Socio-economic assessment of starter packs in poverty alleviation at Makhado Local Municipality

Abstract

The study was initiated to assess how the starter packs distributed under the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) by the Limpopo Department of Agriculture have been able to sustain home food production and improve the liveliho9ds of the rural recipients. The assessment involved a focus on the recipients' households, in terms of demographics, household income and expenditure, the challenges faced by households, household agricultural production and the perceptions by the extension officers regarding the CASP which was designed to alleviate poverty among the rural poor. The methods used for data collection for the study were purposive and systematic sampling methods. The purposive sampling was used to select the extension officers who were involved in the distribution of CASP inputs in their respective areas of operation while systematic sampling was used to select 100 household recipients of the starter packs.

The survey results showed that the majority of the beneficiaries were female while the average recipients were middle aged although youth and elderly people were also involved. About 71% of the gardeners were found to be operational; while 29% were not operational. The challenges facing the beneficiaries include fencing, water shortage, lack of technical skills and market constraints.

The sources of income among recipients were mainly from external sources (73%) as compared with internal sources (27%). The study further revealed that about 72% of the sampled households were found to be living below poverty level while 28% of the beneficiaries were found to be living above poverty level. This implies that start packs were able to alleviate the poverty of about 28% of the beneficiaries.