Farmers, not government, must make land reform work
Farmer’s weekly 29 June 2018
The future of agriculture in South Africa depends on farmers’ ability to make land reform successful. This was according to Dr Theo de Jager, president of the World Farmers’ Organisation, who was speaking at the recent congress of Mpumalanga Agriculture in Mbombela. De Jager said that farmers could not rely on government to make land reform work, and instead needed to strive to create a class of successful black farmers if they wanted to prevent land expropriation without compensation.
“There are two extremes in the land reform debate: expropriation without compensation and market-driven land reform. Agriculture has hammered its point of view, and government the other. We have not tried to meet each other in the middle. There is no way we are getting our way in this argument. We won’t influence policymakers by threatening them with the courts, or telling them they are stupid and have failed in the past. We will win the day when a successful black farmer sits before government and convinces legislators to put positive policies in place.”
He said other contentious issues were the high rate of abandoned farms and farmers who had gone into liquidation.
“Our farmers have the answers to these problems because nobody can make a plan work like a farmer.”
De Jager said there was a strong argument against South Africa going the same route as Zimbabwe in terms of land grabs, because “we have a prime example on our doorstep of how disastrous it can be”.
“But this argument is only valid if the majority listens to the voice of reason. I believe people are still open to being convinced about whether expropriation without compensation should take place or not. It is up to organised agriculture to convince them which path to follow. When you have something to lose, you have less appetite for political risk. But in the rural areas, there is little to lose. The best thing farmers can do is ensure that those living in the rural areas have something to lose, by ensuring they achieve a higher living standard. The only way to fight poverty is to create wealth, and agriculture can do that/’ he said. – Lindi Botha