Land Reform Beneficiaries Research Articles

Leveraging climate and remote sensing metrics for predicting forest carbon stock using Bayesian geostatistical modelling under a projected climate warming in Zimbabwe

Climate change, driven by escalating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, poses a significant threat to forest ecosystems and the livelihoods of communities reliant on them, especially for the global south countries and regions like the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. The 2000 land redistribution programme reduced buffer zones between ecologically sensitive forests and land reform beneficiaries near major carbon reservoirs. In light of these challenges, this study aimed to assess the potential effects of climate change on a strategically important plantation forest ecosystem in Zimbabwe's eastern highlands. Using data from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we modelled and predicted changes in forest carbon (C) stock density under different climate scenarios: current (1970–2000), SSP5–4.5, and SSP5–8.5. Employing a hierarchical Bayesian geostatistical approach, we compared the baseline scenario (1970–2000) with projected scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) for 2075 to estimate changes in forest carbon stock distribution. Our results indicated a decline in carbon stock concentration under future climate scenarios, reflecting the adverse impact of greenhouse gas emissions on forest growth. We found that the projected range of forest carbon stock under the RCP8.5 scenario for 2075 is notably lower (2≤MgCha−1≤44.9) than that of the baseline period (1970–2000) (1≤MgCha−1≤97), suggesting a substantial reduction in carbon storage. As the difference in posterior mean C stock (μ̅1−μ̅2), 52.1 MgCha-1 is well above zero, we deduce that the posterior mean C stock distribution of the projected future RCP8.5 2075 climate projection is indeed credibly different from the current (1970–2000) climate scenario. Additionally, there is a high probability (>90%) that forest plantations will be adversely affected by the business-as-usual climate warming projection. Overall, our findings highlight the urgent need for climate change mitigation strategies, such as reforestation programs and careful selection of tree species for plantations, to safeguard forest ecosystems and the communities dependent on them. These insights are crucial for informing effective adaptation measures in the face of future climate uncertainties.

An An Ideological Land Reform Policy Shift of State Custodianship and ‘Transforming the Rural Land Economy’

In customary landholding practices land is regarded as more than an asset of economic value to be owned. African people’s rights in land and other natural resources exceed the idea of mere possession. To African rural land holders, land is not only a material resource for agricultural production, nor is the commercialisation and commoditisation of land the primary driving force for most customary landholding communities’ even though the land is productively used. This broader conceptualisation of the social function of land beyond the economic, aligns with modern property law on the proprietary function of property. However, excessive state limitations imposed on customary land tenure can hinder economically valuable property rights, but also other rights to social, cultural, and ontological resources embodied in the spirituality of African communities.
 Security of tenure for land reform beneficiaries cannot be secondary to commercialisation and commoditisation of the rural land economy in the national interest. Commercialisation and commoditisation are the by-products of recognised, protected, and enforceable property rights and not the “pre-requisites” or “qualifiers” for secure land tenure. Thus, the state custodial approach reflected in land reform law and policy that places an overemphasis on private property capitalism, above the constitutional mandate of security of land tenure is critically discussed. It is argued that if not carefully formulated transformative land reform law and policy can be conduits for a state custodianship approach that inadvertently reproduces apartheid-like ideology and preoccupations.
 Key words: Secure tenure, state custodianship, National Development Plan 2030, transformative land reform law and policy.

Revisiting Enduring Labour Questions and Social Reproduction Dynamics in Rural Zimbabwe’s Post Land Reform Context: Implications on Citizen Welfare and Wellbeing

Enduring agrarian labour questions and social reproduction dynamics in former settler colonies like Zimbabwe have always been a subject of much scholarly interest. Two decades after Zimbabwe’s controversial fast track land reform programme (FTLRP), the agrarian labour questions and social reproduction dynamics are receiving renewed attention. This is partly attributable to an uneasy political transition, neo-liberal economic trajectories, and the perceived reversals of the policies of the Robert Mugabe administration. With these changes occurring, questions are arising on how this is implicating on agrarian labour and social reproduction in the resettlement areas created by the FTLRP. In a context of trying to understand the outcomes of land and agrarian reform framed within the transformative social policy conceptual framework, this article explores emergent agrarian labour and social reproduction dynamics in the two rural districts of Goromonzi and Zvimba in rural Zimbabwe. Using an interpretive research paradigm and a mixed methods research approach, the study elicited responses from 200 small to medium scale farmers who are beneficiaries of the FTLRP. Arguing from the position that land and agrarian reforms are an overlooked vector of social policy, the article investigated the extent to which the FTLRP has facilitated the creation of employment opportunities, enhanced the productive and reproductive capacities of land reform beneficiaries, enabled wealth distribution and improved rural livelihoods. The article shows that despite the emergent capitalist trajectories and the continued super exploitation of labour reminiscent of the settler colonial era, empirical field-based evidence suggests that redistributive land reform has contributed to socio-economic transformation and enhanced citizens welfare and wellbeing. This is shown as having been evident in the realm of agrarian labour and social reproduction.

