Land Reform Beneficiaries Research Articles

Livelihood diversification with certification‐supported farming: The case of land reform beneficiaries in the Philippines

AbstractThe promotion of intensive farming through organic and fair trade certification appears contradictory to the increasing significance of non‐farm income sources in rural Asia as well as in many other parts of the rural South. By observing a sugarcane producer co‐operative comprising land reform beneficiaries in the Philippines, this paper explores the reality of livelihood diversification as practised by member households of the certified co‐operative, focusing on the compatibility of certification‐supported farming with diversified activities. In this case, diversification at the household level progressed both away from farming and into farming. Behind the long‐term use of agricultural certification, there are compelling reasons for continuing both certification‐supported farming and diversified activities, and for employing mechanisms that further the compatibility at all phases between the former and the latter, and maximising income‐generating opportunities. The operation of communal land with agricultural certification may be an effective form of assistance to land reform beneficiaries who share a strong desire to be landowners.

Congruence of appropriation and provision in collective water provision in Central Namibia

Achieving cooperation in natural resource management is always a challenge when incentives exist for an individual to maximise her short term benefits at the cost of a group. We study a public good social dilemma in water infrastructure provision on land reform farms in Namibia. In the context of the Namibian land reform, arbitrarily mixed groups of livestock farmers have to share the operation and maintenance of water infrastructure. Typically, water is mainly used for livestock production, and livestock numbers are subject to high fluctuations due to the given environmental conditions. Our paper assesses how alternative payment systems with differing congruence of provision and appropriation support the cooperation in the group given the ever-changing equilibria. In a first step, we conducted an exploratory overview of the social-ecological system of central Namibian land reform projects. The Social Ecological System (SES) Framework served as a guideline for this assessment ( Ostrom 2009 ). Taking the complexity of the cooperation situation into account, in the second step we designed a role-play that is based on a social-ecological simulation model. The role-play simulates the real-life decision situations of land reform beneficiaries wherein equilibria are permanently changing. This approach helped us to not only better understand the cooperation challenges of Namibian land reform beneficiaries, but also supported stakeholders in their decision making and institution building. Our study provides evidence to support that land reform beneficiaries increase their contributions as they own more livestock and as other group members increase their payments. Nevertheless, only groups with relatively homogeneous livestock endowments manage to agree on payment rules. Interestingly, the dominant rule is an “equal payment per farmer” and not a “payment per head of livestock”, though the latter would imply a higher congruence of provision and appropriation.

Developing alternative models to acquire land sustainably in the Free State Province

Land redistribution must be accompanied by the relevant resources required for sustainable farming production and its beneficiaries must be capacitated before being settled on farms. Then farming productions must be monitored and evaluated for sustainability. Then, livelihood improvement on land reform beneficiaries must be put on scale. Based on all this mentioned factors the research was initiated to develop a model which will ensure that land acquisition is done in a sustainable manner to ultimately improve livelihoods of beneficiaries. Key Words : Land Reform, Sustainability, Models and Livelihoods, Extension Support.

An approach to land capability evaluation for agriculture using remote sensing and GIS in Barberspan, North West Province of South Africa

To guarantee food security, job creation and graduate small-scale farmers to commercial farmers, unproductive farms in the North West Province that have resulted from the land reform programme need to be restructured and evaluated for agricultural productivity. This study aimed to assess the land capability of redistributed land using remote sensing and GIS in spatial planning for arable agriculture in a communal land use setting. The primary data were obtained from soil samples collected from 0–100 cm depths. The secondary information was acquired from the remotely sensed data (SPOT 5). Soil properties such as soil texture, soil depth, pH and drainage condition were stored as attributes in a geographical soil database and linked with the soil map units. The physical characteristics and environmental parameters of Barberspan farm were integrated using spatial analyses function in ArcGIS to produce a land capability map. This land capability study was intended for post-settlement support to land reform beneficiaries and other small-scale farmers who are generally left to look out for themselves after transfer of ownership.

