Working Papers: Recent submissions
Now showing items 21-40 of 79
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Household livelihoods and increasing foreign investment pressure in Ethiopia’s natural forests
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)Foreign investment in Ethiopia’s forestry sector is currently limited, but agricultural investments that affect forests — largely through forest clearing — are commonplace. We describe the nature of forest investments ... -
'Land belongs to the community’: Demystifying the ‘global land grab’ in Southern Sudan
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)Sudan is among the global ‘hotspots’ for large-scale land acquisitions. Although most of this investment activity was thought to be focused in the Northern part of the country, recent research indicates that a surprising ... -
Who gets the human appropriation of net primary production?: Biomass distribution & the ‘sugar economy’ in the Tana Delta, Kenya
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2012)In this article we focus on the connection between purchases of land and the emerging ‘biomass-economy’, analysing biomass distribution in a region targeted for land-grabbing in order to understand the process from both ... -
Foreign investments and livelihoods in northern Zambia
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2018-12)This study employs a wider livelihoods approach to challenge some insular neo-classical economic narratives on the nature, process and impact of large-scale land acquisitions on smallholder farmers living on Africa’s ... -
Food trade and investment in South Africa: Improving coherence between economic policy, nutrition and food security
(Food trade and investment in South Africa: Improving coherence between economic policy, nutrition and food security, 2017-12)South Africa must address a rising burden of diet-related chronic disease while also continuing to combat persistent food insecurity and undernutrition (Muzigaba et al. 2016). The prevalence of stunting among children ... -
Beyond the “proper job:” Political-economic analysis after the century of labouring man
(Beyond the “Proper Job:” Political-economic Analysis after the Century of Labouring Man, 2018-04)This programmatic article proposes an approach to global political-economic inquiry in the wake of the failure of long-established transition narratives, notably the narrative centred on a universal trajectory from ... -
Job creation in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in South Africa: An analysis of employment trends, opportunities and constraints in forestry and wood products industries
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2018-04)This report is one of five studies of opportunities and constraints related to employment creation in rural South Africa, with a view towards informing policy. South African forestry and wood products industries are well ... -
Farming styles, livelihoods and social differentiation of smallholder farmers: Insights from New Forest Irrigation Scheme in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2018-05)This article focuses on the socio-economic differentiation of smallholder farmers in New Forest Irrigation Scheme. Smallholder irrigation schemes are seen as a way of alleviating poverty and contributing to economic growth. ... -
Oranges and labourers: The potential for job creation in the citrus sub-sector of South Africa
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2018-06)Rural employment is a key policy issue in South Africa, yet the National Development Plan (NDP) of 2012 suggests that one million jobs can be created in agricultural production, processing and related activities. The plan ... -
Community opportunities in commercial agriculture: Possibilities and challenges
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-11)Aquaculture has potential to contribute towards food and nutrition security, job creation and income for South African communities, provided that the challenges and limitations for their participation in commercial ... -
Are trade unions and NGOs leveraging social codes to improve working conditions? A study of two locally developed codes in the South African fruit and wine farming sectors
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-11)The paper explores one aspect of the food security question, namely the livelihoods of farmworkers, which ultimately speaks to the sustainability of farms and the provision of food. It focuses on the emergence of locally ... -
Lusaka’s local food geographies: A gendered reading of everyday food insecurity in Mtendere, Lusaka
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-08)Little is known about how individual abilities and food security determinants - at the scale of everyday life - connect to formal and informal value chains, and broader urban structural systems in which daily processes ... -
Going nowhere fast? Changed working conditions on Western Cape fruit and wine farms: A state of knowledge review
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-09)This state of the knowledge review sets out to identify the main research themes and findings in the literature on labour relations and conditions on Western Cape fruit farms over the past ... -
‘What is the value of the constitution?’: Value chains, livelihoods and food security in SA’s large- and small-scale fisheries
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-10)This paper seeks to assess the state of knowledge in relation to the interrelated subjects of value chains, livelihoods, food systems, and regulatory dynamics in South Africa’s large-‐ and s ... -
The informal sector’s role in food security: A missing link in policy debates?
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-09)This paper aims to review what is currently known about the role played by the informal sector in general and informal retailers in particular, in the accessibility of food in South Africa. The review seeks to identify ... -
Women’s participation in fish value chains and value chain governance in Malawi: A case of Msaka (Lake Malawi) and Kachulu (Lake Chilwa)
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-05)This paper helps to fill an important gap that exists in gender responsive fish value chains by analysing the factors that influence women’s participation in fish value chains and value chain governance in Malawi. The study ... -
Trade, food and nutrition security in South Africa: The cases of sugar and poultry
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-10)The purpose of this paper is to consider the role that trade plays in food and nutrition security in South Africa. Despite an established commercial food system, South Africans experience high levels of food and nutrition ... -
Trade and investment in fish and fish products between South Africa and the rest of SADC: Implications for food and nutrition security
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2017-10)This paper looks at the dynamics of intra-regional trade and investment in fish and fish products between South Africa and the rest of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, and the implications of this ... -
Corporate power in the agrofood system and South Africa’s consumer food environment
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-05)This report maps the extent of corporate power in the South African agro-food system using a value chain approach. It identifies major corporate actors in the various nodes of the agro-food system as of 2014. Some nodes ... -
Alternative food networks and food insecurity in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-06)Food security remains a persistent global challenge. Inequality means that food insecurity is disproportionately experienced. Despite positive shifts in the state of food security at a global scale, recent reports from ...