A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, August 2015. / This thesis explores the hypothesis that South Africa’s land reform programme is based on a set of assumptions about the country’s past which are inadequate and have contributed to the failure of policy. The impact of these assumptions is that they support particular models for restitution and rural economic development which became ‘accepted wisdom’ within international development agencies, government, and amongst land activists in South Africa, but which were and still are inappropriate in the South African context. To test this hypothesis I look at the history of land settlement and agriculture in Mopani district of Limpopo province. In particular, I look at how ordinary people accessed and lost rights to land over the nineteenth and twentieth century, and how land became tied up in struggles for political authority and access to resources. I show how the importance of ethnic identities and a sense that land belongs to ‘indigenous’ people of a particular ethnicity, deepened during the Bantustan era. I argue that policymakers could have learned from past government policies. This includes the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act which called for the state to purchase farms from private landowners for African settlement, and smallholder irrigation schemes and co-operatives, which were intended to improve agricultural production in the reserves and homelands. What this history reveals is that land settlement patterns and experiences of land loss were far more complex than the simplified narratives on which land restitution was based. The poor performance of agriculture in reserves and bantustans cannot be blamed on past government policies intended to destroy a peasantry, or on land loss alone, rather there were many challenges and constraints. Women maintained an interest in agriculture throughout the twentieth century, but were not taken seriously by those attempting to improve African agriculture. Africans interested in commercial farming were constrained in how much land they could access. The idea that Africans are naturally communal, and that restitution and development should target ‘communities’ is deeply problematic. Policy failed to take into account these realities. The consequences have been that land restitution has failed to bring redress, restituted farms have failed as commercial operations, those with a real interest in agriculture continue to face constraints, and smallholder irrigation schemes continue to perform poorly.

No description available.

In 1991, India adopted neoliberalism, a system of political economic practices that promotes private property and free trade, as its political and economic system to promote development in their country. India's neoliberal reform has created issues surrounding human development, resource accumulation, and power struggles. Eleven years later, in 2002, Bt cotton was introduced to the Indian agricultural sector. This research examines how the genetically modified organism Bt cotton is being used to commodify nature in the context of agriculture under neoliberalism. The research focuses on the dispossession of the rural farmers through the commodification of agriculture using Bt cotton. Dispossession of the rural farmers happen through the implications that arise from the commodification of nature. Through Marxist theory of primitive accumulation, this research analyzes accumulation by dispossession and how it neglects the working class and its struggle in rural India. Through this examination, the research will argue alternatives to the dispossession of the working class and the commodification of nature through Bt cotton. Dispossession, in this research, is examined both through working class, but also through the dispossession of biodiversity. Through the loss of biodiversity, the rural farmers are becoming dispossessed from a more sustainable environment. Along with these goals, the research will also incorporate themes of food security through changing landscape of agriculture due to the incorporation of Bt cotton. This research argues the contradictions that are presented through the commodification of agriculture under neoliberalism and provide a contribution to social justice literature, and our understanding of the relationship between technology and the commodification of nature.

