Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)
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The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) 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.
Collections in this community
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Fact Check [4]
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Policy Briefs (PLAAS) [105]
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Policy Submissions [10]
Recent Submissions
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What price cheap goods? Survivalists, informalists and competition in the township retail grocery trade
(PLAAS, 2019-08-31)About 54% of South Africa’s township microenterprises trade in food or drink. More than two-thirds of these are grocery retail businesses in the form of spaza shops and smaller ‘house shops’. These are the predominant ... -
Rethinking food security Agro-food systems change and the Right to Food in Southern Africa (Malawi)
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)This information resource serves as a practical guide aimed at state officials and policymakers on the right to food and critical perspectives on changing agro-food systems within the context of climate change. It does so ... -
Gender, politics and sugarcane commercialisation in Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2019)This article explores relationships between state, corporate capital and local stakeholders in the political economy of sugarcane from a gender perspective. The findings, based on empirical research at the site of Tanzania’s ... -
Training of trainers module for gender sensitive community engagement in large scale land based investments in agriculture
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)WHY THIS TRAINING OF TRAINERS (ToT) MODULE? In 2013, the African Union (AU) commissioned an assessment study on the occurrence of large-scale land-based investments in agriculture (LSLBI). The study was commissioned under ... -
An Analysis of Renunciation in Terms of s 2(C)(1) of the Wills Act 7 of 1953 in Light of the Moosa NO and Others v Harnaker and Others Judgment
(Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (EJIMEL), 2019-05-29)Muslims have been living in South Africa for over 300 years. These persons are required in terms of their religion to fol-low Islamic law. There has (to date) been no legislation enacted by the South African parliament ... -
The vampire squid: Value, crisis and the power of finance
(Wiley, 2019)Over the last five decades the power and global reach of financial institutions and finance capital to organize economic, social and political life has grown seemingly unchecked. This is manifested in the ability of ... -
Rural resource grabs or necessary inward investment? The politics of land and water in Africa
(International Institute for Environment and Development, 2015)What has happened since the furore broke over the corporate land rush in Africa? Field-based research has exposed new realities that challenge the linear suggestions of a ‘grab’. As the process unfolds and our understanding ... -
Pressures on land in sub-Saharan Africa: Social differentiation and societal response
(Overseas Development Institute, 2012)This paper focuses on large-scale land acquisitions and the implications of these new trends for land tenure rights in sub-Saharan Africa. It highlights trends in legal and policy approaches; describes and analyses new ... -
Support for smallholder farmers in South Africa: Challenges of scale and strategy
(Routledge, 2012)The South African Government aims to expand the smallholder sector as part of its broader job creation strategy. However, research shows that government attempts to support smallholder farmers have generally been costly ... -
Development of evidence-based policy around small-scale farming
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015)How to support small-scale and larger commercial farmers, and to make sure that they are productive and contribute effectively to the rural economy and to national food security. -
The use and effectiveness of social grants in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2009)This research examines the effectiveness of social grants in South Africa, and how recipients use their grants. As a form of social protection, social grants not only ameliorate poverty and provide a safety net, they ... -
Women's land rights in Africa: Scorecard 2019
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)This Scorecard is for: MEASURING how committed governments are to women’s land rights in each country. COMPARING how women are confronting their governments about land rights. LEARNING how women are tackling their ... -
How can we promote a range of livelihood opportunities through land redistribution?
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)This position paper sketches an approach to improving land redistribution in South Africa in which the broad aim is to use redistribution to create a range of livelihood opportunities, in meaningful numbers, in proportion ... -
Principles and practice for successful farmland redistribution in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)The current debate on land reform in South Africa is unnecessarily polarised between those who believe that the market has failed to deliver, and those who believe that the bureaucracy has failed to deliver. Instead, we ... -
Rural land redistribution in South Africa: Contrasting visions and models
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)There is widespread agreement that land reform in South Africa is in deep trouble. However, there are very different perspectives on what should be done to address the failure to meaningfully redistribute land and resolve ... -
Mining, capital and dispossession in Limpopo, South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2019)This Working Paper explains the processes by which land, water and other natural resources were seized, and their previous users dispossessed, for the purposes of capital accumulation by Ivanplats platinum mining company ... -
Labour regulation and the economy: The case of the food value chain
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2016)Contrary to a popular narrative which seeks to attribute the country’s economic ills to labour legislation, this paper argues that the role of law in relation to the economy is constitutive, and that labour can also not ... -
Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill 2013
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2013)This document represents a response from researchers at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies to the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill as published on 19 October 2013. It is a statement by the ... -
The mining-conservation nexus: Rio Tinto, development ‘gifts’ and contested compensation in Madagascar
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)This paper traces a genealogy of land access and legitimisation strategies culminating in the recent convergence of multinational mining and conservation in southeast Madagascar. Drawing on empirical research carried out ... -
Dynamics of social differentiation after land reform among former labour tenants in Besters, KwaZulu-Natal
(2012)• Locate land reform in SA in changes in 1970s which ended “state activism in capitalism” and started the “moment of ‘globalization” • Global restructuring of capital has been accompanied by the “fragmentation” of classes ...
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