Recent Submissions

  • Covid-19 Impacts: Household Food Production, Agroecology, Rural Livelihoods and Alternative Food Systems 

    Mtero, Farai; Gumede, Nkanyiso (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2023-02)
  • Climate change and rural livelihoods in Southern Africa: An agenda for policy-oriented research 

    Bennie, Andrew (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2022)
    This report is the outcome of an extensive review of the literature and the debates on climate change and landbased livelihoods in Southern Africa. In the context of the converging climate and food crises, it provides ...
  • Equitable access to land for social justice in South Africa 

    Mtero, Farai; Gumede, Nkanyiso; Ramantisima, Katlego (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 ...
  • PLAAS Annual Report 2019 

    PLAAS (PLAAS, 2020-12-01)
    PLAAS had a successful 2019, contributing effectively to the University of the Western Cape’s mission as a research-led, community-oriented and engaged university.
  • Elite Capture in Land Redistribution in South Africa 

    Mtero, Farai; Gumede, Nkanyiso; Ramantsima, Katlego (PLAAS, 2019-12-03)
    The research on elite capture in land redistribution in South Africa was conceived against the background of a significant decline in systematic research on land reform outcomes. Data on land reform outcomes and more ...
  • Pressures on land in sub-Saharan Africa: Social differentiation and societal response 

    Hall, Ruth; Paradza, Gaynor (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 ...
  • Women's land rights in Africa: Scorecard 2019 

    Mbaya, Sue (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 ...
  • The contested status of ‘communal land tenure’ in South Africa 

    Weinberg, Tara (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015)
    Twenty years have passed since the Bantustans were reintegrated into South Africa. Yet for the 17 million people still living in these former homelands, the struggle for full recognition of their land rights persists. The ...
  • Backing small-scale fishers: Opportunities and challenges in transforming the fish sector 

    Isaacs, Moenieba; Hara, Mafaniso (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015)
    Globally, small-scale fisheries play a significant role in food security, poverty reduction and income generation (Béné et al 2007; Heck et al 2007; Béné et al 2010; FAO 2003). At the 2008 Global Conference on Small-Scale ...
  • Corporate concentration and food security in South Africa: is the commercial agro-food system delivering? 

    Greenberg, Stephen (Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), 2015)
    Although the current agro-food system in South Africa has the technical and organisational capacity to meet domestic food needs, there are major problems with access to food and with the nutrient content of existing food ...
  • Scoping study on the development and sustainable utilisation of inland fisheries in South Africa: Volume 2. Case studies of small-scale inland fisheries 

    Tapela, BN; Britz, PJ; Rouhani, QA (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015)
    Small- scale fishing on inland waters is a widespread livelihood activity which has been overlooked in environmental policy and management arrangements flowing from South Africa’s democratic Constitution. This has ...
  • Scoping study on the development and sustainable utilisation of inland fisheries in South Africa 

    Britz, PJ; Hara, MM; Weyl, OLF; Tapela, BN; Rouhani, QA (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015)
    South Africa’s inland fishery resource endowment has been overlooked as a means of supporting sustainable livelihoods in the democratic era, lacking a guiding policy and legislation aligned with the country’s rightsbase ...
  • Research Report to Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development in South Africa (PSPPD) 

    Neves, David; Aliber, Michael; Mogaladi, Jan; du Toit, Andries (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)
    This report documents research conducted on small-scale informal self-employment at the margins of the South African economy. Despite high levels of poverty and unemployment South Africa has, by developing country ...
  • Self-employment in South Africa’s informal sector: Prevalence, prospects and policy 

    Neves, David; Aliber, Michael; Mogaladi, Jan; du Toit, Andries (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)
    This text describes research undertaken to investigate small-scale self-employment at the margins of the South African economy. Despite high levels of poverty and unemployment South Africa’s informal sector is, by ...
  • Livelihoods after land reform: The impacts of land reform on livelihoods in Namibia: Section B 

    Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010)
    The first AALS farmers in Hardap obtained their land in 1992, and the most recent in 2003. In Omaheke, the first AALS farmer obtained his farm in 1992 and the most recent, a woman, in 2000. Thus in both regions the oldest ...
  • Livelihoods after land reform 

    Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010)
    In 1990, Namibia emerged from colonial rule with a skewed distribution of agricultural land and high levels of poverty. The new government led by SWAPO Party initiated a process to address the land question within the ...
  • Joint ventures in the flag Boshielo irrigation scheme, South Africa: A history of smallholders, states and business 

    van Koppen, Barbara; Tapela, Barbara Nompumelelo; Mapedza, Everisto (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015)
    In the global debates on the modes of farming, including irrigated farming, that are viable for the majority of rural people, three models prevail: (i) smallholder family farming; (ii) farming led by agribusiness’ ...
  • Emerging rooibos farmer market access project 

    Kruger, Sandra; du Toit, Andries; Keahey, Jennifer; Murray, Douglas; Raynolds, Laura; Ryser, Lisa (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011)
    Global markets increasingly require rapid and coordinated response to standards and certification. Yet despite broad political transformations in post‐Apartheid South Africa, structural power relations limit emerging farmer ...
  • Vulnerability and social protection at the margins of the formal economy 

    Neves, David; du Toit, Andries (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2006)
    This report sets out the results of an in-depth study of livelihood strategies and ‘coping mechanisms’ among poor people in one very specific, but highly significant context of poverty in South Africa. Its core concrete ...
  • The role of social security in respecting and protecting the dignity of lone mothers in South Africa: Final report 

    Wright, Gemma; Noble, Michael; Ntshongwana, Phakama; Neves, David; Barnes, Helen (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2014)
    This is the final report of a project entitled ‘Lone Mothers in South Africa: The role of social security in respecting and protecting dignity’. The project was inspired by research undertaken for the South African ...

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