Climate Land & Agrofood Systems [CLAS]

Revisiting how South African Agrarian Households Work and Live

The Climate Land and Agrofood Systems (CLAS) team in EEE has been appointed to conduct the 2023 Agrarian Rural Household Economy (ARHE) study. Tshintsha Amakhaya (TA), an activist collective that advocates for people’s rights to land and agrarian livelihoods, commissioned this study as a follow-up to their 2011 research. The appointment of HSRC to undertake this study flows from our recognised expertise in this field and our ability to carry out large-scale research with pro-poor outcomes.

The main aim of the 2023 study is to document the working and living conditions among small farming households and farmworkers in South Africa. Standout markers of the makeup of these agrarian households will be explored in addition to livelihood catalysts. Women, for example, form a substantial majority of agrarian labour. However, gender equity policies often coexist with deep-rooted barriers that block women’s control over and access to land, agricultural inputs and crop and livestock outputs. Gender inequalities in agrarian activities also show up in climate dynamics and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in these settings.

To inform the activism and advocacy of Tshintsa Amakhaya affiliates, the 2023 study will combine insights from key informant interviews and a survey of agrarian households across 12 districts. Where feasible, the results of the 2023 study will also be compared with the 2011 findings to help map the nature and direction of any changes that may have occurred over slightly more than a decade. How the experiences of agrarian households in South Africa compare with what is happening elsewhere in the global south will be done through a purposeful review of country cases. Tshintsa Amakhaya formed a research reference group to oversee project implementation, offer feedback on substantive resource outputs, facilitate access to research sites and promote the outcomes of this research through their networks.

Enumerators trained for 2023 agrarian household survey

A research team in the Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) reached a key milestone in the 2023 status report on agrarian livelihoods. To prepare for the collection of survey data from farm workers and small farmers, a lively and intensive week of fieldworker training was held in the Cape Town office of the HSRC. Tshintsha Amakhaya (TA), the project funder and chief beneficiary, requested the EEE-team to also train their own fieldworkers who reside in the 12 districts where the survey will be administered.

Figure 1: Fieldwork training participants and partners, Cape Town HSRC -09 to 13 October 2023

This TA request demanded an adaptation of traditional instruction-based models of capacitating enumerators. Training followed a participatory approach to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the survey instrument by all participants for its accurate administration. Additionally, the training equipped fieldworkers with a deeper understanding of the research process at various stages, emphasizing the critical value of accurate data collection for research. Throughout the training, the EEE-team prioritized skills transfers to participants from remote localities across targeted study districts. The training blended theory and its practical application, which include engaging in roleplay exercises, translating the survey tools (such as enumerator guides and consent forms) from English into the other 10 official languages, and gaining proficiency in data capture techniques using REDCAP, a digital tool for survey data collection.

Tshintsha Amakhaya (TA), an alliance of land and agrarian rights civil society groups, commissioned the EEE team with expertise on climate dynamics, land and agrofood systems research to conduct the 2023 survey. For more information about this study, please visit: https://hsrc.ac.za/news/latest-news/landmark-study-kicks-off-investigating-how-south-african-agrarian-households-work-and-live/

Data collection phases to kick off

The HSRC invites small farmers, farmworkers and farm dwellers to participate in the study over the next few weeks. See below for all the details:

Call-for-proposalsDownload

Data collection on agrarian livelihoods progressing well

HSRC fieldworkers are visiting districts across South Africa to conduct research on how people earn a living through farming, specifically to understand the challenges experienced by marginalised farming communities. The 2023 Agrarian Rural Household Economy study was commissioned by Tshintsha Amakhaya, an activist collective that advocates for people’s rights to land and agrarian livelihoods.

In October and November 2023, the fieldworkers collected data from small farmers, farm workers and other farm dwellers in Bojanala (North West), Amajuba (KwaZulu-Natal), Namakwa (Northern Cape), Ehlanzeni (Mpumalanga), Amathole (Eastern Cape), and the Cape Winelands (Western Cape).

At the outset, the team leading this new survey realised that it is not easy to coordinate data collection in the 12 districts, spread across all provinces. The survey sites are predominantly rural, remote, sparsely populated and with untarred roads. These sites pose tough logistical and linguistic obstacles. Moreover, safety concerns demand extraordinary efforts in negotiating entry into these localities and convincing individuals and communities to partake in the survey.

Emerging scholars in the HSRC’s Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) division have been leading the data collection activities, which started on 23 October. As representatives of the HSRC in the field, they must uphold the ethical standards of social science research during their interviews with study participants. They are also guiding fieldworkers from Tshintsha Amakhaya to help them acquire survey enumerator skills through learning-by-doing.


Teams conducting the survey in the designated districts enjoy the assistance of administrators and a data quality controller. The steady progress and quality of data streaming into the REDCAP online platform show that the brief but intensive training for enumerators is bearing fruit. Parallel to the survey, key informant interviews with state and non-state actors in the land and agrarian sector are beginning to fill knowledge gaps about the broader context, including the effects of Covid-19 and climate change in these settings.

Read more about the training of enumerators here.

For more information about this study, click here.

One Food Risk Tool: a tool to assess the impact of hazards related to food systems

A team of EEE researchers has been instrumental in positioning the HSRC as one of the main partners developing the One Food idea. The One Food idea emphasises identification and control of food systems hazards to ensure food and nutrition security is achieved without compromising economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

The team is leading contributions on how the human and social sciences can be incorporated into One Food approaches and methodologies to ensure its effectiveness in informing policy actions. The One Food project partners are institutions from South Africa and the UK, including the HSRC. Currently, the various One Food project partners are contributing to the development of a One Food Risk Tool. The tool will be used to quantify the impact of hazards associated with food systems.

As part of the development of the tool, Vandudzai Mbanda, Peter Jacobs and Sisonke Mtyapi from the Climate, Land and Agro-Food Systems (CLAS) team in the HSRC’s EEE division will be part of the One Food Risk Tool Workshop taking place from 27–29 February 2024, at the CSIR International Conference Centre, in Pretoria.

The purpose of the workshop is threefold:

(i) to demonstrate the prototype Risk Tool,

(ii) to generate cross-discipline debates on how to assess hazards associated with food systems, and

(iii) to test the tool and scoring system. Hazards related to food systems that will be tested during the workshop include biological, chemical, physical, human and socio-economic hazards.

Specifically, the tool testing involves identifying:

(i) the hazard which causes the risk,

(ii) the impact(s) associated with that hazard,

(iii) the population at risk, and

(iv) the level of exposure to members of the ‘at-risk population’.

The workshop aims to end with ideas on how the One Food Risk Tool can be used in practice and what it can achieve for South Africa.

View and download the HSRC’s One food: social sciences advisory report from the repository here.