This thesis examines the viability of participatory monitoring in instituting a sustainable agriculture-based land reform programme in South Africa. The legacies of colonial and apartheid-era racial injustices have severely constrained access to land for agricultural production. Moreover, the impact of commercial agriculture on nature and society, warrants that alternative approaches to agriculture be investigated. Land reform provides a unique opportunity to motivate for social change, premised on both agricultural sustainability (land) and social transformation (life). Partnership-based models, such as farm worker equity share schemes, dominate land reform opportunities in the Western Cape. The Warmwater farming Trust, a land reform project in the Western Cape premised on this model, formed the case study component of my research. Political ecology was adopted as the theoretical framework for linking structural underpinnings and the locale. Participatory research methods were employed to develop the indicator-based participatory monitoring system on Warmwater. These included farming systems research, participatory rural appraisal and sustainability indicators. The research shows that a range of factors, related to the structures in society, the nature of the locale, and local-level action underscore land and agrarian reform in South Africa. Moreover, the research provides important insights into the transformative capacity of partnership-based land reform models. Participatory monitoring holds benefits for the farmers of Warmwater by providing an opportunity to monitor changes related to land and life and increasing their participation in planning and decision-making processes on the farm. Despite obstacles posed by structural constraints to land and agrarian reform, this thesis postulates three mechanisms to addressing the land-life dialectic. These include a consideration of new land reform models, a conflation of environmental and social justice considerations, and the promotion of local-level action geared towards social transformation and agricultural sustainability. The reconstruction of the South African landscape could be attained by adopting a participatory, sustainable agriculture-based land reform programme, which incorporates processes such as participatory monitoring.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/38439 |
| Date | 07 September 2023 |
| Creators | Mohamed, Najma |
| Contributors | Parnell, Sue, Karaan, Mohammad |
| Publisher | Faculty of Science, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSc |
| Format | application/pdf |
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