Join us for the last seminar for this semester in our Responding to Climate Change Seminar Series.
18 JUNE : ‘Investigating the Sensitivity of Household Food Security to Agriculture-related Shocks and the Implication of Informal Social Capital and Natural Resource Capital: The Case of Rural Households in Mpumalanga, South Africa ’
By Martine Visser (ACDI Research Chair, School of Economics)
Where: Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Studio 5, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town.
When: Wednesdays @ lunch time (13h00-14h00).
Abstract: Chronic food insecurity combined with climate and weather variability has led to the adoption of less conventional adaptation methods in rural resource-poor settings. This paper therefore examines the impact of agriculture-related shocks on the consumption patterns of rural households. We use a relatively new and unique three years Sustainability in Communal Socio-Ecological Systems (SUCSES) panel of households from rural Mpumalanga in South Africa who rely on small-scale homestead farming. Overall we make two key observations pertaining to rural settings. First, the shocks reduce households’ food availability. Second, natural resource capital (e.g. bushmeat, edible wild fruits, vegetables and insects) and informal social capital (ability to ask for food assistance from neighbours, friends and relatives) somewhat counteracts this reduction and sustains households dietary requirements
(Byela Tibesigwa, Martine Visser and Wayne Twine)
Bio: Martine Visser is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics, University of Cape Town and holds a Ph.D. from Gothenburg University in Sweden. She is further associated with various research units within the School of Economics, including the Environmental-Economics Policy Research Unit (EPRU), the Research Unit of Behavioral and Neuro-economics Research (RUBEN) and the South African Labour Development Research Unit (SALDRU). Martine specializes in behavioral economic applications to climate change, natural resource use, health and poverty alleviation. She is interested in how social norms and preferences such as trust, cooperation and risk aversion impacts on decision making..