AGRI SA COMMENTS ON GREEN PAPER ON LAND REFORM

"Agri SA is concerned about the notion that the state wishes to be the biggest owner of productive agricultural land and that restrictions would be placed on private ownership. The state does not have the resources, expertise or ability of farm successfully or to control and manage so much land successfully," said Agri SA deputy president, Dr Theo de Jager, in response to the release of the Green Paper on Land Reform.

The long-awaited Green Paper on Land Reform was released this week after Minister Gugile Nkwinti had announced in 2009 that he wanted to review South Africa's land policy. A revised version of the draft Green Paper, which was leaked to the media last year and had served in the cabinet a few times, was finally approved by Cabinet last week.

The Green Paper proposes four categories of land ownership, namely state land which would be made available for leasing; private ownership which would be subject to certain limitations; regulated land ownership by foreigners; and communal land where certain usage rights would apply.

Agri SA welcomes the fact that the Green Paper recognises the inability of the state to implement land reform effectively as this constitutes the biggest obstacle in existing and future land reform programmes. Agri SA has long maintained that poor implementation was the single biggest reason for the slow progress made with land reform to date. Therefore Agri SA is concerned that the Green Paper nevertheless envisages greater state involvement in land reform instead of seeking methods to involve the private sector and civil society organisations in a constructive way in addressing this challenge.

According to Dr de Jager, South Africa can also learn more from international experience. "Experience in other countries shows that state land under lease is not developed and farmed as productively as private land and that the resource often deteriorates when leased. The Green Paper also does not spell out which limitations would be placed on private ownership and how this would be facilitated. Agri SA is opposed to restrictions on farm size and believes that such limitations would be totally impractical and counter-productive. In fact, the bigger land owners are the ones who, amid an unfriendly market and policy environment, make the biggest contribution to food security and export earnings. Expecting them to scale down spells disaster."

Dr de Jager also referred to the need to guard against a lot of new institutions with extensive powers as they could end up in the same situation as the Commission for the Restitution of Land Rights which is afflicted with poor service delivery, a lack of capacity and corruption. "New institutions as such will not solve the implementation problems that have been hampering the department for years," he said. Further clarity, also in respect of the role of the Valuator-General, is required, he added.

Agri SA supports the broad basic principles of de-racialisation of the rural economy, democratic and equitable land ownership and the maintenance of production discipline. "These principles must, however, be put into practice with great circumspection," said Dr de Jager "It is important that entrepreneurship, investment and the security of land are not affected in the process," he added.

Agri SA hopes that in-depth consultation regarding the Green Paper and resultant legislation will take place with all stakeholders and that Minister Nkwinti will consider the inputs provided by organised agriculture - as a critical role player in this debate - with the necessary seriousness and assertiveness.

Statement issued by Dr Theo de Jager, Deputy President Agri SA, September 1 2011

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