Browsing Working Papers by Title
Now showing items 16-35 of 80
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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 ... -
Crew members in South Africa’s squid industry: Whether they have benefited from transformation and governance reforms
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2008-10)Although crew members form bedrock of the squid industry, they have not benefited from the transformation and governance reforms because: the harvesting technique necessitates incentivisation of individual effort; they are ... -
Defining Lone Motherhood in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2013)The purpose of this document is to define the group of people whom we are considering as part of the project ‘Lone Mothers in South Africa: The role of social security in respecting and protecting dignity’. Setting to one ... -
Deflating the fallacy of food deserts: Local food geographies in Orange Farm and inner city Johannesburg
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-08)The availability and accessibility of food is constrained by the environments where people live, work and purchase goods, and the pathways which they use to traverse these. This recognition has given rise to innovative ... -
Differentiation and development: The case of the Xolobeni community in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
(PLAAS, 2019-11-15)Most agrarian scholars argue that long historic processes of colonialism, capitalist development and implementation of neo-liberal structural policies in Sub-Saharan Africa have resulted in deagrarianisation and its sub-genre ... -
Digital tech in African agriculture: the case of German actors
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, 2024)This study examines German actors involved in the digitalisation of agriculture in Africa. In order to understand the underlying structures, a typology was developed on the basis of literature. This typology was then applied ... -
The disjunctures of land and agricultural reform in South Africa: Implications for the agri-food system
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2013-08)Land reform was introduced in South Africa in the 1990s to redress the injustices of colonialism and apartheid. But compromises in the transition to democracy saw a trade-off between political participation on one side ... -
Drivers and actors in large-scale farmland acquisitions in Sudan
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2012)This study analyses the political, economic and social impacts of the land and ‘virtual water’ grab in Southern Sudan. The ‘virtual water’ concept, which explains the absence of water wars through water embedded in ... -
Dynamics of decline in small-scale sugarcane production in South Africa: Evidence from two ‘rural’ wards in the Umfolozi region
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2014-05)Using evidence from two rural wards in the Umfolozi region, this paper critically investigates the dynamics and constraints of small-scale sugarcane production under conditions of decline. The rapid decline in small-scale ... -
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. ... -
Food environments, health and nutrition in South Africa: Mapping the research and policy terrain
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016-06)The aim of this paper was to review existing research and policies related to food environments so as to identify research gaps towards a research agenda for the new Centre of Excellence in Food Security. Food environments ... -
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 ... -
Foodways of the poor in South Africa: How value-chain consolidation, poverty & cultures of consumption feed each other
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2016)South African food systems are in a dynamic process of transition due to changes in food value chain regimes which have major impacts on the poor. However, these transitions are also shaped by demandside drivers emerging ... -
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 ... -
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 ... -
Gendered dimensions of land and rural livelihoods: The case of new settler farmer displacement at Nuanetsi Ranch, Mwenezi District, Zimbabwe
(Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2012)Nuanetsi Ranch had been invaded by villagers from different parts of Mwenezi, Chiredzi and Chivi communal areas since 2000. In February 2010, the government announced that the settlers had to be removed and resettled in ... -
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 ... -
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 ... -
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 ... -
The impact of poverty and inequality on the dignity of lone mothers in South Africa
(Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2014)In Part 1 of this themed working paper, an account is provided of low income lone mothers’ portrayals of dignity in relation to their lives. A key objective of the project was to explore what ‘dignity’ means to low income ...