‘Rooted Back Home’: Exploring Linkages between Small-Scale Land Reform Beneficiaries and their Communal Areas of Origin in Zimbabwe

This article examines why land reform beneficiaries maintain linkages with their communal areas of origin two decades after Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform programme (FTLRP). This is done by investigating the extent to which and the ways in which beneficiaries of the FTLRP are connected to their communal areas of origin, as well as the implications of maintaining their belonging. Studies of the FTLRP have paid insufficient attention to the importance of understanding linkages with places of origin. Thus, using empirical qualitative insights from Zvimba district, Mashonaland West province, I argue that belonging, even in the case of land reform, links people despite their physical relocation. The findings illustrate that the need to belong makes people maintain their links with their place of origin. The article concludes that land reform programmes should consider social elements such as belonging which are embedded in the social fabric of people’s lives.

The Effect of the Recapitalisation and Development Programme on Agricultural Production of Land Reform Beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

Access to land is a key part of socio-economic development in South Africa. It can be used as a way of rectifying the injustices of the past and lessening the severity of poverty among beneficiaries. To address the issue of land reform, the Recapitalisation and Development Programme (RECAP) was introduced in 2009. The main objectives of this programme are to increase production, guarantee food security, create employment opportunities within the agricultural sector, and graduate small farmers into commercial farmers. This study aimed to analyse the impact of RECAP on land reform projects, focusing on agricultural production in the Eastern Cape. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study, collected through farm/project visits. The results indicated that the programme has made progress towards improving agricultural production on land reform projects since its inception of RECAP. Through RECAP intervention, land reform beneficiaries gained technical skills.

Redistributive land reform policy and women nutritional status in Zimbabwe

Based on a nationally representative sample of 12,119 households surveyed in 2018, the study sought to analyse the impact of Zimbabwe's redistributive land reform policy on women's nutritional status. It focused on the minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) in rural smallholder farming households and tested the hypothesis that improving access to adequate and better-quality agricultural land enhances the diversity and increases the availability of food, which in turn ensures better nutritional outcomes for the household. Using Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) modelling, the study found that diets consumed by women in rural smallholder farming households in Zimbabwe lack adequate diversity (MDD-W = 0.35); with MDD-W being marginally higher for land reform beneficiaries (MDD-W = 0.38) compared to non-beneficiaries (MDD-W = 0.35). However, average treatment estimation suggested that the implementation of the FTLRP has not positively impacted MDD-W as anticipated. This implies that land reform beneficiaries did not exhibit any superior nutritional outcomes compared to non-beneficiaries. Female members of the household need to be empowered with relevant nutritional education on the importance of consuming nutrient-rich foods and diversified diets. It is not enough for public policy to just emphasise on poverty reduction and attainment of food security; it is imperative that appropriate agrarian reform policy strategies are put in place to enhance the delivery of critical support services such as agricultural extension, credit and social protection, which have proven to have significant impact on the nutritional status of women of reproductive age in land reform areas. The land reform beneficiaries should be encouraged to build strong social capital through engaging in social networking activities, which enhance sharing of nutrition-sensitive information.

A review of the land reform beneficiary training in South Africa: The role of agricultural extension

Lack of competent commercial farming skills in emerging farmers is identified as one of the reasons for poor productivity on redistributed commercial farms. To address this shortcoming, the government and non-governmental organisations spend significant amounts of money providing a range of beneficiary training. However, very few objective studies exist that report how these pieces of training occur and how they are performed. This research aims to provide an initial basic understanding of the requirements and loopholes in the land reform beneficiary trainings, paving the way for future studies. The objective was to identify and discuss the role of agricultural extension in administering these beneficiary trainings. These objectives were achieved by critically reviewing the relevant literature, policy documents, and some relevant official statistics. In our synthesis of the literature, we identified key attributes for a competent commercial farmer which are: the need to know how to adopt, regularly, new technology, new production processes, and new marketing arrangements, while continuing to take a calculated risk and have sound business and financial management skills. We then assessed these attributes to all small-scale farmers and land reform beneficiaries and found little theoretical evidence of such. However, some of the beneficiary trainings converge with the key commercial farmer competencies but others were missing. There were significant discrepancies in the beneficiary training expenditure and few details of the service providers and skills supplied.

