Economic development in South Africa (SA) has been an issue that has been on top of the government's agenda for many years now. Whilst SA as a nation is well endowed in terms of natural resources, the skewed distribution of these resources has left rural economies at a great disadvantage when compared to the urban ones. Questions have thus been asked about how best to address this imbalance and boost rural economies so that every citizen enjoys an adequate share of the nation's resources. One common suggestion for achieving this goal has been that of promoting smallholder agriculture, especially since this form of farming is dominant in the country's rural areas where at least 70% of the country's poorest households dwell. The basis for such an argument has been that smallholder agriculture can stimulate rural development as it is labour-intensive which in turn translates to high employment opportunities being created. The sector also dominates in the deepest corners of the nation where poverty is rife and their survival means enough food could be produced to sustain these households. A healthy smallholder sector has also been proven to facilitate backward and forward linkages between various industries with income flowing both ways. Nevertheless, the success of the smallholder sector is dependent on the removal of certain barriers that have, in some cases, forced some farmers to seek alternative livelihood strategies other than farming. This paper therefore seeks to discuss the characteristics of smallholder agriculture which are crucial to understand prior to using the sector to develop rural SA. It also brings to light some of the factors that have limited the growth of this sector and concludes by recommending a few solutions that could help eliminate or at least reduce the impact of these barriers.
With the first democratic elections, there was a great need to rebuild the South African (SA) economy. Some of the major pressing issues that needed priority included addressing the high poverty and unemployment levels in the country. This has resulted in debates from development economists on which approach to adopt to quickly get the rural poor out of the vicious circle of poverty. One of the most supported approaches is to develop the rural population first seeing as it is the one most affected by poverty. Since the majority of the population is located in the rural areas, it is of paramount importance that attention is given to them through supporting their (smallholder) agricultural sector. This paper seeks to highlight and evaluate the Land Reform Programme (LRP) as one of many approaches used to promote the smallholder agricultural sector. The idea is to determine the success or failure rate of this intervention and perhaps come up with some possible policy recommendations that can make it more effective.
South Africa has for years, been a self-sufficient country in terms of its food resources. However, its food security has been noted to be only at national and not household level. In fact, poverty has remained the major characteristic of most rural communities of South Africa. Rural development and poverty alleviation have therefore been the main focus of the nation's democratic government since it first came into power in 1994. At the same time, other challenges such as the ever-growing population have resulted in the national government having a hard time balancing its efforts and resources to meet the needs of the citizens such as human settlements, jobs, infrastructure, etc. The technologies adopted successfully during the Green Revolution era in Asian countries have emerged as a potential vehicle to drive rural development and address the food insecurity challenges experienced, particularly at household levels. As much as these technologies brought great success and economic growth in Asian countries, concerns have been raised about their suitability in South Africa. This paper attempts to highlight and discuss both the merits and demerits of these technologies with specific reference to the country of South Africa. The idea is to debate their suitability in South Africa so that an informed decision on whether the Green Revolution could be the answer to the nation's rural development and household food insecurity challenges can be made.
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