This chapter concludes by presenting the theoretical framework used to explore perceptions of food (in)security in rural South Africa and as this relates to perspectives on skills, rights, entitlements and freedoms. This chapter presents the presentation of South Africa's position on food security in the context of the discussion on the development of the food security discourse at the international level.
Why Food, Why Rural Youth and Gender, and Why Local?
Food
Each with different views on the role of farmers and the varying degrees of class and demographic differentiation of the countryside. The need for food exists as one of the basic necessities of life related to the ability to pursue other subjectively defined life activities.
Food-Security, Food Entitlements and Livelihoods
This political-economic approach to food security discourse allows for the exploration of cross-dimensional concepts and development issues in relation to human rights. This incorporation is theoretically extended to address livelihoods and ‗sustainable development'.26 The conceptualization of food security as a human right also makes it possible for food security, rights and livelihoods to be analytically rooted within socio-economic and political dynamics.
Food-Sovereignty
Food sovereignty has been more readily embraced by social movements of the global south that conceive of a difference between security-based and sovereignty-based global projects. However, this does not fully explain why people on the ground do not defend or articulate the principles and ideology of the food sovereignty paradigm.
Rural Youth and Gender 45
The term emphasizes ideology, and in South Africa this ideology is permeated by varying institutions. The authors connect several issues concerning the democratic transition, social transformation and land reform in South Africa.
Theoretical Basis for Localising Research
Hence Sen's view of the capability approach as a flexible method of assessing social development that can adapt to changing socio-historical dynamics. Gender and feminist researchers have also found that Sen's abilities approach a useful theoretical basis for assessing social and gender justice.
Rights and Freedoms
According to Sen, the constitutive elements of freedom provide evaluation of the processes of meaning construction in a particular context. Political ideologies that emerged sought to theorize the role of individual rights, freedoms and the role of the state.
Rights-Based Approach to Development
28 The language of human rights, and furthermore a human rights-based approach to development, has been increasingly mainstreamed. The rights-based approach to development has flooded the rhetoric of international organizations in the 21st century.
Conclusion
This in turn has affected rural social dynamics in relation to gender and intergenerational rights related to food security and livelihoods. This serves to historically explore the interplay between national and local dynamics in relation to food (in)security, inequality, livelihoods and development.
Historical International Conceptualisations of Food-Security
Conceptualising Livelihoods in Relation to Food-Security
154 For engagement with the dynamics of the global political economy of food production see: Friedmann (1993);. However, the Land Act of 1913 is only one step in a process that forms part of the complexity of South Africa's transition to capitalism.158. 160 For a comprehensive assessment of the growth of capitalism in South Africa, its impact on the black "peasant".
For further debates on the functional and instrumentalist role of the state see also: Trapido, S. 1973); ‗South Africa in a comparative study of industrialization'; Journal of Development Studies, 7(3); Davies, R., D.
Colonial Zululand: Land, Labour and Agriculture 180
Drought has always affected the region's livelihood production and food security prior to this period; however, it was no longer the sole cause of the decline of reserve agriculture. While reservation elites were able to secure steady access to food, either through colonial officials or white traders, the majority of people, mostly women, children, and the elderly, faced constant. 198 Mackinnon (1996) observed that the Marketing Act of 1937 justified the destruction of surplus commodities by directive of the Minister of Agriculture in order to avoid overaccumulation and deflation prices.
48 understood as national self-sufficiency in food production, one element (and the most easily realizable) of the autarchic fantasies of apartheid state capitalism.
Post-Apartheid South Africa: Food-Security, Agriculture and Policy
In 1995, the South African White Paper on Agriculture221 articulated the need to expand the conceptualization of the role of South African agriculture to integrate the complex and broad socio-economic needs of the country. Primarily, these issues were related to the development of previously undeveloped rural areas of South Africa, and “given the special nature of the South African economy, it was understood from the outset that food security was a multidisciplinary issue”222, which inevitably generated debates with entails. on rural development. The presentation of the impact of these transition reports, produced during the transition period between apartheid and democracy, on the food security discourse in South Africa draws heavily on Bernstein (1994) and his analysis of policy documents and reports that influenced food security in the post the second World War. apartheid South Africa.
First, the Constitution, and the White Paper on Agriculture, both articulate the responsibility of the state to facilitate the achievement of basic capabilities.
Conclusion
Although these approaches protect agency and participation in resolving constraints affecting access to rights and skills, it also reflects the slow pace of rural livelihoods expansion and local economic development, as well as the persistence of structural inequality. Second, due to redistributive concerns of assets and endowments, more specifically land,239 and issues of social justice and equality, state intervention is inevitable. This is separated from the previous chapter on the broad history of South Africa to then practically and conceptually link the fieldwork methodology to the specific case study locations.
