Evaluating the performance of farmworker participation schemes in the Western Cape Province

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is generally acknowledged that South African commercial agriculture willhave to be restructured to integrate the previously disadvantaged communitiesin the agricultural economy of the country. This is so because of the prevailingdisparities between agriculture amongst the black societies and the traditionalwhite commercial agriculture. After the inception of the ANC governance in1994, affirmative action measures viz inequalities and inequitable access toresources and markets became necessary to remove these imbalances.However, it is not seen as a quick fix; it will take decades to eradicate theimbalances created during the period of apartheid rule.A farmworker equity-sharing scheme (FWESS) was first introduced at theWhitehall farm in the Grabouw area of the Western Cape in 1992. The SouthAfrican Department of Land Affairs adopted this strategy in the face of landreform as one of the major Land Redistribution for Agricultural Developmentprogrammes to provide basic support to the farmworkers in order to enablethem to participate in the financial stakes of the commercial farming in SouthAfrica.The main research objective of this study was to evaluate the performance ofFWESSs and assess the contribution of the programme to the improvement ofthe living standards of the previously disadvantaged individuals, vizfarmworkers. This was achieved through a survey, which included fiveFWESSs administered by the Cape Town regional office of the Department ofLand Affairs (DLA). Interviews were conducted amongst the ordinaryfarmworkers, members of the board of worker trustees and the originalowners. Among other things, the motivations, characteristics of governance,socio-economic factors and financial performance of the schemes wereevaluated.It is evident from the investigation that the original owners are in the forefrontin the initiation of the equity-sharing schemes on their farms. Job security wasshown as the most important motivation by some farmworkers for theirparticipation in equity-sharing schemes, while other shareholders (original owners) indicated that the initial capital injection in the business and theempowerment of the farmworkers through capital appreciation and dividendswas the most important motivation. Equity-sharing schemes are a relative newconcept in farms that were included in this study and after the initial negativeimpact with the change in the management of the organisation, the schemesare faring good financially.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University