‘Social Relations and Agrarian Labour’: Exploring the Dynamics of Relations Between Former Farm Workers and A1 Beneficiaries in Zimbabwe’s A1 Settlements

This article examines the evolving nature of social and agrarian relations between A1 villagised beneficiaries of the Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe (FTLRP) and former farm workers. Using a case study from Zvimba District, Mashonaland West, I investigate how after FTLRP farm workers are accessing land and a host of livelihoods through social relations with the A1 beneficiaries. The article argues that after FTLRP, farm workers have established social relations with beneficiaries of FTLRP, which have enabled them to access land, agricultural inputs, and other socioeconomic benefits.

Rethinking Land Reform and Its Contribution to Livelihoods in South Africa

Abstract Land reform in South Africa has been criticised for its failure to significantly improve beneficiaries’ livelihoods. Among the reasons is the government’s stubborn enforcement of large-scale farming on land reform projects. This article presents the experiences of land reform beneficiaries on a single case farm in Limpopo Province, confirming, on one hand, that indeed the capital-intensive model of production negatively affects their production and livelihoods. On the other, the article shows that where alternative land uses are introduced, even alongside large-scale farming, land contributes to beneficiaries’ livelihoods. The article argues that a nuanced analysis that goes beyond the narrow commercial and econometric value of land, to include its social value, allows us to comprehend the full extent of land’s contribution to rural livelihoods in South Africa.

Evaluating Factors Affecting Performance of Land Reform Beneficiaries in South Africa

The ability of farmers to operate redistributed farms in a profitable and sustainable manner is crucial for both successful integration into agricultural value chains and sustainable production systems. The performance of redistributed farms is becoming increasingly important as the number of redistributed farms increases in light of correcting previous anomalies in land ownership in South Africa while ensuring continued food security. Although much has been done to assess the impact of land reform on macro variables, little has been done to unpack factors associated with the success of redistributed farms. Using a sample of 1956 redistributed farms across the nine provinces of South Africa, the current study employs an ordinary least square regression as well as a generalised logistic regression model to identify factors associated with the success (measured by net farm income and probability to operate at commercially viable scale) of the sampled farms. The results show that infrastructure, support (both technical and financial), and type of market used are significantly associated with the performance of redistributed farms. In addition, the results reveal disparities in performance across provinces and across gender categories. The study provides valuable insight to programme managers on the factors that needs to be enhanced in order to increase the odds of success for redistributed farms.

Determinants of potential land reform beneficiaries’ willingness to relocate from their former homeland homestead farms to commercial farms

ABSTRACT The South African land reform, particularly the aspect of land redistribution, has received strong criticism of being slow and inequitable, contrary to how it is envisaged in numerous land redistribution policies. Consequently, the recent report of the land reform advisory committee appointed by the president highlighted several issues in the understanding of land redistribution beneficiaries and recommended research to fill those knowledge gaps and inform policy design. This study therefore attempts to understand which factors could determine whether commercially oriented smallholders in the former homelands, who are regarded as potential land redistribution beneficiaries, would be willing to relocate to commercial farms formerly owned by white farmers. This objective is achieved by implementing a binary logistic regression to a sample of 454 commercially oriented smallholders, purposively and randomly surveyed in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The results show that age, number of schooling years (education), dwelling asset base and feeling constrained by farming in the former homeland can predict the likelihood of relocating. Marginal effects suggest that education, dwelling asset base and feeling constrained by farming in the former homeland have more weight in predicting beneficiary relocation likelihood (dependent variable). Based on these findings, the article makes recommendations for land redistribution policies.

The South African Redistribution Imperative: Incongruities in Theory and Practice

AbstractIt has partly been assumed that the constitutional obligation to pay compensation for expropriations is to blame for the slow pace at which land has been redistributed in South Africa. However, this assumption requires careful analysis and reflection, with reference to the imperfections of the policies and laws that set out to address landlessness, as well as the underlying theoretical approach to economic justice. This article questions the purpose for which land reform beneficiaries acquire land, with reference to the role that property should ideally fulfil for the landless. The article makes a number of observations to cast light on why the redistribution of land has been alarmingly slow, where inconsistencies and loopholes exist in the programme, and whether expropriations for nil compensation will make any difference in remedying existing failures in the redistribution programme.

