ABSTRACT

Understanding dynamics within rural households’ socio-economic behaviour is a prerequisite for effective design of intervention programmes targeting rural communities. This article seeks to understand how rural households’ lifestyles and livelihood strategies have changed over time regarding four key factors: income sources, food preferences, daily activities and investment strategies. A case study of Ndabakazi—a cluster of villages in Butterworth—is explored using a representative sample of 20 households in each village, drawn randomly from the four selected villages of the study. A questionnaire administered face-to-face using a local language was supplemented with focus group discussions. To achieve the study objectives, we took a retrospective and circumspective approach combined with thematic and descriptive analyses. The results show a change in rural households’ lifestyles, and this change can be linked to the rural development policies. First, we observed a change in income sources confirming the existing literature. Second, regarding food preference, traditional food is still preferred by household heads, although it is not consumed much. Due to improved basic services, daily activities have changed, implying less drudgery for women and children. We also observed a change in investment strategies away from farming to building decent homesteads and buying luxury furniture. Besides the change in income sources, the other key factors discussed in this article have received less attention in the literature, so this article extends the literature in this respect. Finally, the herein identified changes have implications for initiatives concerned with improving rural sociological aspects.

摘要

了解农村家庭社会经济行为的动态是有效设计针对农村社区的干预计划的先决条件。本文旨在了解农村家庭的生活方式和生计策略如何随着时间的推移在四个关键因素方面发生变化：收入来源、食物偏好、日常活动和投资策略。Ndabakazi 的案例研究（巴特沃思的一组村庄）使用每个村庄 20 户家庭的代表性样本进行了探索，样本是从研究的四个选定村庄中随机抽取的。使用当地语言进行面对面的问卷调查补充了焦点小组讨论。为了实现研究目标，我们采用了回顾性和前瞻性的方法，结合了主题和描述性分析。结果显示农村家庭的生活方式发生了变化，这种变化与农村发展政策有关。首先，我们观察到收入来源的变化证实了现有文献。其次，在食物偏好方面，传统食物仍然受到户主的喜爱，尽管它的消费量并不大。由于基本服务的改善，日常活动发生了变化，这意味着妇女和儿童的苦差事减少了。我们还观察到投资策略的变化，从农业转向建造体面的宅基地和购买豪华家具。除了收入来源的变化外，本文讨论的其他关键因素在文献中较少受到关注，因此本文对这方面的文献进行了扩展。最后，