Profit maximisation is why exporting food remains agri-businesses’ first prize, for it is much more profitable than selling on a home market.
Government chooses food poverty for the many amid exports enriching the few (Part One)
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Agriculture
The new Land Court, a hope for land reform?
As South Africa works towards equitable land reform, the effectiveness of the Land Court in addressing historical injustices is crucial for redress.
“Employ People As They Are”: Towards People-Centred Development
On June 4th, PowerFM 98.7 radio host Eusebius McKaiser interviewed AIDC Senior Researcher Dick Forslund regarding South Africa's current economic prospects and policy trajectory. Following is a partial transcript. PowerFM: Welcome, Dick. When we spoke yesterday, it...
People’s Assembly Land, Race and Nation Conference declaration
People’s Assembly Land, Race and Nation Conference 22 June 2013 Declaration Preamble Nearly twenty years after the end of apartheid, the 1913 Natives’ Land Act continues to haunt the South African countryside. The land question, which was so central to the struggle...
Centenary of the 1913 Land Act | By Colin Bundy
Why consider the history of a hundred-year old law? Surely the Marikana massacre and farm-workers' strikes are more urgent? In fact, there are direct links between the Natives' Land Act of 1913 and current struggles. The Land Act and its consequences still shape rural...
Industrial agriculture vs. food sovereignty | by Stephen Greenberg
Large-scale commercial agriculture produces an estimated 90% or more of marketed food in South Africa. Two-thirds to three-quarters of food is purchased from supermarkets, even by the poor, and corporate agribusinesses dominate supply chains from inputs to retailing....
Political Economy of Gender and Climate Change
Abstracts Gender Concerns in Climate Change need serious attention of all interested in sustainable development. Women in many developing countries are responsible for climatically sensitive tasks such as securing food, water and energy which ensure the life and...
Harvesting discontent
"I earn R800,00 per month and with this money I have to feed, clothe and fend for my family of eight. We barely survive; I cannot even afford to buy school shoes for the children. I cannot take it any longer"- Gertie Beukes, Ashton farmworker. "We produce the food...
Neoliberal land & agricultural policies at heart of farm strikes | by Mazibuko K. Jara
The heroic and historic strike by thousands of farm workers in the Western Cape has struck at the heart of the ANC government's neoliberal policies on land reform and agricultural policy. The strike marks the beginnings of much-needed mass struggles to challenge white...