Contextual assessment of livestock farming as an intervention for food security in Mpumalanga province, South Africa.

Abstract

The study focused on the assessment of Livestock farming as an Intervention for food security in Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The objectives of the study were to: (і) assess the socio-economic impact of livestock farming as an intervention to food security. (іі) examine the contributions of livestock production to farmers’ livelihood. (ііі) determine the challenges faced by livestock farmers in the study area. (іѵ) examine the best practices of livestock farming among livestock producers. (ѵ) determine the levels of acceptance of the best practices in livestock farming among livestock producers. The study followed a stratified sampling method used in selecting the target group from 400 population. Livestock farmers were categorised as smallholders, commercial, and subsistence producers. Three hundred and sixty (360) participants were interviewed. Slovin’s formula was used to calculate the sample size for the study. The research project followed the quantitative research design. Pre-testing of the questionnaire was, used to identify and resolve any problems or issues before the full scale study was, conducted to ensure correct interpretation, as well as assessing clarity and relevance of the questionnaire. The Structured questionnaire instrument was used to collect quantifiable data from the participants. The study employed the IBM-SPSS Statistics version 27 software to analyse data. Males were found to have more percentage than females, with 63.3% (male) and 36.7% (female). Secondary level of education was found to be at 32.78%. The majority, 64.4% of the livestock farmers, depend on local buyers to sell their livestock. The study adopted a binary logistic regression model, because binary logistic regression method helps to estimate the probability of events as a function of a set of independent variables that are hypothesized to influence an outcome. The findings of the study revealed that the age of the respondents, kind of livestock rearing, farm extension officers visits, often extension officers’ visits, marital status and the level of education were the significant variables, which influenced the adoption of best livestock management practices. Amongst the challenges, results indicated a high rate of stock theft; furthermore, the study reveals that cattle as a commodity are also rated high on stock theft. There is little contribution of smallholder farmers towards household food security, and actual challenges faced by livestock farmers in the study area. These challenges seem to have negatively impacted the farmers' efforts to improve their livelihood and level of economic status. The study examined the contribution of livestock farmers towards food security in the study area. It is recommended that the government consider designing a policy dealing with stock theft reduction in the study area. This implies that the government should also establish formal markets that include rural farmers to sell their livestock anytime, rather than waiting for local buyers. The government should make policies aligned with rural livestock markets.