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

Abstract

In the South African context, as well as elsewhere in sub-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 on these promising possibilities for family farming by implementing a land reform that improves the access of the poor to productive assets including not only land but also micro-credit, access to inputs, marketing facilities, and extension advice. “Possibilities” are not the theme of this paper, partly because the theoretical underpinnings and flawed logic of these arguments for redistributive land reform and smallholder support have been criticised in earlier work (Sender and Johnston 2004).