Why Have South African Smallholders Largely Abandoned Arable Production in Fields? A Case Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4604155 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew De La Hey (African Studies Centre, University of Oxford), W Beinart (0000-0002-4531-6389, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 753-770 |
| Publication date | 2017-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2016.1265336 |
| OpenAlex | W2561703002 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 25 |
Our article concerns the decline in arable production in the former homelands of South Africa – part of a longer-term trend that has probably accelerated since the mid 1990s. Our material is taken largely from interviews in Mbotyi village on the Eastern Cape coast, where rainfall is high. Even here, arable fields have largely been left fallow in recent years. Our interviews confirm that people in Mbotyi believe that there has been a marked and sharp decline in cultivation. While the general phenomenon that we are exploring is quite widely accepted in academic literature, explanations are less certain and it is difficult to rank the causes. Our aim is to contribute to this debate by considering especially people’s own perceptions. An investigation on a micro-scale allows for a multi-faceted analysis of the range of issues that confront cultivation in Mbotyi – a complex mix of disincentives that includes environmental problems, cost and risk, declining patriarchy and changing attitudes to work. We believe that it is important to engage with popular perspectives and understandings of these issues. Our analysis places at its centre a shortage of labour for agricultural purposes, despite high unemployment in the village. We conclude by suggesting some of the implications of this analysis for land reform and the priorities for agricultural policy in the former homelands
Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Arable land · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Political science · Land Rights and Reforms
Through the ‘Thick and Thin’ of farming on the Wild Coast, South Africa
Beyond technocracy
Structural poverty dynamics in urban South Africa
Hostels in South Africa
More than just fields
Dynamism in Rural Households’ Income Sources, Food Preference, Daily Activities and Investment Strategies
Constrained crop enterprise choices by smallholder farmers in semi-arid Zimbabwe
Informal mining, deagrarianization, and the climate-mobility nexus
Assessment of homegarden agroforestry for sustainable land management intervention in a degraded landscape in South Africa
Temporal and spatial variation of income diversification strategies among rural households in South Africa
Explaining land size demand among potential emerging farmers in South Africa
Cultural innovation, aspirations and success among smallholders in former homelands of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa
The Covid pandemic, cultivation and livelihoods in South Africa’s Eastern Cape
What happens on land reform farms in South Africa? A field-based reality check
Conservation-Induced Dispossession and Local Community Responses
Social drivers and differentiated effects of deagrarianisation
‘That Child Support Grant Gives Me Powers’ – Exploring Social and Relational Aspects of Cash Transfers in South Africa in Times of Livelihood Change
Why Africa’s New Green Revolution is failing – Maize as a commodity and anti-commodity in South Africa
Deactivation of field cultivation in communal areas of South Africa
Complex and interacting drivers of arable field abandonment in villages of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Multifunctional landscapes in a rural, developing country context
From negotiated to covert
Agricultural labour dynamics in small-scale farming systems in rural South Africa
Socio-economic differentiation from a class-analytic perspective
Mobility, marriage decline, and the ceremonial economy
| Unique citing works | 25 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 23 |