The impact of land reform in South Africa

Laws during the apartheid era in South Africa restricted black people from owning many assets, including land. In 1997, the African National Congress introduced a land reform programme to correct this. Did this reduce poverty in rural areas?

The aims of this land reform programme were to support black farmers trying to regain land they lost during apartheid, to reform tenure arrangements in the former homelands and to support the establishment of an emerging class of black farmers. The idea behind the land reform programme is that by providing poor people with access to land, and by strengthening their rights to it, they will be able to devise further strategies to escape from poverty.

However, the legacy of apartheid has made poverty reduction through asset transfer difficult. To date, the land reform programme has made few changes to the pattern of land ownership in the country. There is little evidence that access to land is making poor households better off.

A report from FARM-Africa, UK, examines the impact of land reform policies amongst farmers in the Northern Cape region, South Africa. The Northern Cape covers 30 percent of South Africa, but contains only two per cent of the country’s population. It has an arid climate and extensive livestock keeping is the dominant livelihood activity, as most farmers are unable to access irrigation water.

In 1999, FARM-Africa began working with several land reform groups, focusing on developing the technical and managerial skills of their members. FARM-Africa supported groups in preparing development plans for land use and provided training in Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques. Research during 2001-2003 examined how land reform had affected rural communities in the Northern Cape. The research shows that:

• Household incomes increased since land reform, but there was no evidence that this change resulted from agricultural activities.
• Although land in the Northern Cape is most suited to livestock production, no households made livestock a key element in their livelihood activities.
• Poorer households increased their income from livestock at a faster rate than richer ones, but the contribution to total household income was still less than ten percent.
• The most common cause of falling incomes was unemployment or a drop in wage rates.
• An increase in the number of household members, mainly through migrant workers losing their jobs and returning home, also reduced income levels, particularly for medium and rich households.

Reforming South Africa’s land ownership pattern is an important political objective. However, policies that focus on developing human capital through education and training may be more effective at reducing poverty in arid areas like the Northern Cape, where agriculture is a risky livelihood strategy. If the government hopes to create better opportunities for black farmers in South Africa, then it must:

• improve the level of technical agricultural support to farmers and increase levels of investment in technical agricultural skills
• invest in transport and roads to help communities access their land
• provide more access to credit to pay for production costs, farm repairs and maintenance
• introduce new economic policies to undo the damage from previous liberalisation, which increased risk in agriculture by reducing tariff barriers and increasing price fluctuations.

Source(s):
‘Land reform and its Impact on Livelihoods: Evidence from eight land reform groups in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa’, FARM-Africa, Policy and Research Series No.4, by Alastair Bradstock, September 2005 (PDF) Full document.
'Key Experiences of Land Reform in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa', FARM-Africa, by Alastair Bradstock, 2005 (PDF)
'Land Reform and Livelihoods in South Africa's Northern Cape Province', Land Use Policy 23, 3, pp. 247-259, by Alastair Bradstock, 2005

Funded by: UK Department for International Development; the European Union; Comic Relief; CORDAID; the Community Fund

id21 Research Highlight: 4 October 2006

Further Information:
Alastair Bradstock
FARM-Africa
9-10 Southampton Place
London, WC1A 2EA
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7430 0440
Fax: +44 (0)20 7430 0460
Contact the contributor: alastairb@farmafrica.org.uk

FARM-Africa, UK

Other related links:
'Reforming land ownership: do market-based approaches work?'

'The right kind of land reform: lessons from South Africa'

'Land reform or wildlife? Balancing the interests of people and wildlife'

The PLAAS research programme