Why Have South African Smallholders Largely Abandoned Arable Production in Fields? A Case Study
Dados Bibliográficos
| ID | 4604155 |
|---|---|
| Autores | Matthew De La Hey (African Studies Centre, University of Oxford), W Beinart (0000-0002-4531-6389, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford) |
| Ano | 2017 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Fascículo | 4 |
| Páginas | 753-770 |
| Data de publicação | 2017-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sim |
| Open Access | Não |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Periódico | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores do periódico | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Editora | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2016.1265336 |
| OpenAlex | W2561703002 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Citações recebidas | 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
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Social drivers and differentiated effects of deagrarianisation
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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
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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
| Obras citantes distintas | 25 |
|---|---|
| Citações por ano | 3,13 |
| Intervalo de citações | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Velocidade de citação | current |
| Altamente citado | Não |
| Tipos de citação | Neutras: 23 |