Towards a viable farm size – determining a viable household income for emerging farmers in South Africa's Land Redistribution Programme: an income aspiration approach

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to propose an improved methodology to determine a viable farm size for potential emerging farmers as land reform beneficiaries. Land reform in South Africa has been criticised because of poor implementation and slow pace, accompanied by poor productivity in redistributed land. To explain this, it has been suggested that commercial farms are too large for emerging farmers who have little or no experience in commercial farming. Thus, there have been calls for measures to make subdivision of land easier and cheaper. To this end, cross–sectional survey data from 833 potential emerging farmers in three rural provinces are analysed to determine a viable income for emerging farm households as a basis for calculating a viable farm size, using the income aspiration literature, farm household economics theory as a point of departure. Off–farm income, farm income and aspirational income are included in the calculation. The viable income was matched to the existing commercial farm enterprise gross margins per hectare obtained from the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, which are then used as the basis for suggesting “viable farm sizes” for different emerging farm households.

A typology of emerging farmers in three rural provinces of South Africa: what are the implications for the land redistribution policy?

PurposeUnderstanding diversity amongst potential beneficiaries of land redistribution is of critical importance for both design and planning of successful land reform interventions. This study seeks to add to the existing literature on farming types, with specific emphasis on understanding diversity within a sub-group of commercially oriented or emerging smallholders.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multivariate statistical analysis – principal component and cluster analyses applied to a sample of 442 commercially-oriented smallholders – five distinct clusters of emerging farmers are identified, using variables related to farmers' characteristics, income and expenditure and farm production indicators and willingness to participate in land redistribution. The five clusters are discussed in light of a predefined selection criteria that is based on the current policies and scholarly thinking.FindingsThe results suggest that there are distinct differences in farming types, and each identified cluster of farmers requires tailored support for the effective implementation of land reform. The identified homogenous sub-groups of smallholders, allows us to understand which farmers could be a better target for a successful land redistribution policy.Originality/valueMost of the existing typology studies in South Africa tend to focus on general smallholders and in the Eastern Cape province; this study extends the literature by focussing on specific prime beneficiaries of land reform in three provinces. This study uses a more detailed dataset than the Statistics general and agricultural household surveys.

Explaining land size demand among potential emerging farmers in South Africa: what does it mean for land redistribution policy?

ABSTRACT The South African land redistribution is stalling, and frustration in both citizens and politicians has gained momentum in recent years. Among its numerous recommendations, the Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture, appointed by the presidency to ease the frustration, has recommended research to better understand the beneficiaries of land redistribution. Using a sample of 469 potential emerging farmers randomly selected and surveyed from three provinces, this article endeavours to understand factors affecting land size demand of commercial-oriented smallholders, who are the prime beneficiaries of land redistribution. Existing studies report a small land size demand from smallholders and have advocated that land reform farms should be subdivided to meet this demand despite the Land Subdivision Act of 1970, which prohibits subdivision of farmland. This repeated request implies that the government has done little so far to subdivide land reform farms. Results from the ordinary least squares regression of the present study show that mostly socio-economic variables, followed by ‘currently owned arable land’ and ‘risk attitude’, statistically explain land demand of potential land reform beneficiaries. Considering the farm subdivision debate, the results of this study substantiate the argument of subdividing farms because smallholders demand a land size that meets their working capabilities and their willingness to accept the associated risk.

Dairy Joint Ventures in South Africa’s Land and Agrarian Reform Programme: Who Benefits?

Joint Ventures (JVs) between ‘agribusiness’ investors and ‘small farmers’ or ‘customary landowners’ are being promoted in South Africa’s land and agrarian reform programme as a way to include land reform beneficiaries in the country’s competitive agricultural sector. This paper undertakes an in-depth comparative analysis of two JV dairy farms located on irrigation schemes in the former ‘homeland’ of the Ciskei, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. The community, through government investment, brings the fixed assets to the business: land, irrigation infrastructure and milking parlours. The agribusiness partner or ‘sharemilker’ contributes the dairy cows and other movable assets. The paper explores what incentivizes agribusiness partners to enter into these types of ‘sharemilking’ JVs. The research reveals that investing in ‘moveable assets’ is more profitable for agribusiness and is also viewed as a more politically pragmatic way to arrange production in the context of land reform. These arrangements have led to further opportunities for investment in other parts of the dairy value chain. The social relations of production involved in sharemilking JVs also obscure class and race relations in ways that benefit agribusiness partners. Although beneficiaries are receiving benefits in the form of jobs and dividends, which in certain cases make notable contributions to household incomes, the structuring of sharemilking contracts is not a fair return on investment for the customary landowners. It is also argued that the JV model is at risk of equating ‘black emerging farmers’ with a group of ‘beneficiaries’ who are in reality workers and passive recipients of dividends and land rents.

