Towards integrated sustainable rural development in the Ugu District, KwaZulu/Natal South Coast
type: CreativeWork
description: The Ugu District is characterised by economic duality* where poverty co-exists with affluence. This duality persists even within the rural areas. Whereas the commercial farming sector were characterised by undemtilisation of agricultural land, the subsistence agricultural sector is characterised by overpopulation, land degradation, low agricultural productivity and underdevelopment. The helpless subsistence farmers have been further victimised by marginal and erratic rainfall, marginal soils, and the frequency of natural hazards such as drought, floods, hail, frost and disease that have frequently inflicted heavy losses in agricultural production over the years. They lacked mfrastructure such as roads, electricity supply, clean tap water, sanitation, health facilities and training centres for skills development. The rural population is characterised by high fertility rate, high man/land ratios, high unemployment rate, high illiteracy rate, high dependency ratio, low-income levels and poverty. The abuse and mismanagement of agricultural land resources through the cutting of trees for fuel, overgrazing, and overcultivation was a common phenomenon among the poverty stricken population The challenge facing South Africa is to find ways and means of achieving overall economic growth and reduction in the level of poverty while maintaining me ecological integrity of the resource base. South Africa has formally embarked on a national Local Agenda 21 campaign, assisting local authorities to make the global agenda towards sustainable development part of every day activities. Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit is based on the belief that unless sustainable development is placed at the top of the international development agenda, the global environmental degradation will continue to marginalise the poor, damage human health, slow down growth and world food productivity (Johnston, 1993). Environment is interpreted very broadly to include physical, biological, social, economic, and…
abstract: The Ugu District is characterised by economic duality* where poverty co-exists with affluence. This duality persists even within the rural areas. Whereas the commercial farming sector were characterised by undemtilisation of agricultural land, the subsistence agricultural sector is characterised by overpopulation, land degradation, low agricultural productivity and underdevelopment. The helpless subsistence farmers have been further victimised by marginal and erratic rainfall, marginal soils, and the frequency of natural hazards such as drought, floods, hail, frost and disease that have frequently inflicted heavy losses in agricultural production over the years. They lacked mfrastructure such as roads, electricity supply, clean tap water, sanitation, health facilities and training centres for skills development. The rural population is characterised by high fertility rate, high man/land ratios, high unemployment rate, high illiteracy rate, high dependency ratio, low-income levels and poverty. The abuse and mismanagement of agricultural land resources through the cutting of trees for fuel, overgrazing, and overcultivation was a common phenomenon among the poverty stricken population The challenge facing South Africa is to find ways and means of achieving overall economic growth and reduction in the level of poverty while maintaining me ecological integrity of the resource base. South Africa has formally embarked on a national Local Agenda 21 campaign, assisting local authorities to make the global agenda towards sustainable development part of every day activities. Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit is based on the belief that unless sustainable development is placed at the top of the international development agenda, the global environmental degradation will continue to marginalise the poor, damage human health, slow down growth and world food productivity (Johnston, 1993). Environment is interpreted very broadly to include physical, biological, social, economic, and…
author: Ngwabi, Good-Enough Thembinkosi.
keywords: Rural development-environmental aspects., Sustainable development., Land use, Rural--Planning., Rural population.
license: https://devspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/eda1e16b-903e-4bfd-98ec-d2b9490cbb0a/download
date published: 2003
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:17:03Z
provider: University of Zululand
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Zululand