Food Security Governance and Small-Scale Farmers in South Africa

Bethuel Sibongiseni Ngcamu, Babalo Yekani

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040872864
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores the influence of policies and politics on food security governance at a local government level. It unravels new, and as yet, unknown, dimensions on how policy and decision-making incoherences, fragmentations, and disintegrations emerge with different stakeholders working in silos.

The book focuses on food security governance as it is grounded in different theories (Sabatier, the entrepreneurship theory, the incremental theory, the stakeholder theory, and the network governance theory) to study policy coherence and integrated stakeholder collaboration and connections to improve food security through small-scale farming at local level. The existing theories are tested, and new constructs are emerging to shape the international communities' thinking on food security and good governance. This book targets the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, wherein the government has invested a lot of funding for small-scale farming with the aim to increase food security, create job opportunities, and curb poverty amongst rural communities.

This cutting-edge and innovative book will appeal to students, researchers, and professionals in the fields of agricultural economics, food studies, public administration and management, economics, sociology, and human geography and will also be valuable to members of the local and international community.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• List of abbreviations
• 1 Introduction to food insecurity
• 2 Food security policy and decision-making coherence and fragmentations in municipalities
• 3 Understanding local economic development, policies, and food security
• 4 Bottom-up vs top-down approaches on food security: Stakeholder inclusion
• 5 Fragmented government structures on food security
• 6 Policymaking and policymaking influence on food security strategies
• 7 Political and cognitive factors, policy change, and food security
• 8 Risks and security, resource scarcity, and political conflicts affecting food security
• 9 Business opportunities and economic growth of small-scale farming
• 10 Cross-sectoral cooperation, coordination, and communication regarding food security
• 11 Reflections and solutions to food insecurity
• Index