Agriculture plays a major role in development, as it creates jobs, develops the
economy and reduces poverty. An important drawback in agriculture in South Africa
is access to agricultural land and other agricultural resources by African farmers.
Many African farmers still own small units of land, which are still mostly used for
subsistence farming. These racial inequalities in the agricultural sector date back to
colonial and apartheid eras. During the apartheid era, government policies
separated white farmers from black farmers resulting in an unequal spatial
distribution of farming and development in the country. The post-apartheid
government that came into power in 1994 was committed to the eradication of racial
legislation and implemented new agricultural policies. Twenty years later many
inequalities still exit within the agricultural sector. There is a need to investigate the
social and spatial inequalities in the emerging farming section. Since the Limpopo
province is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, consisting of large areas
of former homelands, the aim of this research is to investigate and describe the
impact of the implementation of agricultural policies on the spatial distribution of the
emerging farming sector in the Mopani District of the Limpopo province.
This research was done within the framework of the post-modernism paradigm. The
study used mostly qualitative data but some quantitative data and methods were
also used. Primary data was collected from sampled emerging farmers in the
Mopani district, some officials from the local municipality and one provincial official.
Evidence from analysed data indicated that the uneven spatial distribution of farms
still exists despite numerous policies and programmes implemented by government
through its provinces, and local and district municipalities. Structurally there is a lack
of proper coordination, inadequate provision of both human and material resources,
monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of policies and programmes are
some contributory factors. It is recommended that policies be implemented that
strategically target investment and infrastructural development to reduce poverty,
unemployment and uneven spatial distribution of farms in the Mopani district
municipalities in the Limpopo province. / Geography / 1 online resource (xvi, 128 leaves) : color maps / D. Phil. (Geography)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/23266 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Mamabolo, Makhudu Edward |
| Contributors | Harmse, Aletta Catharina, Coetzee, Renata |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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