Harnessing Public Food Procurement for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in South Africa through the National School Nutrition Programme: A Qualitative Assessment of Contributions and Challenges

This paper examines how public food procurements contributes to sustainable rural livelihoods through local sourcing of school food, what has become known as ‘home-grown’ school feeding. Specifically, it draws on in-depth interviews to explore the contributions and challenges of using local farmers as suppliers for South Africa’s National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) using the case of the Eastern Cape Province, the country’s poorest province. The study found that participating schools in rural areas benefit from local sourcing by way of using fresh vegetables in preparing meals thanks to the utilisation of a decentralised catering model in the Eastern Cape Province. Consequently, there is evidence of farmers participating in NSNP food market earning additional income and growing more vegetables on more land in some cases. However, even though the Eastern Cape Province uses a decentralised procurement model, it has no clear-cut programme to optimise the benefits of local sourcing for NSNP. It only ‘encourages’ schools to buy vegetables grown locally. This calls for pragmatism on the side of government to, through creative procurement and initiatives such as the Agri-Parks, use NSNP as a tool for making the South African food system more inclusive, drive down rural poverty and realise sustainable rural development.

Agroforestry Practices in Livelihood Improvement in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

Agroforestry plays a significant role in increasing agricultural productivity. In South Africa, there is a pressing need for promoting smallholder agriculture to promote sustainable rural livelihoods, to ensure food security, to lower inflation in food prices, and address rampant rural unemployment in the country. The agricultural economy is characterised by a monopoly structure where almost every single staple in South Africa is already produced by large manufacturers that can produce it at better quality and lower cost than the average smallholder enterprise or cooperative. Such a monopoly structure fundamentally undermines the development of local markets, where local small-scale producers sell to their local community. The novelty of this study is addressing the research gap that conventional rural livelihood analyses often neglect, i.e., the role of environmental products in general, and forest and agroforestry products. Using a log linear regression model with cross-sectional data collected from a sample of 300 households, this study explores the likely impact of agroforestry practices in promoting the livelihood of rural communities in the study areas. Results obtained from multiple linear regression analysis showed that average household income increased as a function of utilization of agroforestry practices. Agroforestry contributes to sustainable rural livelihoods in South African provinces where the predominant means of livelihoods is rural subsistence farming and agriculture. Since valuation of agroforestry products and services are technically difficult, farmers often underestimate the contribution of agroforestry to the household’s livelihood income. These findings have policy implications in promoting food security in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and beyond.

An Analysis of Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Sand and Silt Deposited Areas of Dhemaji District of Assam

The study was undertaken in sand and silt deposited areas of Dhemaji district in Assam, primarily to measure physical and social capitals as livelihood assets, compute Sustainable Rural Livelihood index, study selected personal, socio-economic and psychological attributes of farmer respondents as well as to find out the relationship, if any, between Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and the selected personal, socio-economic and psychological attributes of the respondents. A descriptive research design, following an ex post facto approach was utilized for the study. A multi-stage, purposive cum proportionate random sampling design was adopted for the study in order to select 100 respondents. With respect to the selected personal, socio-economic and psychological attributes of the respondents, the study revealed that most of the respondents (88%) were young to middle aged and had medium level of formal education (57%). The study revealed that the proportion of farm families belonging to small and medium sized families were almost equal (46% and 43% respectively). Majority (61%) of the respondents was marginal farmers and belonged to the low and medium level of annual income categories (respectively 41% and 46%). On the other hand, a large majority (70%) had low level of annual expenditure pattern, medium level of economic motivation (68%) and risk bearing ability (70%). The computed Sustainable Rural Livelihood Index score (49.89%) was found to be on the lower side, indicating its relatively low strength based on physical and social capital indices. Correlation analysis of the independent variables of the study with Sustainable Rural Livelihoods revealed that five independent variables, viz., age, education, size of land holding, expenditure pattern and risk bearing ability were positively and significantly correlated with Sustainable Rural Livelihoods. The study reveals that a productive human capital falling largely in the young to middle age category holds promise for socio-economic development in similar situations. However, illiteracy, coupled with lower formal education would mean that skill development ought to be the focal area for capacity building in the agricultural sector. . Strategic agricultural technology interventions suited for sand and silt affected areas have to planned keeping in mind seasonal uncertainties and low cost technologies.

Sustainable rural livelihood-based approach on the impacts of climate change on small-scale fish farmers of Noakhali, Bangladesh

Climate change is a very common phenomenon which may affect rural livelihoods. A sustainable rural livelihoods approach was taken for this study to observe household incomes and any impact of climate to the livelihoods. It was found that there was negative correlation (Pearson value -0.449) to the income of males and females in 2014. Assumption of impact of climate change on income was not statistically significant in male farmers while it was statistically significant (Pearson value 0.332) in the year 2013 for female respondents. This current study suggests diversification in income generating activities and introduction of fair trade for betterment of the fishers Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2020, 6(3): 418-424

Sustainable Rural Livelihoods

The study examines the concept of resilient societies that are emerging recently by opening the question of social empowerment and willingness to cope with uncertainties. It presents a comprehensive review on the issue of real contribution of tourism based economies within rural communities. The study evaluates the basic preconditions for tourism related activities in sampled rural areas in North Macedonia and Southern and Eastern Serbia, being particularly vulnerable in terms of social and economic issues (aging, poverty, migration and depopulation). The concept of ‘sustainable rural livelihoods' is further enlightened, and many recommendations are noted. Generally, rural tourism should be focused on providing additional financial input, but also seek a way to attract tourists in periods with low agricultural activity. The vitality and prosperity of the village itself does not rely on tourism activity only, but rather on the natural resources and human capital, thus providing sustainable livelihood for the residents.