Agricultural Transformation and Livelihood Struggles

South Africa s post-Apartheid land reform programs redistribute previously white-owned farmland to a small percentage of blacks, and provide these new farmers with agricultural extension services that promote large-scale agriculture. The shortcomings of the agricultural transformation program are apparent in the village of Genadendal, a former mission reserved for "coloureds" and a historically agricultural community in the Western Cape. The case study of Genandendal demonstrates that a national agricultural transformation program for an elite class of black commercial farmers does not address all problems. South Africa s land reform programs fall short of dismantling the inherited structures of economic and power inequality, while creating a façade of racial equality in land ownership. This book shares the specific challenges faced by South African small-scale farmers, argues that these problems can be overcome with a new government vision for small-scale agriculture, and in a broader sense, enumerates the advantages of small-scale farming over the industrial model.

Autorentext

Michaela Palchick is a 2008 graduate of Macalester College where her areas of concentration were Environmental Studies, American Studies and Geography. Her research is based on ten months of fieldwork in South Africa's Western Cape. She is pursuing graduate studies in agricultural education and currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.