Prospects for On-Farm Self-Employment and Poverty Reduction: As Analysis of the South African Income and Expenditure Survey 2000

Abstract

This paper explores aspects of the relationship between rural poverty and the cash income (or consumption goods) that black rural households are able to derive, after almost a decade of land reform, from farming their own land. In the South African context, as well as elsewhere in suyb-Saharan Africa, there is general agreement that small-plot agriculture "remains important for most rural households, mostly for domestic consumption", and it is claimed that "people look to farming or natural resource harvesting as sources of livelihood". Many have echoed Michael Lipton's old call for "abandoning negative stereotypes of smallholder production, and embracing a positive view of the possibilities for land-based rural livelihoods" (Cousins 2005a; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2002; New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) 2002; Commission for Africa 2005:44). Their policy conclusion is that the central thrust of anti-poverty strategy should focus...