Thesis (MScAgric)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In South Africa, sustainable land use and management is paramount as the country’s agricultural natural resources are diverse, complex and vulnerable to degradation. To realise sustainable agricultural production and development, an agro-ecosystem-specific approach entailing soil, water and nutrient conservation agricultural practices is imperative. Conservation Agriculture is one of the agricultural production method that can be employed to ameliorate and prevent the degradation of South Africa’s agricultural land. The major aim of this study was to investigate how the uptake and adoption of conservation agriculture is influenced by economic policies and instruments in South Africa. To achieve this, an interactive research approach was followed initially involving an extensive literature review before scientific and empirical analysis was conducted. Firstly it was noted in the study that currently there is not any specific policy for conservation agriculture that has been promulgated in South Africa, but however there are a number of policies (i.e. Climate change policy, Carbon Tax policy, Land Reform policy, Trade policy, Water policy, Food and nutritional security policy, NEMBA regulations, CRDP, CARA, Organic production policy, Policy on Agriculture in sustainable development and the Environmental policy) that have been drafted which have the potential to positively influence the uptake and adoption of conservation agriculture by farmers across all the farming typologies (i.e. small scale, emerging and commercial farmers). The afore-mentioned policies were described and analysed with the purpose of establishing how they affect conservation agriculture using analysis criteria adopted from the field of political sciences. Criteria of effectiveness, unintended effects, equity, cost, feasibility and acceptability were constantly employed. In this regard, all the policies were tested to see how they affect conservation agriculture and to check if there was any alignment and harmonisation within the policy environment. It was found in this study that an alignment of the aforementioned policies is imperative in order to make the policies politically and administratively feasible which will lead to the swift implementation and effectiveness of the policies in meeting their core objectives. On this basis, it was deduced that the aforementioned policy mix has the potential to advance the uptake and adoption of conservation agriculture to further contribute to an enhanced food security and a sustainable resource base in South Africa. The policy mix analysed in this study, is however under specific constraints. These were identified and subsequently recommendations were made to ameliorate these constraints, in order to make the policies align with each other and to maximise the contribution of the policies towards the advancement of conservation agriculture in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Volhoubare grondgebruik en bestuur is belangrik in Suid-Afrika as gevolg van diverse, komplekse en kwesbare natuurlike hulpbronne wat maklik degradeer. As gevolg hiervan moet volhoubare bewaringspraktyke gevolg word wat spesifiek is tot die grond, water en voedingswaarde kompleks van verskillende boerdery-omgewings gevolg word. In hierdie opsig is bewaringsboerdery een metode wat ontplooi kan word om grond-degradasie te voorkom. Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie was dus om te bepaal tot watter mate die aanvaarding van bewaringsboerdery praktyke deur ekonomiese beleid en -instrumente beïnvloed word. Hiervoor is ʼn interaktiewe benadering gevolg tussen ʼn uitgebreide literatuurstudie en ʼn wetenskaplike en empiriese analise. Die eerste belangrike bevinding is dat daar tans geen formele staatsbeleid oor bewaringsboerdery in Suid-Afrika bestaan nie, maar daar is wel verwante beleidsuitsprake (oor klimaatsverandering, die koolstof belasting, grondhervorming, internasionale handel, voedselen voedingsbeleid, NEMBA regulasies, CRDP, CARA, beleid oor organiese produksie, beleid oor volhoubare landbou-ontwikkeling en omgewingsbeleid) wat wel die aanvaarding van bewaringsboerdery praktyke kan versnel. Hierdie stel van beleidsuitsprake is beskryf en ontleed deur middel van ʼn analitiese raamwerk ontleen aan die politieke wetenskappe om hulle potensiële impak op bewaringsboerdery. Die spesifieke kriteria waarop gekonsentreer is sluit in doeltreffendheid, ongewensde gevolge, regverdigheid, koste, implementeerbaarheid en aanvaarbaarheid. Die doel van laasgenoemde was nie slegs om vas te stel hoe hulle bewaringsboerdery beïnvloed nie, maar ook of daar belyning bestaan tussen die verskillende beleidsuitsprake, omdat sulke belyning krities is tot suksesvolle implementering. Daar is dan bevind dat die huidige stel beleidsuitsprake wel die potensiaal het om by te dra tot die aanvaarding van bewaringsboerdery, en dus tot die volhoubare bestuur van Suid-Afrika se hulpbronne. Hierdie bestaande beleidsraamwerk word egter onderwerp aan spesifieke beperkings. Laasgenoemde is dan geïdentifiseer, en is aanbevelings gemaak om dié beperkings aan te spreek om sodoende beter belyning te kry en dus om hulle bydrae tot volhoubare boerdery te bevorder.