Testing the application of social accounting matrix-based structural path analysis to urban agriculture in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

The study was conducted in order to test the application of the social accounting matrix-based structural path analysis to urban agriculture at the local level. This was part of an attempt to advance an alternative methodology that could guarantee higher levels of precision and reliability in the measurement and analysis of the role of urban agriculture. A quantitative field survey research design characterised by stratified random sampling of respondents and consultation of secondary SAM data based on South Africa already in the public domain were used. Field observation and administration of interviews were the main primary data collection methods. In-depth literature review helped to establish elements of SAM-based SPA and the conditions that favour its application to urban agriculture at the local level. The prerequisites for application of SPA include regular data capturing on the performance of an activity in local and national accounts and compilation of local SAMs. The lack of a local SAM for Lukhanji could not allow feeding the collected primary data into such a local SAM for analysis using the SimSIP SAM software. As a result of the dominance of subsistence farming operations in the study area the primary data generated could not be deployed in testing the requirements for application of SPA. Descriptive statistical techniques were applied to the primary data sets and inferential statistical methods including the Pearson's chi-square analysis and variance of analysis (ANOVA) were used to analyse primary data and to test the study hypotheses. The results show poor performance in terms of gross and net output value, contribution to household income, food security, low levels of participation in market processes, and employment in the local economy. These results reveal that little is known about the internal operations of urban agriculture. Quantitative based studies can help in bridging this gap. Lack of formalization, commercialization, low capital investment, minimal use of intensive farming techniques, minimal participation in the mainstream market economy are the key factors that impact urban agriculture performance in Lukhanji. Contemporary descriptive and qualitative-based studies have not generated sufficient statistics that can help in tracing the growth patterns of the activity over time and space. The environment that favours application of SPA to the activity requires the formalization and commercialization, regular capture of data on performance in local and national accounts, and compilation of local SAMs. The contribution of this research centres on several issues. It has highlighted current limitations in contemporary approaches in the study and analysis of urban agriculture. It has brought to the fore possibilities for the application of SPA method to raise the level of reliability in measurement of the activity. The study has shown that the nature of the activity is poorly understood partly because no standard classification framework exists and quantifying the contribution to the household economy remains an area requiring further research.