Food Sovereignty and Fome Zero: Connecting Public Food Procurement Programmes to Sustainable Rural Development in Brazil

The global discourse on food sovereignty suggests several mechanisms for improving food security and agricultural livelihoods, including redistributive land reform and restructuring of markets to improve food distribution and access. In Brazil, the Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) social welfare programme has created innovative links between public nutrition and food security programmes and rural development initiatives through mediated market support for the family farm sector. We report on a participatory assessment of the experience of land reform beneficiaries in seven municipalities in Mato Grosso, Brazil, who were contracted to produce food for the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (Food Procurement Programme, PAA) and the Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (National School Feeding Programme, PNAE) under the umbrella of Fome Zero. This analysis offers insight into the opportunities and challenges related to participation in mediated ‘farm‐to‐institution’ food procurement programmes, and assesses their influence on key food sovereignty principles, including agro‐ecological transition, increased market stability and farmer autonomy.

Land Reform and Sugarcane Farming in the Mpumalanga Lowveld

This paper focuses on the ways in which the Mpumalanga sugar industry has been transformed by land reform processes and discusses the impact that these processes have had on land reform beneficiaries and on the industry more broadly. Having emerged from apartheid under a dualistic agrarian structure, the sugar industry appears to have embraced land reform to the extent that it is considered a rare example of success against a backdrop of national underachievement. By 2013, 62 percent of all land used to grow sugarcane in Mpumalanga was owned by black South Africans. Land reform has occurred in two forms: land restitution in which people have been able to claim land from which they were historically dispossessed, and market-led land redistribution conducted on a willing buyer willing seller basis. Of these, land restitution is by far the most significant in terms of area transferred. The Greater Tenbosch Land Claim, a consolidated restitution claim by seven “community trusts” or community property associations is one of the most valuable claims to have been settled in South Africa, amounting to 61,000 hectares. This paper reports on a three-year empirical study undertaken from 2012 to 2014 in Nkomazi District, Mpumalanga. It draws on the findings of interviews with a number of key informants and a questionnaire survey of small-scale sugar growers. It also makes use of secondary sources, including those in the academic literature, and statistical data provided by the sugar industry in Nkomazi. The paper discusses the outcomes of land restitution with a focus on three land use arrangements on restituted sugar farms: joint ventures, land leases and direct management operations. It also reports on the outcomes of market-led land redistribution in the Nkomazi sugar-growing area. The paper argues that land reform has so far served more to consolidate farming operations and sugar cane supply for the sugar milling company than to deliver benefits for new land-owning communities.

Community Members’ Knowledge, Support and Perceived Benefits of Land Reform in Rural South Africa: The Case of Mtunzini, in the KwaZulu Natal Province

South Africa’s post-apartheid land reform programme was largely influenced by the World Bank’s ‘Willing-Seller Willing- Buyer’ or ‘Negotiated Land Reform Approach’. Past studies have been dealing with land reform within the ambits of poverty reduction, violence and human rights. This study investigated the perception of the people at grass root level about land reform, within the participatory paradigm. In a survey of community members in rural Mtunzini ((n = 66) the study sought to decipher the levels of knowledge, support and perceived benefits of land reform among farmers and agricultural workers. Scale construction was conducted using Principal Components Analysis and hypotheses were tested using bivariate correlation. The results of the study showed that community members’ knowledge of land reform predicts their support for land reform. The result further showed that support for land reform is dependent upon the perceived expected benefit from the program. The results of the study also showed that the public perceived the power of chiefs as having potential in processes of land distribution. This is due to the fact that traditional leaders are leadership structures in closer communication with the people, especially in the rural areas. The study further demonstrated that distributing land without reasonable financial support to land reform beneficiaries will not be helpful. On the basis of these findings it was recommended that transparent mass education of the populace especially in the rural areas about land reform, and land policy will increase popular support and generate positive attitudes from the population towards government programmes. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n8p586

The Impact of Land Property Rights Interventions on Investment and Agricultural Productivity in Developing Countries: a Systematic Review

We conducted a systematic review on the effects of land tenure recognition interventions on agricultural productivity, income, investment and other relevant outcomes. We synthesise findings from 20 quantitative studies and nine qualitative studies that passed a methodological screening. The results indicate substantial productivity and income gains from land tenure recognition, although gains differ markedly by region. We find that these effects may operate through gains in perceived tenure security and investment; we find no evidence for a credit mechanism. The qualitative synthesis highlights potential adverse effects. A conclusion emphasises the need for further research on inter-regional differences and on the role of customary tenure arrangements.