The methodological processes involved in this research help to explain the formulation of the topic, and the subsequent analysis, of gendered and youth perceptions of food (in)security in relation to livelihoods, entitlements, capabilities and rights.
History of the Case-Study Region
The Pongolapoort Dam irrigation scheme was intended to settle white farming families on the arable land of the Makhathini plains. The initial research agendas were mainly concerned with the ecological impact of the construction of the Pongolapoort Dam on the Pongola floodplain. See Felgate (1982) for further environmental, ecological and socio-political qualities of the area prior to the construction of the Jozini Dam.
258 Historically, the populations that settled along the banks of the Pongola River were completely dependent on the river and its resources for their livelihoods and were not traditional pastoralists.
Mboza, a village within the uMhlabuyalingana Municipality, is the location of the longest duration of this research, and is located on the Makhathini Plains along the Pongola River floodplain. Schools were rebuilt and, as part of the government's Comprehensive Rural Development Program (CRDP) launched in 2009, the Mboza One Stop Development Center (OSDC) was built. Ndumo was also designated as one of the six areas of the uMkhanyakude district, with a semi-town status.
Further, the area also forms part of the Lubombo Ndumo-Tembe-Futi Transboundary Conservation and Resource Area.
Methodology
- Limitations and Challenges of Fieldwork
- Data Sources and Collection Methods
- Focus Groups
- Semi-structured Interviews
- Data Analysis
- Ethical Considerations
The methodology that informed the fieldwork component of the research was specific to the process and required flexible modifications. Observations and experiences during this period became part of the process of defining a focus for the research. The establishment of the initial research focus was intended to be derived by consulting small-scale farmers who were willing to participate in the research.
The interviews were semi-structured, and the youth members mainly facilitated the course of the interviews.
Conclusion
The research was based on a qualitative analysis of documented perspectives, an assessment of policy analysis and the application of theoretical frameworks on food security, livelihoods, capabilities, rights and development. This analysis uses Sen's capability approach as a tool to assess to what extent and in what way rights and freedoms are perceived by rural youth in the research areas. This enables exploration of the implications that perceptions of rights and freedoms have on strategies for food security, rural livelihoods and development.
In addition, differentiation by age, gender, educational level and means of livelihood is discussed in the context of skills, rights and freedoms.
Capabilities and Entitlements: in context of youth perceptions on rights and freedoms What are needs, what are rights and freedoms? 299 Asking research participants exactly
Human Rights and Freedom
Exploring the concept of human rights also included food, and within a human rights discussion, most agreed that it was the responsibility of the state to safeguard or guarantee human rights; and this included food supplies. When discussing human rights, most students stated that it is the government's responsibility to guarantee human rights. Human rights were referred to as 'things we must do to protect people',315 'things that are important to people living in a world',316 'human rights are the ways in which every individual can be free in the country'. 317 During discussions there was a tendency to frame human rights in terms of safety and security.
This was also localized to include the right to "be heard by the government in the area we live".319 There was apparently a conflation of democracy, freedom and human rights.
Differentiation
Focus group discussions with high school students revealed that this professional perspective was felt by the students. Optimistic views of "freedom to achieve" and choice of options fell significantly when talking to young people who had matriculated but were unable to access or pursue higher education and those who did not complete high school . A home-based care trainee expressed “the municipality has money but does not want to use it to develop the community.
Home care practitioners also articulated different concerns and aspirations and perceptions of rights compared to high school students.
Democracy, Ideology and Capabilities
In different contexts, this reveals to some extent the impact of socio-political and economic effects on the valuation of rights and capabilities. In defining capabilities and the value placed on defining and demanding socio-economic rights, political freedoms can be of direct importance, instrumental and constructive. These expressions were often related to education and its role as a means of livelihood that provides the income necessary for a better life.
A better life was envisioned through the ability to secure a livelihood that would allow for upward social mobility, social status, and physical freedom.
Conclusion
The reality of limited access to tertiary education in South Africa even limits the opportunities offered to rural students. South Africa's inclusion of human and second-generation rights in its post-apartheid democratic constitution has influenced expectations and perspectives on the role of the state, communities and individuals in securing the right to food . Sen explores the interrelationships and historical constitutive ideas that shape the application of rights to development, and how “the language of rights can complement that of freedom.”
The Agrarian Question and Industrial Dispersion in South Africa: Agri-Industrial Linkages Through Asian Lenses.
