Thesis (M.M. (Public Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / This research set out to explore the feasibility of developing Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (UPA)
collaborative policy networks in South African metros. The study explored related challenges and
barriers, and investigated the role of the state (national, provincial and local/metro) and other sectoral
development stakeholders (private sector, research institutions, non-governmental-organisations,
development partners, donors, and farmers) in the substantive UPA policy management process in
South Africa. The research was conducted against the backdrop of institutional/procedural policy and
collaborative policy networks’ theory was used as framework. The research goal was to contribute to
and generate new information and knowledge to enhance UPA collaborative governance and
procedural policy. This was done through the application of collaborative policy networks as a
contemporary procedural policy arrangement framework. Collaborative policy networks in this
research are patterned relationships between state and society. These networks link a variety of actors
(in the public and private sector) in a set of relatively stable relationships, that are non-hierarchical and
interdependent, that share similar policy interests and exchange resources. The purpose is to
collaboratively pursue specific policy goals as outlined by Börzel (1997:1). This research applies
institutional/procedural theory as formal and legal aspects of government structure and particularly
focuses on the way governments are arranged, their legal powers, and their rules and procedures in
policy management (Kraft and Furlong, 2004).
South Africa’s metros have continuously demonstrated an appreciation of the developmental role of
UPA through small and concrete initiatives, including the development and implementation of urban
and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) development policies. In line with Mougeot (1994:1), this research
however notes that the focus on UPA development in South Africa overemphasises agricultural
production as the major component of the UPA definition. According to Dr Jane Battersby-Lennard,
Head of the Urban Food Security programme of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town,
the overemphasis on agricultural production can mainly be attributed to the peri-urban agriculture
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(UPA) terminology, which accentuates agriculture – even in metros where agricultural production is
not feasible. As a result, this research recommends that the UPA terminology in South Africa be
rephrased as ‘Urban Food-security Systems’ (UFS). In this context UFS is defined as a systems
approach to develop sustainable and equitable urban food value chains while incorporating a strong
focus on elements of urban land-use planning, access to production resources (land and water), food
production, safe supply of production inputs, value adding and processing, market development and
access. Such an approach also develops responsive institutional/procedural and substantive policy
management instruments.
The emerging trend noted through this research is that South African metros have not made much
progress on the ground in terms of UPS substantive policy management. This also applies to UPA
institutional policy in South Africa, which in its current form offers limited opportunities to UFS
development in South African metros. This type of development still faces a number of barriers and
challenges that relate to institutional ad substantive policy issues. Even with the metros’ demonstrated
interest in advancing the sector, UPA policy management capacity and resources (human, social,
physical, economic and environmental capital) remain limited. UPA suffers overall limited state
attention and commitment and consequently restrictive legislation, bureaucratic red tape and limited
institutional, technical and financial support. The research argues that UPA development initiatives
could benefit from government’s commitment and prioritisation at all spheres (metro, provincial and
national).
The research gathers that UPA governance could be enhanced through institutional policy
improvements that emphasise wider stakeholder participation through collaborative policy networks.
The researcher argues that there is a strong need for state sanctioned interventions that initially focus
on developing strategic institutional policy networks as a development foundation for comprehensive,
accelerated, equitable and sustainable UFS interventions rather than just agricultural production. This
calls for the engagement of multiple stakeholders from social, economic and environmental
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development sectors (including agriculture, food security, natural resources management, social
development, political management, climate change, environment and health, etc.) as active UFS
development partners in South Africa. This research emphasises collaborative policy networks as an
appropriate form of UPA institutional/procedural policy arrangements to help ensure trust,
transparency, participation, reciprocity and a good balance of vertical and horizontal
power/governance structure (as also defined by Deleon and Varda, 2009:67-71). Here the researcher
argues that institutional policy networks articulate very well with the desired objectives of achieving
collaborative UPA governance, and that these objectives are key to efficient UPA substantive policy
management for South Africa.
As a justification for policy networks, the study found that UFS development as a multi-stakeholder
and multi-sectoral public policy issue could benefit not only from the distributed intelligence presented
as a benefit of policy networks, but also from the distributed human, social, physical, financial, and
political capital/resources that can be accessed and utilised collaboratively to pursue overarching and
specific substantive UFS policy goals at national, provincial and local levels. The study recommends
the establishment of a national level UFS policy network that could be led by the Department of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) in partnership with the metros and other strategic state and
non-state actors. The research recommends that a national UFS Secretariat be established at part of
DAFF, to deal with national UFS policy issues (substantive and institutional) and to provide strategic
programming and technical support to metros. The research also notes that developing efficient UFSs
would require engaging numerous specialised skills and capacity sources that thus calls for the
establishment of smaller specific substantive policy networks within the national UFS policy network.
This could be led and constituted by specialist institutions with the required capacity and skills.
Potential smaller specific substantive policy networks could include: agricultural production, trade,
food/nutrition security and research; trade and marketing and research; environmental management
and research; and spatial development and land-use planning and research. The research recommends
that such policy networks be institutionalised at national, provincial and local/metro levels and that
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these policy networks are referred to as the Urban Food-security Systems – Community of Practice
(UFS-COP).
The research also notes that although there is a strong appreciation of the characteristic benefits of
policy networks for managing multi-dimensional policy issues such as UFS, it must be noted however,
that policy networks are not a panacea and that they do exhibit a hind-side of major challenges (for
collaborative governance) that must be continuously addressed in search of efficient collaborative
policy governance structures that emphasis the active engagement of multi-sectorial and multi-level
policy management stakeholders for collective action.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13610 |
| Date | 28 January 2014 |
| Creators | Ngcamphalala, Sandile |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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