AP - Sustainable Farmer Settlement In South Africa

Land reform is a burning issue in most developing countries; The South African government also embarked on the programme of land reform in 1994. This programme is aimed at redressing the imbalance in land ownership and bringing previously disadvantaged individuals to participate in the mainstream economy. However, current studies indicate that little has been achieved since the inception of the programme. Most of the set objectives for the programme are yet to be realised, indicating that South Africa requires a paradigm shift on its policies regarding land reform to make a meaningful contribution to equitable land redistribution and realisation of sustainable production. A review on the land reform programme that focuses not only on establishing post-settlement support structures, but also prior planning on pre-settlement, to encourage entrepreneurship amongst the programme beneficiaries, is paramount. This paper analyses the current settlement programme and provides recommendations for successful and sustainable farmer settlement in South Africa.

Keywords: land reform, paradigm shift, land redistribution, land beneficiaries.