Now showing items 1-20 of 47

    • Access to land and rural poverty in South Africa 

      Cousins, Ben (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2012-09)
      The big picture: some history • Large-scale land dispossession from 1652 into the late 20th century • 1913 and 1936 Land Acts: African majority confined to 13% of country • Forced removals in apartheid years: 2.5 million ...
    • At the crossroads: Land and agrarian reform in South Africa into the 21st century 

      Cousins, Ben; Emmett, Natashiá; Campbell, Rosie; Heyns, Stephen (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 1999)
      The land sector has always been characterised by lively and public arguments over policy, and some of the central and recurring themes of the previous five years of debate were expected to surface at the conference. ...
    • At the crossroads: Land and agrarian reform in South Africa into the 21st century 

      Cousins, Ben (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), and National Land Committee (NLC), 2000)
      These conference proceedings are published at a time of extraordinary fluidity and uncertainty as to the future of the ambitious programmes of land and agrarian reform1 initiated by the first democratic government in 1994. ...
    • Challenging the stereotypes: Small-scale black farmers and private sector support programmes in South Africa 

      Okunlola, Adetola; Ngubanei, Mnqob; Cousins, Ben; du Toit, Andries (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016)
      This report represents one of the outputs of a research and social dialogue project undertaken over 18 months. It was carried out by researchers from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), based ...
    • Challenging the stereotypes: small-scale black farmers and private sector support programmes in South Africa 

      Okunlola, Adetola; Ngubane, Mnqobi; Cousins, Ben; du Toit, Andries (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape, 2016)
      This report represents one of the outputs of a research and social dialogue project undertaken over 18 months. It explores a number of private sector partnerships and projects launched in support of black farmers – some ...
    • Comments on the Green Paper on land reform 2011 

      du Toit, Andries; Cousins, Ben; Hall, Ruth; Kleinbooi, Karin; Paradza, Gayno; Ukpabi, Obiozo (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)
      As we have indicated in our earlier press release, the document released as a Green Paper by the Department Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform is a great disappointment. The Green Paper is the product of a ...
    • Commercial farming and agribusiness in South Africa and their changing roles in Africa’s agro-food system 

      Hall, Ruth; Cousins, Ben (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015)
      Our paper is on commercial farming and agribusiness in South Africa and their changing roles in Africa’s agro-food system, as a response to debates and theoretical propositions about internal agrarian change in BRICS ...
    • Contested paradigms of ‘viability’ in redistributive land reform: perspectives from southern Africa 

      Cousins, Ben; Scoones, Ian (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2009-06)
      ‘Viability’ is a key term in debates about land reform in southern African and beyond, and is used in relation to both individual projects and programmes. ‘Viability’ connotes ‘successful’ and ‘sustainable’ - but what is ...
    • Contested resources: Challenges to the governance of natural resources in Southern Africa 

      Benjaminsen, Tor Arve; Cousins, Ben; Thompson, Lisa; Campbell, Rosie; Heyns, Stephen (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2002)
      In this keynote address I wish to identify some important ideas and conclusions arising out of recent analyses of theory and practice on natural resource management. I use these in a preliminary attempt to argue that ...
    • Directions for land reform – what might another Green Paper propose? Alternative options and their ideological underpinnings 

      Cousins, Ben (2012)
      International and SA debates: 4 broad approaches & loose coalitions • “Modernist-conservative”/modernisation: support the existing structure of agriculture (capital intensive farming in large units) but deracialise LSCF ...
    • Exporting contradictions: the expansion of South African agrarian capital within Africa 

      Hall, Ruth; Cousins, Ben (Taylor & Francis, 2017)
      Agrarian change in South Africa over the past two decades has seen consolidation of the hegemony of large-scale commercial farming and corporate agribusiness within agro-food systems. Constrained domestic demand and growth ...
    • Final Report 

      Cousins, Ben; Alcock, Rauri; Aliber, Michael; Geraci, Marisia; Losch, Bruno; Mayson, David; de Satgé, Rick (GTAC, 2020-03-31)
      This study focuses on the potential contribution of redistributive land reform to employment creation. Can land redistribution be undertaken in a manner that also creates jobs, and if so, through which types of land use ...
    • Imithetho yomhlaba yaseMsinga: The living law of land in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal 

      Cousins, Ben; Alcock, Rauri; Dladla, Ngididi; Hornby, Donna; Masondo, Mphethethi; Mbatha, Gugu; Mweli, Makhosi; Alcock, Creina (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)
      This report describes the ‘living law’ of land in one part of Msinga, a deep rural area of KwaZulu-Natal. It presents research findings from the Mchunu and Mthembu tribal areas, where a three-year action-research ...
    • Imithetho yomhlaba yaseMsinga: The living law of land in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal 

      Cousins, Ben (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, 2011)
      This report describes the ‘living law’ of land in one part of Msinga, a deep rural area of KwaZulu-Natal. It presents research findings from the Mchunu and Mthembu tribal areas, where a three-year action-research project ...
    • Introduction: Agrarian change, rural poverty and land reform in South Africa since 1994 

      Bernstein, Henry; Cousins, Ben; Peters, Pauline E.; O'Laughlin, Bridget (Blackwell Publishing, 2013)
      This introduction sketches the context and dynamics of agrarian change, rural poverty and land reform since the end of apartheid in 1994, drawing attention to structural continuities and new elements in the countrysides ...
    • Land and agrarian reform in South Africa: A status report, 2002 

      Turner, Stephen; Cousins, Ben; Lahiff, Edward; Wisbourg, Poul (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2002)
      In 1994, South Africa started a new life as a democratic nation. It faced immense challenges. Multiple economic, social and political transformations were needed to overcome the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. The ...
    • Livelihoods after land reform in South Africa 

      Aliber, Michael; Cousins, Ben (Wiley, 2013)
      Over the past few decades, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa have pursued redistributive land reform as a means to address rural poverty. The Livelihoods after Land Reform (LaLR) study was carried out between 2007 and ...
    • Livelihoods after land reform: The South African case 

      Aliber, Michael; Maluleke, T; Manenzhe, T; Paradza, Gaynor; Cousins, Ben (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2012)
      SA’s land reform regarded as a failure – economic objectives – the spectre of ‘failed projects’ – changing the racial pattern of land ownership – too slow • No consensus as to why, or what to do • Even so, ambitious ...
    • Livestock and the rangeland commons in South Africa’s land and agrarian reform 

      Hall, Ruth; Cousins, Ben (NISC (Pty) Ltd and Taylor & Francis, 2013)
      Land and agrarian reform has the potential to expand South Africa’s rangeland commons and enhance their contribution to the livelihoods of the rural poor, yet to a large extent this has been an opportunity missed. ...
    • Many land reform projects improve beneficiary livelihoods 

      Cousins, Ben; Dubb, Alex (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2013)
      Many land reform projects have improved the incomes and livelihoods of those who received land – despite inadequate government support for planning and production, and in the face of severe resource constraints.