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Water Poverty and Rural Development: Evidence from South Africa

Author

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  • Matshe, Innocent
  • Moyo-Maposa, Sibonginkosi
  • Zikhali, Precious

Abstract

Using household data from the 2009 General Household Survey, this paper examines the role of natural resource scarcity in rural development in South Africa, with a particular focus on water scarcity. It seeks to examine whether there is a direct link between household water and economic poverty of rural households, with households’ total monthly income used as an indicator of economic poverty. An adaptation of a comprehensive water poverty index, which considers water access, quality, use, and water-related environmental aspects is used to measure household-level water poverty. The empirical analysis uses an instrumental variable estimation framework in order to deal with the potential endogeneity between water and economic poverty. Results support the existence of a direct link between water and economic poverty, with water-poor households likely to be economically poor. In particular, the results suggest that access to good quality water from a reliable source significantly enhances rural households’ economic status. Also, access to water determines the realized impact of overall water poverty on a household’s economic status. The paper thus cautions development policy not to treat water and economic poverty in isolation; there is need for development policy in South Africa to streamline water use in rural development. In addition, development policies need to take into account the role of household heterogeneity in conditioning both household water and economic poverty levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Matshe, Innocent & Moyo-Maposa, Sibonginkosi & Zikhali, Precious, 2013. "Water Poverty and Rural Development: Evidence from South Africa," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 8(2), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:afjare:160632
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.160632
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Molden, D. & Amarasinghe, U. & Hussain, I., 2001. "Water for rural development: Background paper on water for rural development prepared for the World Bank," IWMI Working Papers H029260, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Lars Osberg & Kuan Xu, 2008. "How Should We Measure Poverty in a Changing World? Methodological Issues and Chinese Case Study," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 419-441, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. A. Majeed Nadeem & Roland Cheo & Huang Shaoan, 2018. "Multidimensional Analysis of Water Poverty and Subjective Well-Being: A Case Study on Local Household Variation in Faisalabad, Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 207-224, July.

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