Henning de Klerk CAPRI PhD Candidate Department of Anthropology Rhodes University henning.deklerk@gmail.com

1. Rural Livelihood Dynamics in “Transkei”:The Relevance for Agriculture and Extension Paper presented at the Third CAPRI Seminar for Extension Innovation in South Africa4-5 December 2008 Henning de Klerk CAPRI PhD Candidate Department of Anthropology Rhodes University henning.deklerk@gmail.com

2. Structure of presentation • What is a livelihood? • Historical context of livelihoods in Nqabarha • Research questions for a better understanding of livelihoods and agricultural extension policy and practice

3. Thinking about agriculture and extension from a livelihoods perspective • What is a livelihood? Enabling environment Making aliving The composition of an overall livelihood portfolio shapes people’s involvement in agriculture and should be considered in extension policy and practice Assets/ capitals Capabilities Actions Vulnerability context

4. Agriculture and livelihoods in coastal wards of Mbhashe local municipality, Eastern Cape

5. Main trends in livelihood practices since the mid-1900s • Continuing importance of migration to seek employment in urban areas, but long-term, stableemployment increasingly difficult to obtain • Continuing importance of agriculture to supplement food requirements of non-migrants, but changes in the type of agricultural practices • Increasing importance of social welfare grants • Increasing importance of a diverse array of small-scale entrepreneurial activities along the rural-urban continuum

6. Main trends in agricultural practices since the mid-1900s Cultivation in homestead gardens increases in importance while cultivation in extensive ploughing fields becomes less important • Home-gardens are fenced, are planted with a wider diversity of crops, receive supplementary irrigation and manure and are more continuously cultivated; • This represents a means to reduce the risk involved with extensive agriculture, and a means to address shortages of labour (of both human and animal labour) during certain periods in the agricultural season • Since per homestead cattle holdings have decreased, and informal networks of cooperation have come under strain, more homesteads are turning to the use of tractors, mules, horses or ploughing by hand-held hoes.

7. Cultivation of extensive ploughing fields in Nqabara 2001 1961

8. A better understanding of livelihoods for improved relevance of agricultural extension policy and practice • Agriculture and land tenure practices • Agriculture and patterns of migration • Agriculture and access to income through social welfare grants, as well as the dynamics of decision-making over the use of this income • Agriculture and patterns of entrepreneurship in the rural-urban continuum • Agriculture and social networks and patterns of cooperation

9. Agriculture and land tenure practices • How do the legacies of past land use and tenure decisions (eg. Betterment Planning, various successive forestry and conservation authorities) continue to influence current access to land and its use? • What de facto land tenure practices are emerging in a land management context characterised by a legislative and institutional vacuum, especially in the light of new patterns of migration between rural and urban areas?

10. Agriculture and patterns of migration • What part of migrants’ income and remittances are invested in agriculture, and who is involved in homestead decision-making over this income? • Who are involved and what are the characteristics of agricultural commodity chains through which agricultural inputs (seeds, seedlings, herbicides, pesticides, fertilisers, tools, information) and produce travel to and from rural villages? • What are the networks of information to which migrants have access in urban and rural areas and how does this influence their (homestead’s) involvement in rural agriculture?

11. Agriculture and access to and allocation of income through social welfare grants • What part of income from social welfare grants are invested in agriculture? • What are the dynamics of homestead decision-making over income from social welfare grants?

12. Agriculture and patterns of entrepreneurship along the rural-urban continuum • National and regional economies are becoming increasingly integrated with rural economies, especially in towns that serve as rural trade and service centres, what are the characteristics of this economic integration and what do these imply for availability of agricultural inputs and the marketing of agricultural products? • Which current small-scale entrepreneurial activities are associated with or influence rural agriculture?

13. Agriculture and social networks and patterns of cooperation • Which informal networks of cooperation and sharing (of labour, implements and information) are important in current agricultural practices? • What are the social networks which support the development and sharing of agricultural knowledge and innovation?