Efficiency of Homestead Gardens Farmers in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (Pathway to Food Security)

Background and Objective: Household food security is a global concern of which South Africa is not left out. Despite government spending on food security projects most of the rural households in the Eastern Cape are not food secure. This paper sought to examine the socioeconomic characteristics and the Technical Efficiency of homestead food farmers in South Africa (Eastern Cape Province) with a view to knowing the relevance of homestead gardens and their contributions to the food security drive. Materials and Methods: Two villages (Tyefu and Qamata) were purposively chosen and 60 households were randomly picked resulting in 120 homestead gardeners that were interviewed. Descriptive statistics, food security index and Stochastic Frontier Analysis were used to analyze the demographic features, food security and technical efficiency of these homestead gardeners, respectively. Results: It was discovered that 90% of these homestead gardens were not in use again, where they were in operations they were being operated by old women (Makhulu). As 92% of these farmers are of the age range 65-70 years. Maize, spinach, lettuce and other forms of vegetables were the dominant plants in these villages. As 68.14% of the respondents were food insecure while only 31.86% of them were food secure. The productivity of these gardeners is low but efficient in resource use. Conclusion: The importance of homestead food gardening in ensuring food security cannot be overlooked, hence, the call on the government to rebrand and promote homestead gardening as a pathway to the food security movement in the province.