The passing of the Land Expropriation Without Compensation bill by the South African parliament with overwhelming support by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has instigated uncertainties in the country's property rights and agricultural production.

It has been decades since Africa’s independence, and the peasants (rural land cultivators) are still suffering. How did Africa ignore the agricultural sector, after the peasants ushered the continent’s independence? Agriculture has become Africa’s “sunset” sector making the continent the most impoverished region, with over 70% rural poverty, heavy dependence on donor food aid valued at over US$ 51 million annually and high rates of unemployment.  At least Africa is now embarking on agrarian reforms after years of neo-colonialism.    

By Tim Hanstad, Co-Founder & Senior Advisor, Landesa

This is the second blog in a series of two that are based on a keynote address made at the 2018 India Land Development Conference.

Uno de los aspectos más difíciles y problemáticos en el Acuerdo de Paz tiene que ver con el ordenamiento social de la propiedad y el uso de la tierra. Las clases dirigentes y el Estado colombiano fracasaron en la implementación de las reformas rurales de 1936 y 1961, con las que se pretendió la pacificación de la sociedad colombiana mediante la articulación de una reforma agraria con una reforma política. ¿Estamos ante la posibilidad de un nuevo fracaso del problema agrario tras el Acuerdo con las Farc?