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Land policy in South Africa prior to 1994 was used as a political instrument to discriminate against the black population by preventing them from accessing land. The National Party government promulgated various laws that allowed the government to forcefully removed millions of black people from their original land to the so-called reserves. These removals resulted in extensive landlessness, homelessness, poverty, unemployment and economic disempowerment of blacks in South Africa. Prior to 1994 the explosive issue of land reform was the subject of debates between the different political parties, with diverse viewpoints on what should be done. Following much debate, when the African National Congress (ANC)-led government took over in 1994, a market approach of “willingbuyer, willing-seller” (WBWS) was adopted, with as goal the redistribution of 30% of farmland to blacks by 2015. A land reform programme was instituted, consisting of three programmes, namely land restitution, land redistribution and land tenure reform. The ANC government originally regarded land reform as a key programme to address unequal patterns of resource distribution, but there seems to be a broad consensus that land reform has changed its originally objectives. By December 2004, all aspects of the land reform programme had only transferred an area equal to 4, 3 % of commercial agricultural land to blacks. At the National Land Summit of July 2005, the majority of delegates agreed that the WBWS principle in the land redistribution process is no longer appropriate and called for alternative policies, such as expropriation to fast track the process of redistribution in South Africa. This integrated assignment focuses on the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) sub-programme of the land redistribution programme in South Africa. It gives an overview of the history of land issues and land reform in South Africa. The study then evaluates the sustainability of the LRAD programme and investigates the many problems and challenges that still face the programme. The research is mainly literature based, and combines primary and secondary sources. The study concluded that the LRAD programme will not meet its well-known objective of transferring 30% of farmland to blacks by 2015, unless radical steps are taken to change the policy. A section on proposed policy changes is included. It is felt that if sustainable development principles and resolutions that were taken on the recent Land Summit are taken seriously and implemented successfully, the LRAD programme may achieve its target by 2015. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Voor 1994 is die Grondbeleid in Suid Afrika gebruik as ʼn politieke instrument om teen die swart bevolking te diskrimineer, deur hulle daarvan te weerhou om grond te bekom. Die Nasionale Party regering het verskeie wette gepromulgeer wat die regering toegelaat het om miljoene swart mense van hul oorspronklike grond te verwyder, na die sogenaamde reservate. Hierdie verskuiwings is die oorsaak van grootskaalse grondloosheid, dakloosheid, armoede, werkloosheid en ekonomiese ontmagtiging van swart mense in Suid Afrika. Voor 1994 was die eksplosiewe aspek van grondhervorming die onderwerp van debatte tussen die verskillende politieke partye, met uiteenlopende sienings oor wat gedoen moes word. Na baie debat, toe die ‘African National Congress’ (ANC) regering in 1994 oorneem, is ʼn gewillige koper, gewillige verkoper’ beleid aanvaar, met as doel die herverdeling van 30% van plaasgrond aan swartes teen 2015. ʼn Grondhervormingsbeleid in ingestel wat bestaan uit drie programme, naamlik grondrestitusie, grondherverdeling en grondeienaarskap hervorming. Die ANC regering het grondhervorming oorspronklik as ʼn sleutel program beskou om die ongelyke patroon van hulpbron verspreiding aan te spreek, maar daar is tans ʼn breë konsensus dat grondhervorming se oorspronklike doelwitte verander het. Teen Desember 2004, was daar, ingevolge alle aspekte van die grondhervormingsbeleid, slegs ʼn gebied gelyk aan 4,3% van kommersiële landbougrond oorgedra aan swart mense. By die Nasionale Grond Spitsberaad van Julie 2005 het die meerderheid van die deelnemers saamgestem dat die ‘gewillige koper, gewillige verkoper’ beleid nie langer geskik was nie, en is daar vir alternatiewe beleide gevra, soos onteiening om die proses van grondherverdeling te bespoedig. Hierdie geïntegreerde werkstuk fokus op die