COMMERCIALISATION OF SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE AS A STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN THE KING SABATHA DALINDYEBO LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

Abstract The study investigated whether commercialisation of subsistence agriculture can reduce poverty in the King Sabatha Dalindyebo Local Municipality. The study also sought to identify the constraints that hinder subsistence farmers in the commercialization of their agricultural produce, measured the degree of commercialisation among small scale crop farmers and made recommendations that will facilitate increased commercialisation among small holder crop producers in the study area. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the King Sabatha Dalindyebo Local Municipality. A quantitative research method was used in the study. To achieve these objectives data were collected using a structured questionnaire. This was followed by data analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS). The study made use of the Household Commercialisation Index (HCI) to measure the level of commercialisation among the farmers in the study area. An Ordinary least squares regression (OLS) analysis on the determinants of commercialisation was also conducted. Poverty was measured using income generated by farmers from the sale of their produce and bench-marked with the food poverty line of South Africa in 2017 year prices as stipulated by STATSSA. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to measure poverty against independent variables. It emerged from the study that 74% percent of the farmers fall below the halfway mark of the commercialisation treshhold. The regression analysis showed that three variables were significant for commercialisation. These were farming experience, access to credit and other sources of income. The farming experience was the variable with the strongest significance level, and hence affects the Household Commercialisation Index (dependent variable). The only variable that was not significant is the plot size. The analysis of results for poverty reduction revealed that the Household Commercialisation Index (HCI), access to credit and educational level were significant for poverty reduction and hence are said to be the necessary economic variables that improved the welfare of farmers. The variables that were not Significant were the size of the plot, access to extension services, access to irrigation and savings. The study also revealed that the constraints that are faced by the farmers in the King Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) are inadequate extension facilities, poor road and irrigation infrastructure, lack of access to credit, unfenced ploughing field, poor storage facilities and lack of access to the market. The recommendations of the research study were that there is a need for the government, both at a local and national level to intervene Walter Sisulu University ii by providing the necessary support to improve the welfare of the farmers in the region. It is further suggested that extension services should be improved to enhance agricultural skills and increase productivity