Report on LEAP symposium 2007
A report with annexures reviewing lessons emerging Leap projects and partnerships, focusing on tenure in relation to a set of issues affecting poor people’s livelihoods and local economic development
A report with annexures reviewing lessons emerging Leap projects and partnerships, focusing on tenure in relation to a set of issues affecting poor people’s livelihoods and local economic development
The paper situates group ownership within the evolution of the land reform programme. The paper presents a group ownership and operations continuum which ranges from informal occupation of state land and production through to more formally structured and regulated production systems and tenure arrangements.
Land reform and rural development are routinely presented as key components of the poverty reduction strategy driven by the State. The restitution programme occupies a particular place in the broader land reform programme as it specifically seeks to redress the land dispossession which took place since 1913 and to alleviate the impoverishment and suffering it caused. Restitution is a hugely challenging undertaking which involves much more than the verification of claimants and the restoration of land.
This study develops and uses a programming model for farm-level resource use and output supply response to estimate the effects of agricultural land tax in South Africa: A case study of Free State, a region of extremely large commercial farms that gainedtheir size and economic heft during the apartheid years of aggressive subsidies, favorable tax treatment, lucrative state grants and gifts, and all manner of financial assistance. The resultsindicate that changes in land use and output supply are marginal. The highest effects areobserved on irrigated farming.
The world-wide trend of a growing organic sector is also detectable in South Africa. From 2000 to 2002 the number of farmers who had converted to organic farming in South Africa increased sixfold, and although organic farming still accounts only for a minute percentage of the total number agricultural producers, the increasing importance of this sector is apparent. Based on survey results, information was gathered about organic farmers in South Africa concerning socio-demographic aspects, farming operations, motivations and problems of the conversion process.
The South African government initiated the land reform program in 1994, which is facilitated by the Department of Land Affairs. The land reform programme has three divisions, namely redistribution, restitution and land tenure. The main objectives of land reform since its inception are poverty alleviation, justice, food security, rural transformation, economic growth and to readdress the landless, the poor, women, the disposed and the previously disadvantaged to acquire land. The question can be asked: Has land reform achieved its goals in the past 10 years since its inception?
The main objective of this paper is to report preliminary findings on the recent trends in agricultural land prices in South Africa against the backdrop of growing concerns over their rising levels. Given the important role of land prices, the impact such increases would have on significant national development efforts, including the on-going land reform programme and other aspects of agricultural restructuring, provide strong justification for this investigation.
Low soil fertility is a major concern in agricultural productivity and development policy discourse in sub-saharan Africa. The problem is exacerbated by government withdrawal from fertilizer input markets and the inability of private sector operators to fill the gap. This warranted a search for other nutrient sources to supplement chemical fertilizers.
The restructuring process of the food markets in South Africa is at an advanced stages of consolidation and the emergence dominance of few supermarket chains expanding into non-traditional areas, through franchise format stores and forecourt stores overtaking informal wet markets and green grocers. The growth has been followed by consolidation of the procurement system from a decentralised to a centralised procurement and distribution mechanism replacing the wholesaling function of the National Fresh Produce Markets.
This chapter is an initial exploration and sharing of experiences and ideas based largely on a case study of a group of small farmers who have occupied and are producing on land that they believe they have an historical right to. The group, called Mahlahluvani – although they include people from other communities and claimant groups – are part of a land claim that has been lodged on the land they now occupy, but the claim is not yet settled.
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