Grondherverdeling vir Landbou Ontwikkeling subprogram van die grondherverdeling program in Suid-Afrika. Daar word ʼn oorsig gegee van die geskiedenis van grondaangeleenthede en grondhervorming in Suid Afrika. Die studie evalueer die volhoubaarheid van die program en stel ondersoek in na die baie probleme en uitdagings wat die program nog in die gesig staar. Die studie is meestal literatuur-gebaseerd en kombineer primêre en sekondêre bronne. Die studie lei af dat die program nie sy welbekende doelwit van die oordra van 30% van plaasgrond na swart mense teen 2015 sal bereik nie, tensy radikale stappe geneem word om die beleid te wysig nie. Die studie sluit ʼn afdeling met voorgestelde beleidsveranderinge in. Daar word gevoel dat as volhoubare ontwikkelings-beginsels en besluite wat by die Grond Spitsberaad ernstig opgeneem en suksesvol geïmplementeer word, die program sy doelwitte teen 2015 mag bereik.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study (Seed politics: An exploration of power narratives in the South African seed industry) attempts to unravel the contradictory power relations shaping South Africa’s seed system and to explore spaces of system intervention that could allow alternate seed systems to emerge. As a base for the agricultural sector, the seed system plays an important role in determining the type, quality and cost of seed supplied to the country’s farmers. By extension then, it also partly determines the type, quality and, to some extent, the cost of food sold to the country’s citizens. Ownership of seed germplasm, protected through plant breeders’ and intellectual property rights, is a contentious, current issue. Debate on international and national levels focuses on possible health issues related to consumption of genetically modified food, ethical considerations around ownership of plant life, monopolisation of seed markets, and the implications of biodiversity loss for food security and climate change adaptation. The first article (Contesting the credibility of consolidation of the South African seed industry) examines how historic and current power relations (on a global and local level) have shaped the ‘modernistic’ direction of South Africa’s seed system, which is now dominated by two US-based multinational companies. The contradictions between this direction and state policy are highlighted, focusing particularly on issues of food security, biodiversity and climate change. Article 2 (Imagining a sustainable South Africa seed system) unpacks the assumptions on which the current system is based, in order to provide space for a new ‘narrative’ around seeds to emerge, motivating for a collaborative ‘imagining’ of a sustainable seed industry, based on a social learning approach. Points of system intervention are suggested and expanded on. In both articles, the complexity of seed systems is outlined providing a framework for understanding the interconnectedness of system elements, intervention points and potential for non-linearity. The study weaves together theory drawn from a diversity of themes to expose how the ‘hidden’ faces of power (entrenched in economic hierarchies and institutions) predetermine the path of the system and whom it benefits and whom it excludes. These themes include economics of consolidation, innovation theories, patenting issues, South African policy documents, international treaties and agreements, systems theory and complexity thinking, social learning, industrial and agro-ecological farming methods, agricultural productivity, and climate change. The study promotes social learning as a tool that could unlock the potential of the seed system to contribute to the urgent issues South Africa faces around biodiversity loss, food insecurity and climate change. Keywords: seed system, genetically modified and hybrid seed, seed patents, seed innovation, social learning, systems theory, complexity thinking, consolidation of seed industry. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie (Saadpolitiek: ʼn ondersoek van magsnarratiewe in die Suid-Afrikaanse saadbedryf) poog om die teenstrydige magsverhoudinge wat vorm aan die Suid-Afrikaanse saadstelsel gee, uit te pluis en ruimtes van stelsel-intervensie wat die opkoms van afwisselende saadstelsels moontlik kan maak, te ondersoek. As grondslag van die landbousektor speel die saadstelsel ʼn belangrike rol in die bepaling van die soort, gehalte en koste van die saad wat aan die land se boere verskaf word. Dus bepaal dit ook deels die soort, gehalte en, in ʼn sekere mate, die koste van die voedsel wat aan die land se burgers verkoop word. Eienaarskap van saadkiemplasma, wat deur planttelersregte en regte op intellektuele eiendom beskerm word, is ʼn omstrede en aktuele kwessie. Debatvoering op sowel internasionale as nasionale vlak fokus op moontlike gesondheidskwessies wat verband hou met die inname van geneties