I am fully aware of the University of Fort Hare’s policy on research ethics and I have taken every precaution to comply with the regulations. I have obtained an ethical clearance certificate from the University of Fort Hare’s Research Ethics Committee and my reference number is the following: …………………………………. Signature: ………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Professor Ajuruchukwu Obi, from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, at University of Fort hare; for his supervision, guidance, support, patience, and helpful comments, positive and constructive criticism. Without his support, it would have been impossible to complete this study. May the Lord keep and bless you Sir in all dimensions of your life. The financial support of the ARC-supported Collaboration Centre on Smallholder Farmer Development is gratefully acknowledged. As well, I thank the Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre of the University of Fort Hare for financial assistance throughout the period of this study. To all the respondents, who gave up their time in completing an ample and detailed questionnaire i am thankful, your contribution made it possible for me to compile this work, and it would have been impossible without your willingness to cooperate. Thank you very much. A word of appreciation is owed to all those who assisted me in terms of data collection, Dr Bongiwe Mcata and those who gave their time to make contribution to this study especially my friends around the campus with the data analysis of this project. My family deserve my gratitude for their deepest care and guidance in life. To my parents you will always be my hero. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated: Firstly, to God Almighty, who showered His grace on me to accomplish the task of pursuing and completing a Master’s degree. To Him be all the glory and adoration, great things He has done, greater things He will do. Secondly, to all those individuals who contributed to my academic success up to this point in time I thank you. iv ABSTRACT For decades, home gardens have proved to be significant to rural inhabitants by providing a wide range of useful products such as fruits, vegetables and medicine, but there is lack of quantitative information on its benefits and its contributions to income of rural household. The main objective of this study is to investigate contributions of home garden to income of rural household in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, formerly Nkonkobe Local Municipality of Eastern Cape Province South Africa. The stratified random sampling method was applied in order to choose a sample of 160 household that were interviewed by means of semi-structured questionnaires. The study was conducted among 80 households engaging in home gardens and 80 non- participating households in the study area. Frequencies and mean were used to describe the general characteristics of the households as well as ownership patterns of home gardens. In order to determine the factors that influence home gardens ownership binary logistic regression model was used. The overall model show that level of education, total household income and access to land significantly affects ownership of the home garden positively. Social grant has the highest contributions to total household income for both category while income generated from home garden has the second largest share to total household income, this show that the majority of rural households in the study area rely on social grant as their source of income. Cabbage, spinach, potatoes and carrots were the dominant crops in home gardens. In view of research findings, there is still a wide room for further improvement in home gardens practises in study area. Contrary to expectations, home gardens have the potential to improve livelihood significantly if the rural households take the necessary steps to make the production more sustainable. Based on research findings several policy proposals are suggested. These include investment in agricultural programmes that will empower the rural households like Massive food projects, Siyazondla and related home garden initiatives. Home garden is the major source of food and income generation in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality. Therefore, government should provide sufficient credit facilities, extension services together with marketing arrangement in the area. Keywords: home gardens, households home gardening and factors influencing ownership of home gardens v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ......................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................... xi LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 1.1 Background information .................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem statement .......................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Objectives of the study .................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Research questions ........................................................................................................ 4 1.5 Research hypotheses ..................................................................................................... 4 1.6 Justification of the study .................................................................................................. 4 1.7 Outline of the dissertation ................................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 6 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Definition of terms ........................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Reason for home gardens .............................................................................................. 9 2.4 Experience of home gardens from developing countries ............................................... 11 2.5 Home gardens Management ......................................................................................... 13 2.6 Benefit derived from home garden among rural household ......................................... 14 2.6.1 Supplement household food ............................................................................ 14 2.6.2 Employment and income generation .......................................................................... 15 2.6.3 Reduce household expenditure on food purchases ...................................... 15 2.6.4 Contribution of home gardening to food security ............................................. 16 2.6.5 Gender effect on home gardens owner and biodiversity in home gardens ...... 16 2.6.6 Home gardens and household dietary diversity .............................................. 17 vi 2.6.7 Ecological and social economic sustainability of home gardens ..................... 18 2.7 Factors that militates against practice of home gardens .............................................. 19 2.7.1 Lack of inputs .................................................................................................. 19 2.7.2 Water access................................................................................................... 20 2.7.3 Access to land ................................................................................................. 20 2.7.4 Lack of knowledge ..........................................................................................