Browsing by Author "Tapela, Barbara"
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Item Joint ventures and livelihoods in emerging small-scale irrigation schemes in Greater Sekhukhune District : Perspectives from Hereford(PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, 2005-09) Tapela, BarbaraThis report is based on research carried out between June 2003 and April 2005 in the Greater Sekhukhune Cross-Border District Municipality, which straddles the boundaries of the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. This research took place in two case-study sites, namely the Hereford and the Phetwane Irrigation Schemes. However, this report focuses on findings from Hereford only. The research was primarily concerned with the impact of BEE, articulated through joint ventures, on the ‘livelihoods’ of people living in emerging small-scale irrigation schemes in some of the least affluent rural areas within the municipality.Item Strategies to support South African smallholders as a contribution to government’s second economy strategy: Volume 1: Situation analysis, fieldwork findings and main conclusions(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010) Aliber, Michael; Baiphethi, Mompati; de Satge, Rick; Denison, Jonathan; Hart, Tim; Jacobs, Peter; van Averbeke, Wim; Alcock, Rauri; Antwi, Mike; Belete, Abenet; Cousins, Ben; Field, Larry; Mariga, Irvine; Masika, Patrick; Materechera, Simeon; Mayson, David; Monde, Nomakhaya; Tapela, BarbaraWithin the ambit of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa, government is leading a process to define a Second Economy Strategy. One of the opportunities that has been identified is the agricultural sector, in particular fostering a larger number of smallholder agriculturalists. The study seeks to identify the key elements of an implementable programme to support the smallholder sector. The core of the exercise entailed identifying successful South African smallholders active in different settings, and examining the factors that contribute to their success, whether these are personal, contextual, institutional, etc. Although the study was not designed as an evaluation of interventions as such, in the process of conducting the smallholder case studies (and in combination with an extensive literature review), the efficacy and relevance of different intervention and support strategies also came into focus.Item Water for agrarian reform and rural poverty eradication: Where is the leak?(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2010) Schreiner, Barbara; Tapela, Barbara; van Koppen, BarbaraThe distribution of water use is undoubtedly the sharpest inequality inherited from the past in South Africa, with a Gini Coefficient of 0.96 and higher. Unfortunately, as the review in this paper suggests, the gap is even further widening for the large majority of black communities in informal rural and peri-urban areas. Neither government nor civil society has been very effective in tapping the potential of water storage and infrastructure development on a large enough scale to mitigate seasonal and annual variability and unpredictability of rainfall and, thus, to improve year-round productivity of agriculture-based livelihood strategies, such as cropping, horticulture, livestock, tree growing, brick making, crafts, and small-scale enterprises. The paper’s analysis highlights that a champion department for storage and infrastructure development, which coordinates well with other departments, is lacking in post-1994 South Africa. The Department of Water Affairs has mainly been focusing on the regulation of existing and new large-scale water uses, among others through the new water entitlements regime of water use licenses. International experience has shown that formal license systems tend to ignore well-functioning informal arrangements, while privileging the administration-proficient. In spite of pertinent legal and policy statements about the re-allocation of water from the haves to the have-nots, the Water Allocation Reform (WAR) programme, led by the Department of Water Affairs since 2005, has had little impact. The legal option of priority General Authorizations for small-scale water uses, based on a quantification of the inequities, is proposed as an alternative or additional approach. The drastic withdrawal of pre-1994 support to smallholder irrigation schemes by the Department of Agriculture led to widespread partial or full collapse of irrigation schemes. The revitalization of these schemes appears highly problematic. Joint ventures tend to generate a small group of elite ‘arm-chair farmers’ at the expense of many more plot holders whose land is taken. In the meantime, the scarce remaining water resources are rapidly taken up by the minority formal economy, which fiercely protects this expansion. Indeed, for most rural and peri-urban poor, their own informal initiative is the major way to obtain access to water for productive uses. In various pockets, such informal water development is vibrant. The paper concludes with the importance of recognizing and building on these informal arrangements.