Determinants of semi-arid rangeland management in a land reform setting in Namibia

To assess the ecological and economic implications of the redistributive land reform in semi-arid Namibia, we investigated to what extent land reform beneficiaries adjust herd size and herd composition according to environmental (rainfall, vegetation) and economic variables (herd size, financial assets, running costs). We performed model-based role-plays with Namibian land reform beneficiaries, simulating 10 years of rangeland management.Our study revealed that the farmers surveyed mainly manage their herds according to their economic situation (herd size and account balance) but do not take environmental variability (rainfall and vegetation) into account. Further, our results indicate that, due to financial pressure, farmers are not able to apply their desired management strategies, and that owners of small farms face a higher risk of economic failure. However, farmers apply rather conservative and constant stocking rates and will thus, given the current economic limitations, likely not contribute to semi-arid savanna degradation.We conclude that land reform beneficiaries need support to be able to apply straightforward and efficient management strategies. This could be achieved by facilitating cooperation between small farming businesses and by supporting initial investment in productive cattle herds at the time of redistribution of the land.

Efficiency of resettled farmers in Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe in crop production: A DEA approach

The main aim of the paper is to determine the technical, allocative and economic efficiency of the resettled farmers in Zimbabwe in the production of field crops. Data were collected from 245 land reform beneficiaries using a structured questionnaire during the 2010/2011 agricultural production season. To empirically calculate efficiency, Data Envelop Analysis (DEA) was adopted mainly because of its capability of handling multiple inputs and outputs. Results obtained from DEA showed that commercial land reform beneficiaries (A2 farmers) had a higher average technical efficiency score of 0.839 than subsistence (small land size) land reform beneficiaries (A1 and the old resettled farmers) who had average technical efficiency scores of 61.7 and 65.9%, respectively. Small land holders were also on average less cost-efficient than large land holders (A2). The decomposition of cost-efficiency into technical and allocative efficiency suggests that cost inefficiency for A2 farmers was mostly due to the use of ‘wrong’ inputs at the prevailing input prices, rather than waste of inputs. Small land holders’ cost inefficiency was mostly due to both the use of ‘wrong’ inputs at the prevailing input prices and waste of inputs. Efficiency in field crop production in Zimbabwe could be improved through improving the ability of the resettled farmers to choose optimum input levels for given factor prices and saving inputs through correct usage. Key words: Allocative efficiency, cost efficiency, data envelop analysis (DEA), land reform, technical efficiency.

The people’s choice: options for land ownership in South Africa’s land reform

This paper analyses land tenure reform in South Africa from the perspective of land redistribution and restitution projects. It takes the absence of a clearly defined tenure reform in the country as its point of departure to argue that land redistribution and restitution projects serve as a vehicle through which forms of land tenure in post-apartheid South Africa are expressed. There is dissonance between the official position on giving land to large groups under the legal entity of the CPA and the practice and preferences at project sites. The paper suggests that a progressive land tenure reform policy requires a bottom-up approach that takes into consideration various ways in which beneficiaries of land reform could own and use land.

Scales of Vulnerability: Resettlement and Exposure to Multiple Stressors and Shocks in Zimbabwe

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which agricultural land resettlement provided its beneficiaries with opportunities for coping better with stresses and shocks. The study was carried out in Mufurudzi resettlement scheme in Zimbabwe, and involved the collection of socio-economic data through a questionnaire survey, interviews and focus group discussions that were conducted on five randomly selected former commercial farms. The existence of three distinct categories of land reform beneficiaries was revealed: the better- off, worse- off and middle income earners, each with its own livelihood trajectories, and differentially equipped with capabilities of coping with stresses and shocks. The worse- off and middle income categories were the most vulnerable due to the resource gaps that featured in their livelihoods. Though land reform may be a necessary condition for reducing poverty and livelihood vulnerability, its importance in playing this role depends on the livelihood trajectories that individual beneficiary households choose to follow.

