Food Security, Agriculture and Rural Development

Focus areas

	Evidence-based employment scenarios		Employment monitoring
	Macro-economy, economic bias & employment		Employment-oriented industry studies
	The informal economy		Government employment creation programmes
	Labour markets and social policy		Migration
	Regional dynamics		Social dialogue
	Employment policy network		Food Security, Agriculture and Rural Development

It is estimated that about 40% of South Africa's population live in rural areas.  Not only are rural people isolated from economic opportunities, but they also tend to have less access to social services such as health, sanitation and education. In the context of these rural realities, it is crucial to understand the livelihood and coping strategies of the poor.

An overarching theme guiding work in this thematic area is developing sustainable food security scenarios to achieve national and global anti-poverty targets. This fits into our research, networking and selective pilot activities to define and test the impacts of a range of realistic interventions (agricultural development support, food subsidies for the poor and other pro-poor rural development policies) to half poverty and unemployment by 2014. 

At the moment the activities of this research team cover two related fields, namely (a) food security and (b) agriculture and rural development.

Food Security

The first phase of research (2008-2009) in this area strives to achieve two outcomes: to publish a comprehensive status report that brings together what is known about food security and to identify elements and strategies to set food security targets for South Africa. Some of the themes being investigated are: hunger and nutrition deficiencies, food marketing and pricing, etc.

Agriculture and Rural Development

This area of work focuses on the livelihood strategies of small-scale farmers and the rural poor. Some of the themes being investigated are: land reform, support for agricultural extension, appropriate small farmer inputs and technologies, rural infrastructure and service delivery.

Background Documents

• Jacobs, P., (2009) Agricultural Market Reforms and the Rural Poor in South Africa
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• Jacobs, P. et al. (2008) Review of Rural Development:  15 Year Review of Economic and Social Sector Programme
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• Jacobs, P. (2008) Market Development and Smallholder Farmers - A Selective Literature Survey
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• Andrews, N and Jacobs, P. (2009) Nourishing Rural Poverty - South Africa's Unchanging Land Relations
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• Mazibuko, M., et al (2008) Baseline Information on Technology-Oriented Initiative in Rural Areas to Promote Economic Development
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