THE AGRARIAN RURAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY

any kind of waged employment. Our sample finds a
much higher percentage of waged employment: indeed,
it is the primary source of income for almost 60% of
individuals in the survey. This does not automatically
mean it is the highest source of income for the household,
especially where the average household income (below)
is around R2,600/month. This points to very low wages
that can be outstripped by the value of social grants,
low as they are, as the primary source of income for
households. This line of enquiry may be followed up in
future, to obtain more specific indications of household
sources of income.
Own business or self-employed was given as the main
source of income for 4.1% of the sample, compared with
FIGURE 15: SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME (N=1,510)
Pension and
other grants
Wages perm
off farm
Wages casual
off farm
Agricultural production: Earlier we saw that 28% of
respondents were classified by household members as
farmers. Yet agricultural production is the main source of
income in only 2.2% of cases, with another 6% relying
on agriculture as a secondary source of income. This
suggests either that those who consider themselves farmers
are not producing food for one reason or another or are
producing but are not selling. There is a long history of
low income from agriculture in South African rural
households outside of commercial agriculture. The 1993
SALDRU survey 4 showed that agricultural production (both
sold and consumed) constituted just 3.4% of total
household income nationally, and 6.8% in KZN (May,
1996:17). The 1997 Rural Survey (Stats SA, 1999) showed
THE AGRARIAN RURAL HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY REPORT
5.5% who indicated that their main form of employment
was own business or self-employment (Table 6). The
category ‘own business’ includes taxi owners, spaza
shops and funeral parlour owners and informal trader.
In comparison, the 2010 GHS (Stats SA, 2011a:37)
indicates 13% of households derived their main source
of income from own business, but that includes urban
households. In the S&T survey (2008:14), 12% of
respondents in ISRDP nodes had some kind of income
from own business. This could indicate a slightly wider
group which does not get its main income from this
source, but does get some. In our survey another 5% of
respondents indicated own business as a secondary
source of income (Figure 15), making 9% in total.
Wages perm
on farm
Wages
seasonal/
casual on farm
Own business
or self
employment
Agric
production Other
that farming was the main source of income for only
2.7% of rural households. The picture has therefore not
changed much since the 1990s in this regard. .
This is not to say that everyone doing agriculture should
rely on it as their primary source of income. Historical
data show that the poorest households rely on agricultural
production most heavily for own consumption, even if it
is small amounts, while richer households tend to use
agriculture as an income generator (May, 1996:23). .
4 Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development, based on a
survey of 9000 urban and rural households, and 40000 people
42