Resource information
The Committee was briefed by the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) on the expenditure trends and performance of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) and its entities for 2014/15 and the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.
The FFC said the rural share of poverty fell from 70% in 1993 to 57% in 2008 as a result of an improvement in household welfare due to social grant expenditure and migration to urban areas. Access to basic services had increased, but at slower pace than in urban areas. Rural areas were still characterized by significant poverty and inequality, however. As many as one in five children experienced stunted growth, and rural households paid more for a basket of food than urban households. There was extreme differentiation in rural towns in terms of settlement types and economic activity.
