Assessing the role of extension, marketing and business development services on food security in the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa

Abstract

The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) was introduced in 2004/5 financial year and is carried out by the Provincial Departments of Agriculture (PDA) with the aim of increasing food security. One of the aims of this programme was to improve access to extension services, marketing, and business development for rural communities in order to improve food security. The current study evaluates the contribution of CASP on these services, and further establish if CASP is contributing to the goal of food security. This study uses data collected for monitoring and evaluation from different provinces by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). The data involved a total of 166 randomly sampled CASP projects out of the overall total of 448 projects. In the DPME study, farmers were asked questions about receiving market access support (official or informal), extension and advisory support prior and after receiving support from CASP and its contribution towards their food security status. The analyses were done according to thematic areas namely: beneficiary knowledge of CASP, access to markets and business development, technical and advisory services as well as contribution to food security. The analyses were done in manner that determined if there were significant differences between the two provinces, and between genders. Results on beneficiary knowledge of CASP, access to various markets and informal livestock auction, access to marketing training and business development, access to extension advice before and after CASP, access to training before and after CASP, were all presented using descriptive statistics. Farmers generally get information about support programmes from the department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development through extension and advisory services. However, in terms of knowledge of CASP, the stud revealed that there is a high number of respondents (24.1%) who were not well informed about CASP. In terms of access to markets, the study revealed fewer respondents were graduating to commercial farming. On average only 3% of the respondents were active in international markets and 9.6% had access to national markets. Access to local formal livestock auction, local formal fresh produce and local formal grain market also remained low at with 21.7%, 32.3% and 7.2% respectively. Results also show that the most common type of market that respondents had access to was the local informal livestock auction. In terms of extension advisory services, the percentage of respondents that received extension advice increased from 71% before CAPS to 90% after CASP involvement, however there is still a need for improvement in terms of increasing the number of extension personnel and their training. The descriptive results also show that the percentage of respondents that received extension advice increased from 71% before CASP to 82% after involvement of CASP especially in Gauteng Province (GP). About 64% of GP respondents reported that they now generate more food and consume more frequently in response to CASP's influence on food security, compared to only 26% of KZN respondents. In addition, more respondents in GP (59%) than in KZN (21%), reported that they can now afford to buy more food for their households. A total of 47% of respondents in GP indicated to have more diverse diet and more meat since CASP intervention as compared to 19% and 16% in KZN respectively. The above analysis indicates a positive contribution by CASP in the lives of beneficiaries.

The results of the descriptive statistics show that there are significant differences in gender of the respondents and participation in farm management in the two provinces. Men were more active in farm management interventions compared to their female counterparts. Results on the relationship between gender and farm management as in some rural areas, women are not expected to manage farms given the cultural and traditional restrictions. As such, this restricts the ability of women in agriculture to obtain resources like land. The study found shortcomings in the provision of market access. Even though CASP has contributed in facilitating access to markets for some farms, there are farms that are still experiencing challenges of making their products available in the market. It is important for farmers to be linked to relevant markets such as agro-processing value chains and perhaps establishment of abattoirs. This will ensure that the produce from the farm is even more accessible in their communities, thus enlarging the market whilst ensuring economic gains. Overall, the results show that communities’ access to services increased as a result of CASP and their state of food security has improved.