Policy Briefs

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/19

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Browsing by Subject "Agriculture"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Can agriculture contribute to inclusive rural economies?
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) du Toit, Andries
    If agricultural development is to contribute to economic growth, it has to do more than increase the productivity or efficiency of farming. It also needs to contribute to employment in the rural non-farm sector. This is because increases in the intensity, efficiency or competitiveness of agriculture often push large numbers of people off the land – and opportunities for finding alternative employment in the cities are scarce. Inclusive growth thus also depends on the development of an inclusive and diverse rural non-farm economy (RNFE). This is something often ignored both by agricultural and labour market policy. Policymakers, therefore, need to ask how different pathways of agricultural development affect non-farm employment. Research conducted by PLAAS indicates that agricultural development can indeed stimulate local non-farm job creation – but the links are neither simple nor direct. While access by farmers to lucrative global markets or national markets can stimulate the local economy, much depends on the precise nature of the forward and backward linkages that connect farming to the rest of the economy. The ability of farming to stimulate the RNFE depends greatly on the scale of agriculture, the social and spatial organisation of agricultural value chains and the political economy of local institutions.
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    Inclusive business models in agriculture? Learning from smallholder cane growers in Mozambique
    (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Sulle, Emmanuel; Hall, Ruth; Paradza, Gaynor
    Amidst the increasing corporate investment in African farmland the term ‘inclusive business model’ has become a catchphrase touted as an opportunity for incorporating smallholder farmers alongside large-scale commercial farming projects. Inclusive business models require an enabling institutional and regulatory framework. Such frameworks now exist at the international level: the African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa and FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance on the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest in the Context of National Food Security provide a starting point. If translated and implemented, these guidelines can help develop transparent and accountable mechanisms that enable and strengthen the participation of smallholder farmers in the process of commercialisation, such as in the sugar industry in Mozambique. To enable equitable partnerships between corporate investors and small-scale farmers, governments need to prioritise public investment in agriculture, including research and development, that helps smallholder farmers increase and diversify their agricultural produce. Smallholders’ access to, ownership of and control over land and other resources should be secured. Based on our analysis of current large-scale sugar estates and milling companies, as well as smallholder involvement as outgrowers in the Mozambican sugar industry, this policy brief interrogates policy and suggests mechanisms for enabling and strengthening smallholder farmers’ participation in and securing returns from large scale investments.
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    Large-scale commercial agriculture in Africa: Lessons from the past
    (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014) Smalley, Rebecca
    African agriculture is in a phase of rapid commercialisation. Planners and investors in sub-Saharan Africa urgently need to consider how the choice of business model, the local context and the political environment affect outcomes of commercial ventures. A review of past experiences with three commercial farming models reveals the conditions that have provided the most stable environment for investors but also protected the most vulnerable in society and created the best chance for technology transfer and local economic linkages. These lessons from history have contemporary relevance.
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    The new alliance on food security and nutrition: what are the implications for Africa’s youth?
    (Future Agricultures Consortium, 2016) Hakizimana, Cyriaque
    Young people are a growing proportion of Africa’s population and most live in poverty in rural areas. Despite urbanisation, in absolute numbers the rural youth are growing and agricultural development needs to prioritise opportunities for them to create land-based livelihoods. Large-scale land-based investments that allocate land and water to private companies are often justified with the promise of job creation, but typically create fewer jobs than the land-based livelihoods that they displace. Private investments in agriculture need to be designed to create opportunities for young people to create livelihoods for themselves and their families, both in primary production and also in upstream and downstream enterprises. Implementation of the New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition needs to avoid large-scale land-based investments and facilitate the process of developing young people as independent farmers and producers capable of establishing landbased and rural non-farm livelihoods on their own, and on their own terms.
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    Plantation, outgrower and medium-scale commercial farming in Ghana: which model provides better prospects for local development?
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape and Future Agricultures Consortium, 2016) Dzifa Torvikey, Gertrude; Awetori Yaro, Joseph; Kofi Teye, Joseph
    African governments are making important policy choices in their quest to modernise agriculture, with some promoting largescale farming on plantations while others promote small- or medium-scale commercial farming.
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    The potential of agriculture and land reform to generate jobs
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2018) Cousins, Ben; Genis, Amelia; Clarke, Jeanette
    Extremely high levels of unemployment contribute to poverty and inequality, and are one of South Africa’s most intractable problems. Can the agricultural sector help to address the problem? And how can land reform be undertaken in a manner that creates more jobs? The farming sector, together with forestry and fisheries, currently contributes around 2% to GDP and around 5% to total employment, with a total of 840 000 workers. The contribution of agriculture to GDP is in fact somewhat greater than 2%, given the contributions of input (‘upstream’) suppliers and agro-processing (‘downstream’) industries. Around 30 000 medium- to large-scale commercial farmers supply the bulk of produce to formal markets, and employ most farm workers.
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    Reconciling living customary law and democratic decentralisation to ensure women’s land rights security
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010) Mnisi, Sindiso
    The recent Constitutional Court judgment rendering the Communal Land Rights Act (CLARA) unconstitutional (Tongoane and Others v Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs and Others) must not be allowed to throw decentralisation policy making into disarray. Decentralisation holds much potential for lively, participatory democratic law making and enforcement, through which rural women can gain greater power and secure more rights. However, there are many challenges in the often fraught context of decentralised law and power.
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    Understanding land acquisitions in Namibia’s communal land: Impacts and policy implications
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) Muduva, Theodor
    Large-scale land acquisitions by both foreign and local investors for agriculture, forestry and wildlife purposes, among others, remain a major challenge for African governments. Between 2000 and 2011, the Namibian government, through various ministries, received proposals from multinational agribusinesses to develop large-scale agricultural irrigation projects (Odendaal, 2011). While only a few of these proposed large-scale projects have materialised, the magnitude of their impacts on rural communities are significant and require urgent measures. This policy brief investigates these acquisitions in Namibia’s communal land. The purpose is to determine the impacts of such deals on communities, whether legal requirements were met before acquiring land for such deals, and whether community members can protect their land rights or oppose such deals. It identifies all the role players and captures the experiences and perceptions of affected and concerned community members towards such undertakings.