The disjunctures of land and agricultural reform in South Africa: Implications for the agri-food system
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Date
2013-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Land reform was introduced in South Africa in the 1990s to redress the injustices of colonialism
and apartheid. But compromises in the transition to democracy saw a trade-off between political
participation on one side and continuity in economic structure and ownership on the other.
Conflicting policy imperatives led to the subordination of land reform to agricultural restructuring,
which was already producing the consolidation of corporate power at the centre of the agri-food
system. Key processes included the privatisation of the co-operative infrastructural backbone to
produce concentrated agribusinesses throughout the food system, trade liberalisation that
benefited some agri-food sectors and saw the decline of others, and foreign investments and
acquisitions across the agri-food system – most recently in the Pioneer-Pannar and Walmart-
Massmart acquisitions. Despite rhetoric in favour of building small-scale agriculture, neither the
land reform programme nor agricultural restructuring processes facilitated the realisation of this
objective. Government tailed agribusiness in opting for a contract farming model to integrate
selected small-scale black farmers into corporate value chains, which left the fundamental agrarian
and agri-food structure intact. Government’s role in providing black farmers with finance, research
and development support and extension services remain weak and enhance private control over
the overall agri-food system.
Description
Keywords
Agri-food system, Privatisation, Small-scale farmers, Corporate value chains
Citation
Greenberg S (2013) ‘The disjunctures of land and agricultural reform in South Africa: Implications for the agri-food system’, Working Paper 26. PLAAS, UWC: Bellville.