Abstract
M.A. (Development Studies)
Food security has become a focus of governments and non-governmental development agencies alike, which now strive to implement programmes and projects that push towards the attainment of food security. Although South Africa as a country may be food secure, many households within the country are still faced with food insecurity. In an era where most of the urban poor rely on a monetised economy, urban agriculture has been recognised as a means to alleviate this problem. However, one of the key differences between programmes to promote urban agriculture is the form and extent of the beneficiaries’ participation in the implementation of these programmes. In addition, a key element of agriculture, that is, the development, use and adaptation of technology, comes into play. There is a need to develop technology in agriculture, and more so, in a participatory manner. There are many agencies that operate with this goal in mind in South Africa and one such project is the Izindaba Zokudla (IZ) project, whose Participatory Technology Development (PTD) took place with urban farmers in Soweto in 2014.
Based on this, the aim of this study was to examine the PTD that took place in the IZ project in 2014 in order to assess its impact and effectiveness. The research also sought to examine the project’s utilisation of PTD methods, as well as the extent to which the technology development was participatory. The study employed the use semi-structured interviews, focus groups and observation to obtain all of the data required. From the findings gathered, using Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation and Haverkort’s six steps in PTD as yardsticks, the study concluded that the project was not as participatory as it could have been; and did not fulfil all the steps of PTD.
The study identified communication, accountability, incongruence in planning and academic priorities as being the major problems and hindrances to the possible success of the PTD of the project. Despite this, the PTD was regarded as being effective in its capacity as a learning curve and; the accessibility of one the technologies was highlighted. Furthermore, the farmers reported having been made aware of their ability to adapt and find solutions to the problems that they face as farmers; and are now benefitting from a Farmer School implemented by the IZ project. This study was important in its capacity as a contribution to the documented analysis of the PTD process in the IZ project.