Factors affecting yields of field crops and land utilisation amongst land reform beneficiaries of Mashonaland Central Province in Zimbabwe

The objectives of the study were to determine the level that resettled farmers in Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe utilise their land in the production of field crops as well as to determine their mean yields per hectare. Factors that affect yield and land utilisation were also determined. Data was collected from 245 households using a questionnaire as the main instrument. The majority of the households in the resettled areas, A1 (91%), A2 (87%) and the old resettlement areas (70%) were male-headed and had at least primary education. A2 farms have the lowest mean yield per hectare of US$714.80 which significantly differed from A1 (US$854.60) and the old resettled farms (US$846.55) which had higher but similar mean yield per hectare. The mean land utilisation rate varied significantly (p<0.05) with the land reform model with A2 having highest land utilisation rate of 67%. The A1 and old resettlement households had land utilisation rates of 53 and 46% respectively. Average total revenue varied significantly with the model of land reform. Sex, marital status, age of the household head, education and household size significantly affected land utilisation (P<0.05). Key words: Land reform, land utilisation, old resettlements, revenue, yield.

A synopsis of land and agrarian change in Chipinge district, Zimbabwe1

This paper extends the analysis of Zimbabwe's Fast Track land reform to the district of Chipinge in Manicaland province in south eastern Zimbabwe, where particular agro-ecological, political and social dynamics are important. In the three A1 resettlement schemes studied, political loyalty and patronage largely explain how the new beneficiaries acquired land. Most scholarly work, media and advocacy reports acknowledge the role of political patronage in the acquisition of A2 farms but they underplay this on A1 resettlement schemes. Based on empirical data, I argue that some A1 land reform beneficiaries are clients of patronage networks. Even though the new A1 farmers have other legitimate claims to land they are being subordinated to a partisan state and authoritarian ruling party that is willing to exclude other ‘ordinary’ people with ‘wrong’ or weak political ties in a highly politicised landscape. Thus, the paper argues that in these cases the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)'s governing elite manipulated autochthonous, historical, political, social reproduction and livelihoods grievances among different groups of people to set in motion a party politicised Fast Track Land Reform (Fast Track) project meant to reassert its political hegemony.

Three decades of agrarian reform in Zimbabwe

This article examines the empirical facts about the actual outcome of Zimbabwe's land reform, based on years of field research. It shows that the popular assumption about failed land reform in Zimbabwe is wrong on several counts: the character of Zimbabwe's land reform has been redistributive, and the extent of this has been wide enough to trigger significant progressive changes in the agrarian structure. This is despite some elites having benefited from the process and foreign-owned agro-industrial estates and conservancies being retained. The distribution of land among land reform beneficiaries has been relatively uneven, with some receiving larger land allocations than others, and this in turn influenced the differentiated access of these groups to farming services and infrastructure. Yet the productivity of small producers has grown slowly with output escalating recently. Three decades of land reform has recast land-based social relations in important ways, with the poor gaining more than previously believed.

Zimbabwe's land reform: myths &amp; realities

Ten years after the land invasions of 2000, this book provides the first full account of the consequences of these dramatic events. This land reform overturned a century-old pattern of land use, one dominated by a small group of large-scale commercial farmers, many of whom were white. But what replaced it? This book challenges five myths through the examination of the field data from Masvingo province: Myth 1 Zimbabwean land reform has been a total failure Myth 2 The beneficiaries of Zimbabwean land reform have been largely political 'cronies' Myth 3 There is no investment in the new resettlements Myth 4 Agriculture is in complete ruins creating chronic food insecurity Myth 5 The rural economy has collapsed By challenging these myths, and suggesting alternative policy narratives, this book presents the story as it has been observed on the ground: warts and all. What comes through very strongly is the complexity, the differences, almost farm by farm: there is no single, simple story of the Zimbabwe land reform as sometimes assumed by press reports, political commentators, or indeed much academic study. Ian Scoones, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, with co-authors Nelson Marongwe, Blasio Mavedzenge, Jacob Mahenehene, Felix Murimbarimba and Chrispen Sukume. Zimbabwe: Weaver Press Southern Africa: Jacana

