Smallholder farmers who received drought relief support saw an improvement in their welfare in the midst of daily struggles ranging from price hikes to climate change effects, and pest and disease outbreaks.
This is according to study conducted by Prof. Yonas Bahta, associate professor and astute National Research Foundation (NRF) C2-rated researcher in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS).
Findings also reveal that economic capital, social capital, human capital, and natural capital substantially cripples the welfare of smallholder farmers.
These findings came from two studies. The one is titled “The resilience of households to agricultural drought in the Northern Cape province of South Africa”. The other study is “Competitiveness of Namibia’s Agrifood Commodities: Implications for Food Security and Competitiveness of South Africa’s Agrifood Commodities”.
In these studies, Bahta looked at the competitiveness of South Africa and Namibia’s agrifood products, the factors that influence it, and its implication for food security.
The aim with the studies was threefold: to assess household resilience to agricultural drought among smallholder livestock farmers; to evaluate the welfare of smallholder farming households affected by agricultural drought; and to identify factors influencing agricultural drought resilience and food insecurity among smallholder livestock farmers.
The study was conducted over three years, finding a combination of comparative advantage and disadvantage.
Bahta’s investigations focused on the competitiveness of agri-food commodities in South Africa and Namibia.
According to Bahta, only 9% of the smallholder livestock farmers were resilient to agricultural drought.
When it comes to food security, he discovered that assets, social safety nets, and indicators of adaptive capacity had a positive influence on households’ ability to withstand food insecurity.
He said climate change indicators negatively impacted households’ resilience to food insecurity.
According to Bahta, both the smallholder livestock sector (farmers) and the agrifood industry need to develop resilience to effectively cope with and recover from agricultural drought, macroeconomic stability (inflation), competitiveness, productivity, and other related factors.
“South Africa and Namibia exhibited a trade structure that was less concentrated and not dependant on international trade in the agri-food industry, having minimal impact on Namibia’s food security.
“The productivity of agriculture and GDP per capita positively influenced the comparative advantage of South Africa, whereas land productivity and GDP per capita influenced the degree of food insecurity in Namibia,” Bahta said.
The study on the resilience of smallholder livestock farmers was supported by funding from the National Research Foundation.
Bahta collaborated with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), benefiting from their strong existing academic relationship.
The UFS Office for International Affairs played a key role in facilitating this study, with research partnerships existing between the universities of both countries.
A paper was also be presented at the recent International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) international conference held in New Zealand from 17 to 20 June.