Large-Scale Farming and Land Reform Beneficiaries in South Africa: Lessons From a Case Study in Limpopo Province

The South African government intends to improve rural livelihoods through land and agrarian reform. However, in doing so the government is enforcing large-scale production in the land reform projects with little regard for the beneficiaries’ background or capabilities, which are not suited to large-scale production. The article demonstrates how large-scale farming is negatively affecting land beneficiaries’ production by undermining their ability to produce the quality products (and adequate quantities) that satisfy the standards in the increasingly concentrated markets dominated by agribusiness.

Autocracy, Institutional Constraints and Land Expropriation: A Conceptual Analysis of Land Redistribution in Zimbabwe

Using the Zimbabwean case, this article explores the assertion that autocracies are better placed than democracies in land redistribution because of lower institutional constraints and concentration of power which makes policy implementation easier. This is rightly so, because such political systems have the notoriety of neutralizing or eliminating the veto gauntlet which is normally strengthened by institutional autonomy. Extant literature on land reform continues to grapple with overarching questions as to why countries redistribute land, relating to the type of conditions that incubate the need for reform and the political purpose that redistribution serve in this world. Equally important, is the need to interrogate the real beneficiaries of land reform. The study notes that in the post-Cold War globalized era of ‘fractured sovereignty’, redistribution from above remains attractive despite its protracted nature. However, against a post-colonial settler land discourse that memorializes race, privilege, dispossession, and restitution, the article evinces that land redistribution is tainted by elitism, clientelism, and partisanship which eventually distort its structural transformative power.

Understanding the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers: Evidence from land reform beneficiaries in South Africa

Climatic change has a negative impact on people’s livelihoods, agriculture, freshwater supply and other natural resources that are important for human survival. Therefore, understanding how rural smallholder farmers perceive climate change, climate variability, and factors that influence their choices would facilitate a better understanding of how these farmers adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. A Zero-inflated double hurdle model was employed to estimate the factors influencing farmers’ adoption of adaptation strategies and intensity of adoption at the household level in South Africa. Different socioeconomic factors such as gender, age, and experience in crop farming, institutional factors like access to extension services, and access to climate change information significantly influenced the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among beneficiaries of land reform in South Africa. Concerning intensity of adoption, age, educational level, farming experience, on-farm training, off-farm income, access to information through ICT and locational variables are the significant determinants of intensity of adaptation strategies. Thus, education attainment, non-farm employment, farming experience are significant incentives to enhance smallholder farmers' adaptive capacity through the adoption of many adaptation approaches. This study therefore concluded that farm-level policy efforts that aim to improve rural development should focus on farmers’ education, on-farm demonstration and non-farm employment opportunities that seek to engage the farmers, particularly during the off-cropping season. The income from non-farm employment can be plough-back into farm operations such as the adoption of soil and water conservation, use of improved planting varieties, insurance, among others to mitigate climate variability and subsequently increase productivity. Policies and investment strategies of the government should be geared towards supporting education, providing on-farm demonstration trainings, and disseminating information about climate change adaptation strategies, particularly for smallholder farmers in the country. Thus, the government, stakeholders, and donor agencies must provide capacity-building innovations around the agricultural extension system and education on climate change using information and communication technologies.

Land leasing in a post-land reform context: insights from Zimbabwe

Despite the Zimbabwean State’s narrative and discourse that in fast track land reform areas ‘land leasing is illegal’, there is a surge in land leasing. This article focuses on how land leasing unfolds in the post-fast track land reform Zimbabwe, paying particular attention to state’s role in land leasing, the forms of land leasing and the forms of conflicts that emerge. The study draws from a qualitative research conducted on 90 purposively selected households resettled on three farms and 15 key informants in Marondera district. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and analyzed through thematic coding and descriptive statistics. SPSS version 23 and Microsoft Excel were used to perform the statistical analysis. Findings show that land leasing is still ongoing informally and that various actors participate in it. The land reform beneficiaries leased out land due to livelihood precarity, as a means of safeguarding land by absentee land owners, labor shortages and tenure insecurity. The results revealed that 94% of the land is leased out to large-scale tenants and 6% to small-scale tenants. The study also noted that 100% of the land leasing occurred in the study area informally. Furthermore, 90% of these agreements are verbal and only 10% are written. The informal land leasing practice is also fraught with conflicts, such as struggles over plot boundaries, non-rent payments and crop theft. The State's ambiguity in this matter has not helped, it merely drives land leasing ‘underground’ but does not halt it. Therefore, a ‘new normal’ land leasing system that strives outside the confines of the law has emerged. In terms of policy implications, the study calls for the State and stakeholders to re-examine land leasing, and consider a modest tax on it, and establish village based simplification and regularization of land leasing procedures. .