The socio-economic profile of urban farming and non-farming households in the informal settlement area of the Cape Town Metropole in South Africa

Abstract

Households in the informal settlement area of the Cape Town Metropolitan area face different challenges in terms of poverty and food security. Livelihood of households are determined by the social and economic circumstances these households subside in. A thorough analysis of these indicators is imperative to initiate development planning. This study looks at average household size, the average age of the household head, gender, education, ethnic group and household income. The average household size was 4.32 members, while the average age was 50. More female headed households formed part of the study, while 40.1% of the household heads had obtained some secondary level of education. Furthermore, most households were African and their main source of income came from formal salaries and wages. The results showed that additional sources of income are required to run a household, therefore, means of increasing household income, and in return, increasing food security, need to be investigated.

Keywords: Community gardens, food security, household gardens, urban agriculture