gemodifiseerde voedsel, etiese oorwegings ten opsigte van eienaarskap van plantlewe, monopolisering van saadmarkte, en die implikasies van die verlies aan biodiversiteit op voedselsekerheid en aanpassing by klimaatsverandering. Die eerste artikel (Betwisting van die geloofwaardigheid van die konsolidering van die Suid-Afrikaanse saadbedryf) ondersoek hoe historiese en huidige magsverhoudinge (op sowel globale as plaaslike vlak) die ‘modernistiese’ rigting van die Suid-Afrikaanse saadstelsel, wat nou deur twee multinasionale maatskappye in VSA-besit oorheers word, gevorm het. Die teenstrydighede tussen hierdie rigting en regeringsbeleid word uitgelig, en daar word in die besonder gefokus op die potensiële invloed op voedselsekerheid, biodiversiteit en die kapasiteit om by klimaatsverandering aan te pas. Artikel 2 (‘n Veronderstelling van ʼn volhoubare Suid-Afrikaanse saadstelsel) ondersoek die aannames waarop die huidige stelsel gegrond is, ten einde plek te maak vir ʼn nuwe ‘narratief’ oor saad, motivering vir ʼn medewerkende ‘veronderstelling’ van ʼn volhoubare saadbedryf, gegrond op ʼn benadering van sosiale leer. Punte van stelsel-intervensie word voorgestel en op uitgebrei. In albei artikels word die kompleksiteit van saadstelsels uitgestippel ten einde ʼn raamwerk te bied waarvolgens die onderlinge verband van stelselelemente, intervensiepunte en die potensiaal vir nie-lineariteit begryp kan word. Die studie verweef teorie vanuit diverse temas ten einde bloot te lê hoe die roete van die stelsel, asook wie daaruit voordeel trek en wie daardeur uitgesluit word, vooraf deur die ‘versteekte’ aangesigte van mag (verskans in ‘stelselgeheue’ en bekragtig deur instansies) bepaal word. Hierdie temas sluit in die ekonomie van konsolidasie, innoveringsteorieë, patentkwessies, Suid-Afrikaanse beleidsdokumente, internasionale verdragte en ooreenkomste, stelselteorie en kompleksiteitsdenke, sosiale leer, industriële en agro-ekologiese boerderymetodes, landbouproduktiwiteit en klimaatsverandering. Die studie bevorder sosiale leer as ʼn hulpmiddel wat die potensiaal vir die saadstelsel om tot die dringende uitdagings vir Suid-Afrika ten opsigte van die verlies aan biodiversiteit, voedselonsekerheid en klimaatsverandering by te dra, kan ontsluit. Sleutelwoorde: saadstelsel, geneties gemodifiseerde saad, hibriede saad, saadpatente, saad-innovering, sosiale leer, stelselteorie, kompleksiteitsdenke, konsolidasie van saadbedryf.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Agricultural financing has a wide and deep history in Nigeria, owing to the fact that the Nigerian economy has huge potentials for growth especially from its agriculture sector which is the second largest contributor to GDP. Since the establishment of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme over 30 years ago, the total sum of 647,351 loans amounting to over N34 billion have been disbursed to farmers as at 2009. The result from this study shows that the guarantee scheme has been effective in providing agricultural financing as well as stimulating agricultural production in Nigeria. More specifically, the study found that, out of the five variables used in the models to determine agricultural performance, the credit finance provided under the ACGS and foreign exchange rates was found to be statistically significant to agricultural output. The credit provided under the ACGS has a significant effect on aggregate output; it was also found that the crop and the fishery subsectors are significantly affected by the credit finance provided under the ACGS, due to their short gestation period. However, the livestock and forestry subsectors do not have an immediate significant relationship with the credit finance due to their long gestation period; rather, they have a significant relationship with the depreciation of foreign exchange rates. A major policy implication from the study is that the government should continue to promote and support the operations of the ACGS to encourage farmers to invest their best efforts in agricultural production in Nigeria for food production and for enhanced agricultural export.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African government continues to provide post-settlement support to emerging farmers, with the objective of improving productivity through targeted funding or conditional grants. The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), which came into effect in 2004, provides funding targeted at supporting emerging farmers. CASP has six pillars, of which this study focused on one, which is capacity building and training. The study investigated the assessment of the impact of training on the projects’ beneficiaries who had benefited from the CASP pillar of training and capacity building in the Limpopo Province. The methodology applied was the difference-in-difference technique. Projects that benefited from