A socio-ecological and post growth rural households’ food security and sovereignty status in rural areas of Mpumalanga, South Africa

Nojiyeza, Innocent Simphiwe; Ngwamba, Mthabiseng Pertunia

A socio-ecological and post growth rural households’ food security and sovereignty status in rural areas of Mpumalanga, South Africa

dc.contributor.author	Nojiyeza, Innocent Simphiwe
dc.contributor.author	Ngwamba, Mthabiseng Pertunia
dc.coverage	Canada
dc.coverage.conference	issn
dc.date.accessioned	2026-03-26T12:18:20Z
dc.date.available	2026-03-26T12:18:20Z
dc.date.issued	2023
dc.departmentName	Anthropology & Development Studies
dc.description.abstract	The aim of the study is to assess rural household food security and sovereignty status at Nkomazi Local Municipality. The study is informed by the post-growth theory, with careful consideration of the social-ecological embedment and politically engaged market activity informed by peasant modes of production and distribution. The significance of both theory and action, translating theory into action and subjecting activity to critical-theoretical scrutiny must be highlighted in the search for post-growth futures. Food Sovereignty Movements are a great illustration of this type of activity. The data was collected from 383 households, 4 key informants from Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and 3 key informant from Nkomazi Local Municipality, using a mixed-method research approach, namely convergent parallel approach. Two research designs were employed, namely phenomenology and a non-experimental design (correlational). The research's paradigm is pragmatic, using both inductive and deductive reasoning to properly analyse the concepts of food security and sovereignty from a realist and interpretive standpoint. The study triangulated both qualitative and quantitative data by drawing on these different data sources. Data was analysed through thematic and statistical analysis. The closed-ended data (quantitative data) was coded, moved to code sheets, transferred to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and then transferred to a computer program called Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. Therefore, the study considered a 24-hour recall, and the findings shows that 79% of the households rely on local foods to ensure variety in their diet each day. This agrees with the findings from key informants who indicated that households follow a more condensed and focused value chain. Consequently, participants hinted that some of the household's produce is typically sold in informal markets in rural locations and urban areas. Therefore, a T-test was run to check the association between food production, security, and sovereignty. The significance difference was found to be less than p< 0.005, the study did not accept the null hypothesis, that reflected that there was no statistical deference between the variables. This shows that there is a significant difference between food security and sovereignty when considering food frequency (the number of meals per day) and occurrence (the number of accidences) at household level. In order to examine food security at household level the study examined the correlation between indigenous food production, food security and sovereignty. The results showed a significance level of p<. 001 which indicates that there is no significant difference for both variables, with a degree of freedom at df= 2. Hence the null hypothesis was rejected. Therefore, the study recommended the incorporation of indigenous and pioneering knowledge systems on food production practices to ensure further development.
dc.faculty	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
dc.identifier.citation	Ngwamba, M.P. and Nojiyeza, I.S. 2023. A socio-ecological and post growth rural households’ food security and sovereignty status in rural areas of Mpumalanga, South Africa. OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, 16(12), pp.61-72.
dc.identifier.issn	1923-6662 (online)
dc.identifier.issn	1923-6654 (print)
dc.identifier.other	https://ssrn.com/abstract=4672048
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10530/59039
dc.inproceedings	issn
dc.issuenumber	16 / 12
dc.keynote	issn
dc.language.iso	English
dc.pages	61 - 72
dc.peerreviewed	Yes
dc.publisher	Ontario International Development Agency
dc.subject	Civilized legalization
dc.subject	Food pragmatism
dc.subject	Food sovereignty movement
dc.subject	Indigenous foods and re-politicizing local food
dc.title	A socio-ecological and post growth rural households’ food security and sovereignty status in rural areas of Mpumalanga, South Africa
dc.title.journal	OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development
dc.type	Journal Article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
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