Casualties of land reform
07/05/2006 13:46 PM
By: Malose Monama
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johnanesburg - Untold damage is being caused to commercial farming - the mainstay of South Africa's rural towns and a key sector of the economy.

Scarce, productive and high-potential agricultural land is being jeopardised through ill-advised land reform.

While the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has acted correctly in restoring ownership rights to communities dispossessed under white rule, apparently not enough care was taken to ensure the sustainability of the farming enterprises.

Some of South Africa's vital contributors to food security and significant earners of foreign currency, have withered and even collapsed since being transferred to beneficiaries not learned in the science of commercial farming.

Tumelo Hlongwane, an agricultural economist and lecturer at the University of Limpopo, said: "By handing over high-potential land and farms to people not prepared in the craft of commercial farming, the authorities are arming the detractors of land reform and are betraying the very people they seek to empower."

The land-reform casualties include Sapekoe Tea Estates, the citrus farm Zebediela Citrus Estate and the leading tomato farms ZZ2, all in Limpopo.

Counting the losses

Thousands of farming jobs were shed and hundreds more are being lost.

The Limpopo government recently threatened to repossess some 70 farms worth about R100m because of the collapse in production.

The farms had been redistributed to black families through a land reform programme known as the Settlement and Land Acquisition Grant (Slag) which made available a grant of R16 000 per household.

Since the amount was too small to purchase land, the beneficiaries were forced to group - in some instances as large as 350 - so they could combine their grants to afford the land.

But almost all the farms allocated under Slag have deteriorated and many people have abandoned the projects.

This has been blamed on, among other reasons, lack of skills and protracted inter-group conflict.

Limited success of new programme

Slag was replaced by the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) in 2002, which gives exclusive rights of land to individual families.

Even LRAD has had limited success.

Just last week a further 300 farm labourers lost their jobs as the Dindinnie Mango Farm in Sekororo, Limpopo, folded.

The farm and several others in the Trichardtsdal area have been restored to the Makhutswe Communal Property Association (CPA) through restitution.

Streets in farming towns in Limpopo are lined up with tractors and other farming implements after the land-claims commission failed to pay for movable assets when securing the farms for the land claimants.

Steven Voller, a quantity surveyor whose parents have farmed on the land for 30 years, said his family was reluctantly packing it all up and moving to Cape Town after a year of frustration.

"We were one of the willing sellers, it took two years to process the claim and after months of delays we were finally paid out last year. We offered to stay on to mentor the new owners but nothing has come of it. So we are leaving," he said.

Training

On an adjacent farm, Makhutswe CPA chairperson Mashishi Phasha and selected members of the community were being issued a certificate for successfully completing a short course in basic business and legalities, life skills and business conduct, basic management and board governance training, financial literacy, business planning and implementation capacity.

The community has been restored to land rich in mangos, avocados, litchis, macadamia nuts and cash crops.

An achaar factory, employing some 220 people, has also come into their ownership.

Phasha said the Limpopo Department of Agriculture had assisted the community in appointing a strategic partner to help the community run the farms.

The story of Dindinnie farm is common to many others.

Farming savvy and expertise is being lost along with the millions of rand in settlements, which could have provided much-needed capital injection.

In Hoedspruit, also in Limpopo, an entire farming town is in suspense as all commercial farms have been gazetted for restitution.

The irrigation farms alone generate almost R500m in revenue a year and employ 9 000 people.

There are also several game-farming enterprises in the area.

Guidelines offered

Professor Johann Kirsten of the University of Pretoria, an analyst in land reform, agricultural development and policy and food security, said evidence from various land-restitution projects indicated that many of the land-reform projects were not meeting their objectives.

He offered guidelines to be considered in planning future projects to ensure they had a greater chance of success in terms of improving rural livelihoods.

Entrust productive and high-potential agricultural land only to those interested in farming and well equipped to do so, he urged.

"Co-ordination and integration of activities of government departments dealing with land-reform issues, especially the departments of agriculture and land affairs, needs urgent attention.

"The conflicting objectives of making land available to as many people as possible (land affairs and the land claims commissioner) and sustainable commercial agricultural production (department of agriculture) need to be reconciled."

He emphasised the need for support and aftercare.

"Just knowing that there is a dedicated person(s) with whom one can get in touch to handle critical queries and problems will be much appreciated.

"Even a regular visit (perhaps weekly) from the financial institution providing the production loan would go a long way in achieving success for these new farmers. The same would apply to the agri-business firm buying the output or from the co-operative or company supplying inputs. All of them should be enticed or incentivised by government to assist in this important task of farmer settlement," he said.

"Despite selecting beneficiaries with prior agricultural knowledge and skills, substantial training and capacity building is required.

Managing your own business, making technical and financial and marketing decisions in your own capacity, is a totally different ball game.

"These skills are largely acquired over time and with experience but the process can be fast-tracked by presenting comprehensive courses covering all aspects in farm management."

Limpopo Land Claims Commissioner Mashile Mokono said: "Tough lessons have been learnt. We aknowledge the problems, however, I can assure you that going forward the processes will be a lot smoother."

"Programmes are in place to see to that. We now have in place a post-settlement land-reform framework and have developed intergrated development plans with line functionaries at local and regional level."