funding were regarded as the treatment group and those that did not benefit from the programme were regarded as the control group. The justification for the research was that while the government had financed CASP through fiscal allocation since 2004, because CASP is a conditional grant, there was a need to review the programme, focusing on establishing whether the budget allocation had achieved its intended objectives during this time. The objectives of the study were to measure whether there had been an improvement in the beneficiaries’ income levels. It focused on the status of the projects prior to the beneficiaries receiving training and benefiting from capacity building, and what the status was after receiving training through the programme, with the key determinant being an increase in income levels. Not all funded projects had benefited from the particular pillar investigated here. The selection of the beneficiaries to be trained was based on a skills audit which treated the groups as homogeneous, which was found to be inappropriate because of the differences in the prior skills, education levels and the specific interests of individuals. The findings were that there was variation in the increase of income levels. There was a positive relationship between training and reported increase in income levels in some projects, and a negative relationship between training and income levels for other projects. It was interesting that income levels increased for projects that had benefited from the CASP pillar of training and capacity building when the projects were analysed as a group, but when projects were analysed individually, it was revealed that there was a marginal decrease in income levels. There should be a shift in policy. The focus on training and capacity building should be a priority and should occur prior to the projects receiving infrastructure support. The 10% of the total CASP budget allocated for training and capacity building needs to be reviewed, taking into account that low skills levels continue to be the main reason why projects are not sustainable. There is also a need to review the impact of training. The type of training offered should not be generic for all projects, it should be differentiated to suit the both the people and the commodities concerned and should be more biased towards entrepreneurship, as this would enable emerging farmers to grow their business units and realise increased income levels.

This study explores how land and natural resources in rural communities are accessed, used, and managed in livelihoods. In particular it examines first, crop field tenure, and livelihoods in natural resources. Second it explores factors that mediate access, use and control of land and natural resources within village communities. Empirical data are explored from two rural village communities of Kamena and St. Joseph located in the Northern and Copperbelt provinces of Zambia respectively. The study argues first that land and natural resource rights underpin land based livelihood activities of rural people, the most important of which are subsistence and cash crop farming, and the gathering and processing of common property resources. Second the thesis argues that land tenure reform impacts on the rural population as a whole and not just on cash crop farmers, and should thus situate the needs of farmers for secure tenure within the wider context of diverse rural household livelihood strategies. The study concludes that social differences (along the axes of wealth, gender and descent), traditional institutions (uxorilocal or virilocal marriage, polygamy, inheritance and succession) and government policy are central in determining access, use and control of land and natural resources in rural livelihoods. It is submitted that, rather than being replaced, customary land tenure, and traditional land administration structures in rural Zambia should be adapted to current social and economic realities in which individuals and households create their multiple livelihoods. Further, it is concluded that land tenure reform is not a sufficient condition for rural livelihood sustainability. Thus complementary agrarian measures to address the vulnerability context of rural households are recommended.

The objectives of the research was to critically analyse arguments for and against agricultural trade liberalization and its impact on food security, investigating the nexus between the three pillars of agriculture and food security, considering how the Agreement on Agriculture and the Food Aid Convention addressed the concerns that were raised by the different parties during the negotiation period, and finally it considered how the current multilateral negotiations in agriculture can provide a secure framework within which developing African countries can pursue effective policies to ensure their food security.