Transformation of agricultural and undeveloped land in the Boland region of the Western Cape

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Land for agricultural development gets scarcer as more and more agricultural land is beingtransformed by non-agricultural uses. The increased agricultural land use change in the WesternCape Province results in transformation, fragmentation and loss of productive agricultural land.With the A2 planning area of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning(DEADP), in the Boland region of the Western Cape, as its study area, this study investigates the roleof legislative control measures on changes of land use from agriculture to a different form ofdevelopment, by analysing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) applications for the changeof agricultural land use and agriculture applications for the conversion of undeveloped land for theperiod 1 January 1998 to 3 July 2006. The study examines the role that the relevant legislation playsin agricultural land use control; considers the nature, extent and reasons for agricultural land usechange in the study area (under the Environment Conservation Act (Act 73 of 1989) (ECA));determines the impacts associated with the transformation of agricultural land use in the study areaby assessing transformation of undeveloped land applications (captured under the Conservation ofAgricultural Resources Act (Act 43 of 1983) (CARA)); and measures the amount of agricultural landpotentially lost to development through EIA change of land use applications (according to theDEADP database) opposed to the amount of agricultural land potentially gained through conversionof undeveloped land (according to the DoA database).Two databases were created, based on variables obtained from EIA change of agricultural land useapplications authorised by DEADP [DEADP's database] and conversion of undeveloped land foragricultural use, authorised by the Department of Agriculture (DoA)[DoA's database]. The variablesused to create DEADP's database are the applicant, property owner, type of property, developmentfunction, year of authorisation, municipality, town, size of property, permanent and temporary jobscreated, percentage of property developed, footprint of development, existing land use and uniquesource. The variables used to create DoA's database are the year of authorisation, new and existingland use, year of authorisation, municipal area, property owner, percentage of property converted andfootprint of development. The variables in the two databases are analysed using cross tabulations,with the variables measured against each other using pivot tables. The final tables are investigated through interpretation of the results and making recommendations for better management andplanning in the future, based on relevant literature.The main findings are that DEADP gave authorisation for 416 agricultural land use changedevelopments between 1 January 1998 and 3 July 2006, resulting in 2855 hectares of agriculturalland potentially being developed. It was also found that DoA gave approval for 118 undevelopedland conversion applications, converting a total of 2589 hectares for agricultural purposes. Thefindings also revealed that 1707ha of this undeveloped land were covered with indigenous vegetation,while only 299ha were covered with alien vegetation.The challenge is to use valuable agricultural land optimally and sustainably for agricultural purposes.Non-agricultural developments should be kept within the urban edge and away from valuableagricultural land. If such development must take place on agricultural land, it must be done on thepoorest soils and should not jeopardise agricultural activities.Keywords: land use change, undeveloped land, applicant, property owner, type of property,development function, year of authorisation, municipality, town, size of property, permanent jobs,temporary jobs, percentage of property developed, footprint of development, existing land use, newland use and unique source.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University