The next great trek? South African commercial farmers move north
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Date
2011
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This paper analyses the shifting role of South African farmers, agribusiness and capital elsewhere in southern Africa and the rest of the continent. It explores recent expansion trends, investigates the interests and agendas shaping such deals, and the legitimating ideologies and discourses employed in favour of them. While for the past two decades small numbers of South African farmers have moved to Mozambique, Zambia and several other countries, this trend seems to be undergoing both a quantitative and a qualitative shift. Whereas in the past their migration was largely individual or in small groups, now it is being more centrally organised and coordinated, is more frequently taking the form of large concessions for newly formed consortia and agribusinesses, and is increasingly reliant on external financing through transnational partnerships. As of early 2010, the commercial farmers’ association Agri South Africa (AgriSA) was engaged in land acquisition negotiations with governments in 22 African countries.
This paper presents initial findings from a Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC) study to document and analyse major land acquisitions by South African farmers and agribusinesses, the processes through which these have occurred and are occurring, their impacts, and implications for land rights, livelihoods and the changing shape of agriculture. The research considers the changing character, scale and location of South African investments elsewhere in the region and the continent, focussing specifically on the AgriSA-Congo deal (the largest deal concluded thus far), and acquisitions by the two South African sugar giants, Illovo and Tongaat-Hulett, for outgrower and estate expansion elsewhere in the region. The study addresses the degree to which South Africa is no longer merely exporting its farmers, but also its value chains, to the rest of the continent — and what this means for trajectories of agrarian change.
Description
Keywords
Expansion trends, Migration, Agri South Africa (AgriSA), Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC), Land acquisitions
Citation
Hall, R. (2011). ‘The next great trek? South African commercial farmers move north’, Working Paper 19. PLAAS, UWC, Cape Town.