Is the South African land reform programme gender sensitive to women's food security and livelihood efforts?

abstract Complexities created by the dichotomy between statutory and customary land laws and practices are proving to have an impact on women's efforts at deriving land-based livelihoods and food security. Water is required for sustained land-based livelihoods. This focus aims to provide insight into challenges of land-based livelihoods in two research sites in rural KwaZulu-Natal by considering questions around gender sensitivity of land reform and access to water for land-based livelihoods. Purposive sampling was used to select female land reform beneficiaries and those residing in communal areas. Focus group discussions complemented by a structured questionnaire were used for data collection. The results indicated the complexity in understanding, perception and values of land straddling the statutory and customary land laws and practice landscape. Women continue to be disenfranchised by the two systems, and their efforts at a land-based livelihood are undermined. A framework that allows functional elements of both land systems needs continued engagement and research to deal with this dichotomy. Ways to improve access to water should be sought, despite the challenges of the two land systems.

South Africa's new Cooperatives Act: A missed opportunity for small farmers and land reform beneficiaries

Agricultural cooperatives are often viewed as appropriate vehicles to facilitate vertical coordination with, or horizontal integration between, small farmers who would otherwise be excluded from value-adding opportunities and discerning markets. In South Africa, renewed interest in development-oriented cooperatives saw the introduction of a new Cooperatives Act in 2005, along with support measures dedicated to ‘emerging’ cooperatives. This paper contends that the architects of the new Act discounted important trends in international legislation that would have made development-oriented cooperatives more versatile and given their members better access to capital and expertise through equity partnerships with private agribusiness firms. It is concluded that the new Act should be amended to admit non-patron investors as members, and to allow for non-redeemable and hence appreciable and tradable shares. Such innovations are emerging internationally, usually with a cap on non-patron voting power.

Land Reform in the Time of Neoliberalism: A Many‐Splendored Thing

Abstract: Over the past 20 years, land reform – defined here as the redistribution of land from large to small properties – has emerged as an important political issue in the Global South. Actors with widely differing ideological perspectives have claimed land reform as central to their political, social and economic platforms. In this paper, I compare reforms championed under the neoliberal auspices of the World Bank (the so‐called Market Led Agrarian Reforms) with those supported by popular grassroots actors such as the Movement of Landless Workers (the MST) in Brazil. I argue that although these two approaches to land reform are often considered antithetical to one another, they share a common theoretical foundation. Both are rooted in a labor theory of property that attributes the fruits of one's labor to the laborer. Where the two differ is in their interpretation of the “original sin” through which land and labor came to be misaligned: neoliberal actors see the state as the key source of land‐related inefficiency while popular grassroots actors identify the market as the key source. I analyze case material from northeastern Brazil and suggest that the institutionalization of the labor theory of property (across civil society, state and market in the region) has generated insecurities for new land reform beneficiaries who must protect their property rights with visible evidence of their productivity.

Hybridity emergent: Geo-history, learning, and land restitution in South Africa

Market-Led Agrarian Reform (MLAR), which is advocated by the World Bank and is being implemented in various contexts around the world, is a more neo-liberal approach to land reform than that we have seen implemented in the past. MLAR principles have underpinned South Africa’s land reform programme, being based on the ‘willing-seller, willing-buyer’ principle, which guarantees market-related prices to sellers. Evidence presented in this paper, however, raises serious questions about the extent to which the South African government has held on to MLAR principles. Specifically, the paper argues that South Africa’s peculiar geo-historical context has in some instances led the government to fuse market-led approaches with more authoritarian interventions that dictate to land reform beneficiaries how the land will be used. A case in point is the government’s approach to the restitution of land rights to communities dispossessed from the Levubu area of Limpopo province. As the paper illustrates, the government has imposed on the intended beneficiaries a so-called ‘strategic partnership’ between them and agribusinesses. Although the government touts the approach as a way to protect the commercial viability of the land and to transfer skills from white farmers to the beneficiaries, the terms of the Levubu solution may turn out to be less than favourable for the beneficiaries.