The Rise and Decline of Small‐Scale Sugarcane Production in South Africa: A Historical Perspective
Dados Bibliográficos
| AUTOR(ES) | |
|---|---|
| AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) | Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) University of the Western Cape Private Bag X17 Bellville 7535 South Africa |
| ANO | 2016 |
| TIPO | Artigo |
| PERIÓDICO | Journal of Agrarian Change |
| ISSN | 1471-0358 |
| E-ISSN | 1471-0366 |
| EDITORA | Sage Publications (United States) |
| DOI | 10.1111/joac.12107 |
| CITAÇÕES | 3 |
| ADICIONADO EM | Não informado |
Resumo
South Africa's sugar industry has long been distinguished by its large number of small‐scale sugarcane growers (SSGs) farming on 'communal' land and its peculiar privately administered regulatory structure. In recent years, however, the numbers of small‐scale growers have declined precipitously. This paper argues that the relationship between the rise and fall of SSG production and the industry's governing regulatory structure is closer than usually appreciated. The emergence of SSG production in the late 1970s and the 1980s can be traced to industry‐subsidized initiatives, disguised as small‐scale credit, to bring commercially inalienable Bantustan land into cane production with strong miller oversight. From the late 1980s to 1990s, however, the elimination of these subsidies encouraged millers to subcontract support to farmers, while simultaneously instigating an increase in SSG numbers by removing restrictions on grower registration. Although low rainfall is a central proximal factor in the rapid decline of the SSGs in the 2000s, their rapid increase was structurally fragile.