Survival Strategies among Rural Swazi Households: Historical, Ecological and Social Dimensions

Abstract

Summary Catherine M. Marquette and Francisco Pichón, ‘Survival Strategies among Rural Swazi Housholds: Historical, Ecological and Social Dimensions’, Forum for Development Studies, 1997:2, pp. 307–320. The survival strategies of rural Swazi households (their dependence on off-farm labour, their lack of agricultural surplus and their lower reliance on farm production in general) have most frequently been explained in terms of rational economic behaviour. This article discusses other important historical, sociocultural, ecological and gender-related factors which have also shaped survival strategies among rural Swazi households in this century. Data referred to include the 1995 Swaziland Household Income and Expenditure Survey (SHIES), a recent 1996 Participatory Poverty Assessment conducted by the World Bank and historical sources. Diversified patterns of economic activity among Swazi households are traced back to economic and land-use changes occurring from the beginning of the century, traditional land distribution and tenure practices, ecological differences and customs regarding women. Given the traditionally diversified nature of their survival strategies, the future economic welfare of rural Swazi households, it is concluded, will depend on (1) continuing to combine wage labour with agricultural activity, (2) using farm technologies which respond more to farmer demands and local conditions and (3) improving women's access to agricultural inputs.