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.
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Evaluating the community land record system in Monwabisi park informal settlement in the context of hybrid governance and organisational culture
(MPDI, 2020)The study examined the effectiveness of a community-operated land record system (CRS), a product of an evolutionary information system planning approach under hybrid governance arrangements in Monwabisi Park informal ... -
Future-making and scalar politics in a resource frontier: Energy projects in northern Kenya
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2022-01-28)This contribution explores conflicts in the context of energy-related investments and infrastructure projects in Kenya’s arid and semiarid north. Over the past decade or so this historically marginalised region has turned ... -
Aging, resilience, and migration in the Sudano-sahelian ecological belt in Nigeria
(University of Western Cape, 2021)From the Sudano-Sahelian Zone to the coast, Nigeria is experiencing a variety of environmental change impacts, whether resulting from slow-onset changes or sudden shocks. These uptakes in events are significantly influencing ... -
Equitable access to land for social justice in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2021-11)This report analyses the trajectory of land reform in South Africa and its implications for equitable access to land. The report combines insights from empirical research and inclusive dialogues to analyse the extent to ... -
Building back better after Covid-19: Why South Africa needs an equitable food system for small-scale farmers and fishers, street traders and consumers – and how to build it
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2021)This policy brief reports headline findings from research investigating the impacts of Covid-19 regulations and mitigation measures on actors in South Africa’s food system. The research focuses on fresh produce in Gauteng ... -
Sink or swim? How Covid-19 and the responses to it have affected small-scale fishers
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2021)This policy brief reports findings from research investigating the impacts of Covid-19 regulations and mitigation measures on small-scale fishers in the Western Cape, South Africa. The researchers conducted 47 in-depth ... -
Tanzanian food producers, vendors and traders need direct relief measures in the face of the Covid-19
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2021)Key messages • Tanzania’s responses to Covid-19 pandemic have shifted over time. An initial ambiguous position refrained from imposing hard lockdown restrictions measures and focused on local remedies. In the second ... -
Multinational enterprises and capital flight from host African nations: An xray of the challenges of retaining trade revenues for continental development
(Research Gate, 2021)Orientation: Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been documented to significantly influence the socio-economic fortunes of their host nations particularly in Africa and most of the ‘developing world’. Research purpose: ... -
Towards a more resilient agri-food system in Ghana post COVID-19
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2021)This policy brief draws from a study of agri-food system responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. We examined how the pre-COVID-19 stresses in the agri-food system have interacted with the fallouts of the pandemic to ... -
Co-production of knowledge in transdisciplinary communities of practice: Experiences from food governance in South Africa
(Oxford University Press, 2021)Communities of Practice are sites of social learning for the co-production of knowledge. Building on recent literature on Transdisciplinary Communities of Practice, this article reflects on the experiences of an emergent ... -
Social assistance and dignity: South African women’s experiences of the child support grant
(Routledge, 2015)Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers. This paper explores women’s ... -
The humble sardine (small pelagics): Fish as food or fodder
(BMC, 2016)The group of small pelagic fish is the largest species group landed globally. A significant proportion of this nutrient-rich food is processed and lost to livestock feed, fish feed, fish oil, pet food and omega-rich ... -
Multi-stakeholder process of co-designing small-scale fisheries policy in South Africa
(Springer Nature, 2016)In 2005, a group of researchers, community-based organizations and lawyers got together with small-scale fishers to launch a class action law suit against the government of South Africa in its allocation system of Individual ... -
Migrant workers into contract farmers: Processes of labour mobilization in colonial and contemporary Mozambique
(Cambridge University Press, 2017)During the post-liberalization period, contract farming schemes have become a recurrent feature of agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa. Contract farming is not a new phenomenon in the continent but it has gained ... -
Post-agrarian biopolitics
(Wiley, 2017)How does one make sense of the incorporation of millions of South Africa’spoor and landless black people into a political and economic order thatcannot deliver on its promises — and what are the implications?The path of ... -
The role of family in the township informal economy of food and drink in KwaMashu, South Africa
(Emerald, 2018)The purpose of this paper is to provide a qualitative investigation of family employment dynamics in the KwaMashu township economy. Using a small area census research method, the researchers identified 1,556 businesses ... -
Can smallholder avocado production reduce poverty and improve food security through internal markets? The case of Giheta, Burundi
(Taylor & Francis, 2018)The role of agriculture in rural development is widely documented in literature. Many analysts regard agriculture, specifically smallscale agriculture, as an effective instrument for poverty reduction and food security, ... -
A 20-year evaluation of PLAAS research outputs: Impact on the scholarly domain and in social media
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2019)Patterns and methods of scholarly communication have changed with the growth in information technology, particularly the Internet and the social web. The changes have necessitated a broader definition of scholarly communication ... -
Agriculture, value chains and the rural non-farm economy in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe
(Spinger Nature, 2019)This chapter compares rural development in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe, concentrating on agricultural value chains and their implications for the rural non-farm economy (RNFE). Based on detailed qualitative exploration, ... -
Narratives of scarcity: Framing the global land rush
(Elsevier, 2019)Global resource scarcity has become a central policy concern, with predictions of rising populations, naturalresource depletion and hunger. The narratives of scarcity that arise as a result justify actions to harness ...
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