Joint ventures in agriculture: Lessons from land reform projects in South Africa

Abstract

This report presents findings from research on joint ventures in South Africa’s agricultural sector. The South African experience presents major specificities linked to its history and its recent land reform programme, within which experience with joint ventures has emerged. In contrast to other parts of the world, South Africa provides an example of communities that, as the result of a political transformation, have come into possession of large, valuable agricultural assets, to which they have secured freehold title but often lack the necessary management and financial resources, and are therefore in need of commercial partners. The commercial partners that have linked up with such communities are also atypical in that many are relatively small in scale and some are former owners of the land in question. In the partnerships, local communities are thrust into collective participation in new and complex enterprises, rather than building on familiar household-based activities. And the driving force behind the new ventures is the state, through policy, brokering and the provision of