Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)

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The institute engages in research, training, policy development and advocacy in relation to land and agrarian reform, rural governance and natural resource management. It is committed to social change that empowers the poor, builds democracy and enhances sustainable livelihoods

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Elite land grabbing in Namibian communal areas and its impact on subsistence farmers’ livelihoods

Odendaal, Willem (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, 2011)

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Abstract:	This brief examines some emerging trends and dynamics in changing power relations in rural Namibian communities due to emerging new elites and the threats to subsistence farmers’ access to communal land and natural resources.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10566/601

Files in this item: 1

PB 33.pdf (263.8Kb)

Nasruddin's key: poverty measurement and the government of marginal populations

du Toit, Andries (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, 2011)

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Abstract:

This paper considers the role of ‘measurement’ and other forms of poverty knowledge in a context where the nature and direction of global economic growth is creating ‘surplus populations’ suffering various forms of marginalisation in the global economy. It links the development of different forms of poverty knowledge with the ways in which states and non-state agents seek to ‘govern’ poverty and poor populations, and with the ‘biopolitics’ whereby calculations are made about the differential allocation of resources towards different sectors of the global population. The paper argues that addressing the root causes of poverty requires social actors to go beyond the narrow limits of institutionally sanctioned and bureaucratically invested ‘poverty knowledge’ that currently dominate policy thinking. Rather than seeking to understand poverty by measuring the characteristics of members of populations, they should try to understand poverty as an aspect of social relations, and try to come to grips with differential insertion of populations in the fields of force of modern globalised capitalism. Analysis should abandon simple notions of ‘marginalisation, and come to grips with the agency of poor people and the complex relationships between informality, marginality, exclusion and incorporation. Ultimately, however, a more nuanced understanding of the role of poverty knowledge in present day biopolitics does not bring with it any easy answers: rather, it challenges applied social scientists to be more aware of the responsibilities they bear as producers of 'useful' knowledge in a time of increased global instability.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10566/580

Files in this item: 1

WP20.pdf (622.6Kb)

Contesting the food system in South Africa: issues and opportunities

Greenberg, Stephen (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010)

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Abstract:

This report widens the debate about food production and distribution in South Africa to consider some of the entrenched power dynamics that shape the way these happen, and to consider whether a more radical transformation of the agro-food system is required to ensure adequate access to food for all.It considers the structure of the South African agro-food system, and looks at points of possible intervention that could not only open the system to greater involvement by those who have been marginalised or passively incorporated into that system, but that also offer potential pathways to structural change that could deepen diversity in the agro-food system and reorient it to the needs of the poor, both as historically subordinated producers and as consumers.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10566/572

Files in this item: 1

RR42.pdf (1.218Mb)

Social reproduction, accumulation and class differentiation: small-scale sugarcane growers in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Dubb, Alex (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, 2012)

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Abstract:

This paper argues that the rise and decline of small-scale sugarcane grower (SSG) production in KwaZulu-Natal must be historically located within a changing structural relationship with miller-processors, in turn conditioned by shifts in regulatory frameworks. Critically, the emergence of SSG production in the late-1970s–1980s can be traced to industry-subsidised initiatives disguised as micro-credit which brought commercially inalienable Bantustan land into cane production with strong miller oversight. From the late 1980–1990s, however, the elimination of these subsidies encouraged millers to withdraw from direct oversight and to subcontract support to farmers, while simultaneously instigating an increase in SSG numbers by removing restrictions on grower registration. Enduring drought must certainly be understood as a central proximal factor in the rapid decline of SSGs, but their rapid increase in the first place was structurally fragile. This paper further strives to provide insight into the shifting class dynamics of SSGs under constrained conditions of production, utilising survey data from seventy SSG homesteads and life-history interviews in two rural wards of the Umfolozi region. Although proceeds from sugarcane have represented an important source of cash-income for homesteads, deteriorating terms of exchange and barriers to expansion in land and capital have placed a greater emphasis on sparse off-farm income opportunities for stabilising consumption and enabling limited re-investment in production. The centrality of income-diversification for simple reproduction and limited accumulation has rendered the dynamics of social differentiation both unstable and reversible. The paper concludes by exploring the implications for agrarian reform policy.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10566/571

Files in this item: 1

DubbSugarcaneFarming2013.pdf (913.9Kb)

The changing nature of large-scale commercial farming & implications for agrarian reform: evidence from Limpopo, Western Cape and Northern Cape

Genis, Amelia (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, 2012)

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Abstract:

The privileged position of white commercial farmers in South Africa came to an end by the early 1990s, when political and policy changes removed the certainty provided by controlled marketing, protective tariffs and weak legislation regulating resource use and labour relations on farms and transformed agriculture into a sector that is highly sensitive to events on world markets. Despite their dwindling numbers and disarticulation from political power commercial farmers represent a dominant group in the countryside, retaining a near monopoly of resources and considerable power. Yet, the dynamics of change in the sector are not properly understood or well-researched. This paper presents data from a recent survey of 141 commercial farmers in the Limpopo, Western and Northern Cape Provinces that shows that they consider input costs, climate, labour matters, uncertainty about government policies and producer prices as the major pressures bearing down upon them. The adoption of farming methods which are less labour-intensive and the extension of labour legislation and minimum wages to farm workers, together have led to the decline of on-farm employment. Declining profit margins have resulted in a ‘shake-out’ in which only the most competitive enterprises can survive, leading to increased concentration in agricultural landholding and production. These processes imply that new entrants to agriculture with limited capital face daunting challenges, which policy needs to address. The paper explores these wider implications.

URI:

http://hdl.handle.net/10566/570

Files in this item: 1

PLAAS_WorkingPaper24Genis.pdf (1.302Mb)

Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)

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