A critical appraisal of South Africa's market-based land reform policy

Chapter 5: The LRAD programme
The officials interviewed largely felt that
it was too early to say whether the projects
are sustainable or not, although they believe
they could be, as long as the beneficiaries
are dedicated. Some difficulties
that they identify as negatively affecting
sustainability are: conflicts within group
projects; an over-dependency on DLA;
some beneficiaries knowing nothing about
farming; and others not being committed
to farming.
DLA had no information on the productivity
on the farms or of the improvement
in the lives of the beneficiaries. The officials
interviewed seemed to believe that
the LRAD projects had improved people’s
lives, but did not have a sense of the extent
of this improvement or any data to support
their view. The main reason cited for a lack
of information was the newness of the
projects.
The officials interviewed identified
a number of key challenges for LRAD
implementation, ranging from the size of
the grant and attitudes of beneficiaries to
natural disasters such as droughts (see
Box 1). They are responding to these
challenges through providing training and
technical assistance, encouraging beneficiaries
to move from subsistence to
commercial farming, and trying to access
support from municipalities when there are
natural disasters. According to a respondent,
the Minister for Agriculture and Land
Affairs is speaking to farmers’ unions in
order to encourage them to release land for
the LRAD programme (interview 3). Officials
would also like to see more subdivision
of land, but say there are policies
blocking this.
Government officials also had a number
of recommendations for policy changes
that they believe would improve the
programme. They would like to see LRAD
used in communal areas where people
already have access to land, but do not
have the resources to fully utilise the land.
This is possible, according to the LRAD
policy document (DLA 2001:10), but has
not happened yet in Limpopo. Another
suggestion made was to ensure that more
of the beneficiaries are people with agricultural
and management skills, including
civil servants, so that they can share their
skills. It was also suggested that the grant
should be increased to keep pace with
increasing land prices and to allow people
to purchase larger farms in order to have a
better chance of making a reasonable
income. In particular the minimum grant of
Box 1: Challenges for LRAD
Officials interviewed identified the following challenges for LRAD:
1. The grant is not enough, given the price of land and the plans of the beneficiaries.
2. Land owners are not willing to sell, or are demanding exorbitant prices.
3. Most white farmers do not respect the government and do not support LRAD.
4. Municipalities are not involved in assisting with projects.
5. People do not know which department does what. Despite close relations between
DLA and DoA, there is sometimes confusion, mostly arising from the high staff
turnover.
6. Beneficiaries lack skills.
7. Natural disasters such as the drought are affecting the projects.
8. People are not willing to move to where the commercial farms are.
9. People who are involved in subsistence agriculture are not ready to be involved in
commercial ventures and are not willing to take advice.
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