Status report on land and agricultural policy in South Africa, 2010
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Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Agriculture plays numerous roles in society. The
most obvious is to produce food (and, to a lesser
extent, fibre). While agriculture is the mainstay
of the rural economy, it also shapes social
relations and landscapes. In some countries, this
is taken as an unmitigated positive. However,
in South Africa, agriculture is built on the back
of dispossession of the African population
and their social, economic and political
marginalisation. It is built on extractive methods
that deplete the soil, the water and the natural
vegetation. Agricultural policy in post-apartheid
South Africa must grasp these contradictions,
simultaneously strengthening the positive
features of agriculture and abolishing those that
rely on the immiseration of human beings and
the destruction of the environment.
Agriculture was not high on the list of priorities
for the post-apartheid government. It was one
of the sectors that experienced deep cuts in the
budget following the demise of apartheid. Only
from around 2003 did the budget start climbing
again, but the 2011 budget estimates are still below
those of the 1980s in real terms. Provincial
budgets are stagnating.
Description
Keywords
Status report, Land, Agricultural policy, South Africa, Agriculture
Citation
Greenberg, S. (2010). Status report on land and agricultural policy in South Africa, 2010. Research Report 40. Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape