Chapter 5: Discussions
5.3 Capabilities, Range of Assets and Activities for Livelihood
114 with similar dietary characteristics also grows cassava and that contributes greatly to the diet of this family as the household head said that instead of buying bread they have cassava with tea otherwise they use sour porridge for breakfast. “Food crises together with chronic food shortages lead to compromised human well-being, hunger and malnutrition posing serious challenges to governmental and non-governmental institutions, and formal and informal policy and decision makers at all levels”(Misselhorn 2004: 1). Non-governmental and international organisations are doing what they can to find long term measures to stimulate agriculture, rural development and sustainable livelihoods towards food security in the developing world (Misselhorn 2004). This shows the importance of agriculture in stimulating economic growth.
Within the context of the Mpaka area there is need for the stimulating of one such agriculture that will be well adapted to the prevailing natural climatic conditions of the area. According to Scoons (1998) sustainability of a livelihood entails the creation of working days which relates to the ability of a particular combination of livelihood strategies to create gainful employment for a certain portion of the year on or off-farm as part of a wage labour system or subsistence production. The project of growing jatropha was one such activity that had a potential of providing such for that area as this is a drought tolerant crop. As pointed out by literature a household will make a living using its assets and capabilities by engaging in livelihood activities.
The third objective of the study was to identify the capabilities, range of assets and activities that create the different livelihood strategies for the different households and how they ha ve been effectively used in the growing of Jatropha curcas for biofuels with what outcomes in terms of income generation, food security and reduction of vulnerability.
5.3 Capabilities, Range of Assets and Activities for Livelihood
115 (Chambers and Conway 1991; Ashley and Carney 1999; Scoons 2000).
5.3.1.1 Health
Swaziland is leading in the world in terms of HIV/AIDS occurrence with up to 25.9% of the sexually active populat ion infected (Swaziland Demographic Health Survey (SDHS) 2006-7).
This has seen the life expectancy plummeting from 60 years in 1997 to 37.5 years currently (Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2010). Whilst for ethical reasons the researcher could not establish the HIV status within each of the households, the researcher asked if there were members within the household which had been sick for a period of three months or more and also if there had been any members who had died within the past twelve months due to an illness that lasted three months or more. The largely negative responses in having lost household members due to long illnesses with a few cases of chronic illnesses gives the indication that the households’ capabilities are largely not affected by illness which can be associated with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The one case whereby illness impacted negatively on the capabilities of the household is the case whereby the woman farmer suffered a stroke as that has made her unable to actively take part in the livelihood activities of the household especially in farming activities including that of Jatropha curcas. All the cases of ill household members have been able to get clinical help which is a positive indication that the households have not got to a state of poverty whereby households will employ coping strategies that include decreased expenditure on essential goods and services such as education, healthcare and agriculture to name a few (Misselhorn 2004).
5.3.1.2 Education
In all the households that were interviewed the head of the households had obtained enough education to be able to do basic reading and writing. The lowest having gone up to grade three in primary school. Whilst this level of education can allow one to do simple computations such as adding and subtraction to carry out the petty businesses it is not sufficient for reading and understanding some complex documents such as the agreement forms that they had to sign with D1 Oils. In all the households, there are members who have finished high school education and only four households have members with tertiary education whereby one is head of household.
Literacy according to literature “provides people with the option of becoming members of a self-
116 confident and informed populace that can understand issues, represent themselves, take responsibility for self-improvement and family health, and better participate in civic affairs”
(Tripathi 2008:24-25). The low level of literacy is evident with this group of farmers in that they have not been able to organize and represent themselves to be better able to demand for answers from government concerning the project which they were made to partake in and it was later stalled without their consideration or involvement.
5.3.1.3 Social Resources
These include networks, social claims, social relations, affiliations and associations. This resource is very significant especially in when response to difficult times is needed. This may be response to everyday needs or it may be response to stresses and shocks. Morrow (2000) citing Bolin (1982) states that the extent to which individuals and households possess “institutional and kinship embeddedness” is an important response factor. Lack of family and social networks can a limiting factor. One widow who became a resident to the area of Mpaka in 2003 had this to say when asked if she had received any assistance or support from family, friends or NGOs in the past six months in terms of food, money, clothing or agricultural inputs :
“…I am still a new resident in this area and no one really cares about me. Since I came, I never received any assistance even in times of severe drought when households considered as needy were being given food aid I was overlooked. I think they think I have enough when in fact I am very needy; my husband was a polygamous man so whatever estate he left was shared among too many of us. What I got was just enough for me to put up this home as we used to stay in a company house where he was working before his demise”.
This is in line with literature as Morrow (2000) notes that recent migrants may lack connections to the larger community and may hesitate to seek help.
Among the social resources which the farmers point out, was extended family support which was cited by one household in that the household’s goats were being kept and looked after by the parents of the head who stay within the same community but a distance away. Another household said it did occasionally get some assistance with maize from some relatives.
117 The other social resource that was cited is the informal women’s association where they do embroidery to sell. This was one activity which had easily facilited the activity of growing Jatropha curcas and was also cited as one of the major income generating activities of the households. The women who were widows said they helped each other as an association to plant the jatropha seedlings.
The households at Mpaka were then building upon their strengths by engaging in the activity of growing Jatropha curcas whereby they used land which is an asset they have access to but are not able to utilize efficiently due to drought and socio-economic factors. Growing Jatropha curcas was an on-farm activity that required few inputs on the part of the farmer so anyone even the poor could engage in the activity so long as they had access to land. All that was required of the famer was the ability to labour, if they were healthy and fit to be able to dig the pits for the seedlings of Jatropha curcas which were provided and be able to get water from the earth dams to water the seedlings about three times a week until they were established.
The farmers agreed that it was hard work digging the pits, citing that their soil is clay and therefore hard to dig. However they said they went on to carry out the activity because they said the hard part was only in establishing the Jatropha curcas plantations which was once off, thereafter maintenance was relatively easy. They were motivated by having to only plant once and be able to harvest 2-3 times/year from the same crop and generate income for 30years going up to 50 years. All t he farmers except one did not harvest any seeds as the pro ject was stalled before t he trees reached maturit y. Only one interviewee had harvested seeds from his trees and stored them hoping there would be a market for them as promised. Even that one cited not being vigilant in harvesting the seeds as they ripen throughout the year because he had lost faith in the project.
Whilst the farmers were building upon their capabilities and assets to engage in an activity that they perceived as having a potential to contribute positively to a sustainable livelihood the y were doing so within a framework of policies and institutions which then had their influence on the outcome of the activity.
118