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UNDERSTANDING Agriculture in SA – made simple, with some important conclusions.
Source: Centre for Development Enterprise
Conclusions (written by Steuart Pennington)
SA is 121 000 000 hectares. Only 4 000 000 hectares is under summer cropland = 3.3% of total land.
If expropriation without compensation (EWC) happens, and if the land is only 10% of the value of the farm, who will pay for the 90% improvements? ‘Taking it’ will be tantamount to theft and end up in court with the ‘thieves’ charged. Black First Land First don’t get this, nor do the EFF.
The agricultural sector remains one of South Africa’s largest employers at just under 1 000 000 farm workers , what will happen to these staff in the instance of EWC?
No question, land reform is essential, but not at the expense of weakened property rights, reduced agricultural investment, reduced agricultural output, reduced agricultural employment and reduced food security.
There is more than enough opportunity to expropriate without compensation unused land owned by national government, unused land owned by provincial government and unused land owned by municipal government – of which there is plenty, but no one knows the exact quantum. A comprehensive land audit is essential. Once done – give this land in the form of title deed to those who deserve it – that’s orderly reform.
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HELICOPTER VIEWS HELP – OR NOT?
Being a South African in London comes with its advantages. Even in winter. Based 9 000km away from the action provides a welcome “helicopter view”. This can be a very good thing. Especially when the national news flow is overflowing with fingering of the corrupt, exposures of the incompetent.
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve listened to visiting SA executives bemoaning the “never-ending excrement” oozing from the pores of a dysfunctional system. They fret that the Zuma era rot is so deep, the mess so endemic, that the country will never recover. There’s no point in trying to offer context. Because when you’re in a pit, it’s hard to imagine a world can exist outside that hole
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HARRY GWALA AGRI: FACILITATING TRANSFORMATION IN AGRICULTURE
By Cindy Kidger
High Flats farmer Douglas Strachan demonstrates the correct practices of vegetable growing to neighbouring smaller scale farmers.
Harry Gwala Agri (PTY) LTD is a non-profit organisation founded by commercial farmers in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal in an attempt to formalise, and drive, the sharing of skills, the imparting of valuable experience and, at times, the providing of financial support for their neighbouring smaller-scale farmers.
Now 18 months after inception, the initiative supports several projects in the district which tackle food security, provide much-needed mentorship, drive internship programmes and source sponsorship for aspiring farmers.
The fundamental principal of Harry Gwala Agri is that of no handouts but rather to act as a facilitator for providing aspiring, local farmers with skills development and to support the unique demands of existing projects in the district, by sharing of commercial farmers’ knowledge, networks, experiences and access to finances in order to alleviate the crippling poverty in the district.
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Falsity travels like wildfire
Falsity travels like wildfire. A 2018 MIT study examined Twitter from 2006 through 2017 and found that true stories took about six times as long as false stories to reach 1 500 people. The top 1% of false stories were often shared by 1 000 to 100 000 people, while true stories were seldom shared by more than 1 000 people. (Makes sharing Good News stories really tricky ) (https://nyti.ms/2PSbIie)
Talking of Wildfire………
The replacement of natural fynbos vegetation with pine plantations in the Southern Cape in South Africa significantly increased the severity of the 2017 Knysna wildfires. It is estimated that pine trees have invaded more than 90% of the Garden Route National Park’s fynbos vegetation at various densities. In June 2017, the Knysna fires burned 14 958 hectares, of which one third comprised natural vegetation. Of the land in the altered category, 52% were commercial plantations of invasive alien trees and 26% was other land invaded by alien plants. (http://bit.ly/2AZoOlk)
Source www.Eighty20.co.za
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