An investigation into the options and prospects of family farming in South Africa : implications for agricultural policy

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In South Africa the racial and agricultural policies aimed at national food self-sufficiencycreated an agricultural structure dominated by large, mechanised farms that are owned andoperated by a small number of individuals or companies. New agricultural policy shouldtherefore focus more on peasant farming in the subsistence sector in order to promote thedevelopment of sustainable small-scale farming units. The liberalisation of agriculturalmarkets resulted in a fundamental change of political and economic framework conditionsfor the commercial agricultural sector. Failure to adapt has led to significant inefficiencyand financial problems in commercial agriculture.This thesis initially focuses on the general question of the efficient organisational form ofagriculture. With reference to the German agricultural structure, family farming will beidentified as a superior organisational form and the utility optimal factor allocation of thisorganisational form is explained with the aid of the agricultural household theory.South Africa's agricultural structure is marked by extreme dualism, which was caused bypolitical intervention in the labour and capital markets. The current liberal agriculturalpolicy framework makes commercial agriculture in particular seem inefficient and givesreason to question the current organisational form of South African agriculture.Besides the basic socio-political objectives, the growth objective is one of the mostimportant factors in the development of subsistence agriculture. The contribution ofagriculture is not restricted to food production. In fact, the factor contribution is importantin achieving economic growth, especially in developing countries.Future developments in the South African agricultural sector will be strongly influenced bythe international market. In this respect South Africa, Germany and many other Westernindustrialised countries are undergoing a similar transformation process that correspondswith the spatial agricultural land use in location theory. Location rent implies differingcosts for the use of land, and this is the case for the development of different agriculturalsystems depending on their distance from the market. The family farming model can beconsidered as having failed in the South African economy, except in some niche markets.The number of family farms is in fact growing, but there is also a tendency towards morelarge-scale industrialised agricultural units.The subsistence sector will remain dominated by family farming in the future, although theagricultural household represents a kind of survival institution in these areas. Despite allproblems in the subsistence sector, there is no alternative to family farming, anddevelopment of subsistence farming is only foreseeable within the framework of familyfarming. Subsistence farming as a social security system could, however, decline inimportance in the future.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University