Rural Livelihoods and Food Security in Southern Africa

Rural livelihoods in Southern Africa encompass a mosaic of smallholder agriculture, non-farm labour, remittances and communal resources that collectively underpin food security for millions. Smallholder farmers manage home gardens, subsistence cropping and livestock rearing under highly variable climates, fragmentary land tenure and limited infrastructure. Successive declines in cultivated area have been driven by deagrarianisation, where households disengage from farming in favour of wage labour or social grants, eroding social cohesion and traditional reciprocity. Climate variability, manifested in erratic rainfall, drought and temperature extremes, further undermines crop yields, compelling farmers to adopt adaptive strategies such as diversified planting calendars, drought-resistant varieties and integrated agroforestry. Livelihood diversification, including petty trade, community co-operatives and off-farm employment, has emerged as a critical buffer, yet inequities in land access, gender roles and policy support often skew benefits towards better connected households. Regional trade and cross-border exchanges offer new opportunities, yet infrastructural gaps and market volatility pose challenges. Strengthening rural livelihoods requires holistic approaches that integrate local knowledge, climate resilience and inclusive governance, thereby enhancing food security, economic wellbeing and ecosystem stewardship across Southern Africa’s diverse agroecological zones.

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Rural Livelihoods and Food Security in Southern Africa publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in rural livelihoods and food security in southern africa across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Deagrarianisation: The process by which rural households disengage from agricultural activities, often in favour of non-farm income sources.

Smallholder farmer: A household engaged in low-input, labour-intensive farming on plots typically less than two hectares, relying on family labour.

Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI): A climatic index that quantifies drought by combining precipitation and potential evapotranspiration anomalies.

Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS): A survey tool used to measure the severity and frequency of food insecurity experiences at the household level.

References

1. Social drivers and differentiated effects of deagrarianisation: A longitudinal study of smallholder farming in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. Journal of Rural Studies (2024).
2. Influences of Climate Variability on Land Use and Land Cover Change in Rural South Africa. Remote Sensing (2024).
3. Household food security contextualised: A comparison of Ambros and Maramanzhi villages, South Africa. Heliyon (2024).