One of the most important challenges facing the South African agriculture sector is the empowerment of previously disadvantaged people.

There is now a widespread consensus on the importance of social security programs- or more specifically, social welfare programs and safety nets-as a key component of a public policy poverty reduction strategy (World Bank 1990; Graham 1994; van de

Following considerable political, social, institutional, and economic transformation­s, particularly in the last 5 to 10 years, Southern Africa today, more than ever before, has the potential assure a better and more secure world for its people no

Lack of water resources is beginning to limit socioeconomic development i n most parts of the world, and Southern Africa is no exception.

What insights for Southern Africa can be gained from studying the income-generating decisions of small farmers both there and in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa?

Poverty and malnutrition are significant problems in South Africa. The vast majority of poor people in the country are black and live in rural areas (RDP 1995; SALDRU 1994).

After decades of political, economic, and social turmoil, the countries of Southern Africa are entering a new economic and political future.

Food security refers primarily to the availability of and access to food at the individual, household, village, regional, national, and even global level.

Inadequate growth in food production and increasingly scarce water pose serious constraints to food security and future economic development in Southern Africa.' Much of the region is semi-arid or arid, so that irrigation is required to stabilize