Towards the global zero poverty agenda: examining the multidimensional poverty situation in South Africa

The vulnerability of smallholder farmers to multidimensional poverty in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa was assessed, using the Alkire Foster multidimensional poverty index developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings show that the deprivation indicator ranges from 5 to 90%, revealing that access to a flush toilet facility is an imperative factor towards the households’ standard of living (SDG11). Also, 66% and 55% were deprived of food security (SDG2) and education (SDG4), respectively. The probit analysis result revealed that gender, remittances, crop diversification (CDV), education, seasonal farming and market outlets significantly influence the multidimensional poverty and vulnerability poverty of rural households in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. For instance, factors such as household size showed that an additional unit increase in the size of a household would result in a 5% increase in the chances of the household’s vulnerability to multidimensional poverty. Likewise the extension contact, a unit increase resulted in 49% in the households’ vulnerability to multidimensional poverty. The study suggests that policies related to improving education, increasing CDV, promoting farmer groups and the effectiveness of extension contact, and increasing market stability for sales of farm products could contribute to reducing the multidimensional poverty level and the vulnerability of households. © The Author(s) 2023.