IDENTIFYING SERIOUS FARMERS in the FORMER CISKEI: Income, Although Lying Third Overall, Was Very Much the May 1993
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Agre/con, Vol 34, No 2 (June 1995) Helm and Van Zyl Agre/con, Vol 34, No 2 (June 1995) Eckert and Williams capita income, in South Africa (1993) and in some of GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARlFFS AND the OECD countries (1992). Agricultural support in TRADE. (1993). Trade Policy Review Mechanism, The South Africa expressed as a percentage of per capita Republic of South Africa, Report by the Government, 3 IDENTIFYING SERIOUS FARMERS IN THE FORMER CISKEI: income, although lying third overall, was very much the May 1993. IMPLICATIONS FOR SMALL-SCALE FARM RESEARCH AND LAND same as was the case with both Canada and the United States. HARWOOD, J.L & BAILEY, KW. (1990). The World REFORM Wheat Market - Government Intervention and Taking the uneven distribution of income in South Multilateral Policy Reform. Economic Research Jerry B. Eckert Africa into account, the Blacks are worst off, with a Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Staff Professor, Department ofAgricultural Economics, University ofStellenbosch. percentage of per capita income of 3.39 percent, Report No. AGES 9007, January 1990. Coloureds 1.63 percent, Asians 1.11 percent and Whites William Williams only 0.45 percent HATIIAWAY, DE. (1987). Agriculture and the GATT: Doctoral candidate and former research officer, Small Farm Systems Research Project, Agricultural and Rural Rewriting the Rules. Institute for Economics, Development Research Institute, Fort Hare University 5. Conclusion Washington, D.C., September 1987. Rural ~ousehold_ survey da~ from Mgwalana (Eastern Cape) are used to assess the intensity of involvement in agricultural The comparison of support data between countries, HELM, W. (1994). Agricultural Support in South ent~n~. This area typifies the expected results of Alan Low's theory regarding disincentives to farming in southern bearing in mind the recognised limits of these Africa. Unpublished MSc(Agric) dissertation, Africa, 1e. m~st households do no~ acti!ely ~ their !and resour~. Statistical stratification methods are developed and indicators, gave a clear indication of the relative extent Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and ~st~ to proVI~ ~e means for"q~ckly identifying senously coIIIIIlltted farm households. While the percent of households of agricultural support in South Africa. With the Rural Development, University of Pretoria, Pretoria. 1dentifi~ as senous farmers 1s small, they acc:ount for a disproportionately large share of the region's agricultural exception of Australia and New Zealand, South Africa production ~d farm resource ~- -piey thus constitute an attractive recommendation domain for farming systems research had a relatively low degree of support compared to the HELM, W & VAN ZYL, J. (1994). Domestic and extension programs. Implications from Mgwalana are drawn for land reform and support programs for emerging other developed countries. agricultural support in South Africa from 1988/89 to farmers. 1993/94: A calculation. Agre/con, Vol 33, No 4 : 213- Bearing in mind the low per capita income of the 219. IDENTIFISERJNG VAN ERNST/GE BOERE IN DIE CISKEI: IMPLIKASIES VIR KLEINBOERNAVORSING EN GRONDHERVORMING. majority of South Africans, the question still remains to Opnamedata van landelike huishoudings in Mgwalana (Oos-Kaap) word gebT7'ik om die mate van betrokkmheid in what extent South Africans can afford even the current OECD. (1992). Agricultural Policies, Markets and Trade - 1991, OECD, Paris. landbou-ondememings te bepaaL Hierdie gebied illustreer die verwagte resultate van Alan Low se ontmoedigingsteorie relatively low levels of support within the agricultural ten ~p3!gte van ~oerd_ery in_ suidelike Afri~. d. w.s. dat die meeste huishoudings nie hu1 grondhulpbronne aktief benut nie. sector. The issue clearly is not only how South African OECD. (1993). Agricultural Policies, Markets and Statisties~ stratifiktu1etegn1e~ ~rd-onr_w;kkel en. getoets ten einde n metode daar te stel waarvolgens plaashuishoudings agricultural support compares to competitors, but also wat emstig,!ot landb_ou verbind 1s v,nmg ~e'i'fen!ifiseer kan word. H~el _die persentasie huishoudings wat as "ermtige one of affordability and specifically who benefits and Trade - 1992, OECD, Paris. landbouers gerdentifiseer kan word, kle,n 1s, 1s hulle verantwoordel1k v1r 'n buite verhouding groat geckelte van die who pays for it gebied ~e landb_ouP_roduksie. en benutting van plaashulpbronne. Bulle verteenwoordig dus n aantreklike RUNGE, F. (1988). The Assault on Agricultural aanbevelmg_sterrem vir nay,orsmg oor boer:Ierystelsels en voorligtingsprogramme. Vanuit die studie van Mgwalana word Notes Protectionism in the Multilateral Trade Negotiations. gevolgtrekkings gemaak v1r grondhervormmg en ondersteuningsprogramme vir opkomende ldeinboere. University of Minnesota. Staff Paper P88-10, April 1. This article is based on a MSc(Agric) dissertation by 1988. William Helm at the University ofPretoria. 1. Introduction ploughed, unplanted (Rose and Williams, 1988). Those UNISA (1994). Socio-economic profile of the nine that were planted often suffered from lack of related provinces in South Africa, 1994. Bureau of Market 2. This n:search was conducted while William Helm was In 1988, the authors examined socio-economic data from inputs, primarily weeding and fertilizer. To the layman, Research, Research report No. 207, University of South employed by the Directorate Mmketing, Department of a sample of African farmers in the former Ciskei. The the overall picture is one of an abandoned or only Agriculture. He is presently with ABSA Bank. Africa (UNISA), Pretoria. intent at the time was to develop a method of stratifying passively used land resomce. In the former Ciskei, the farm households to identify those with higher research problem is not so much identifying a group of USDA (1990). Estimates of Producer and Consumer probabilities of responding to and benefitting from a References target farmers with common characteristics from among Subsidy Equivalents, Government Intervention in farming systems research/extension project which was a diverse farm population but rather one of identifying Agriculture, 1982 - 1987. Economic Research Service, then in progress (Williams, et al., 1988). Current CHINA POST. (1994). US-Japan trade dispute heats serious farmers, households for whom farming is a Statistical Bulletin No. 803, Washington, D.C, April movement toward a significant land reform provides up. Taipei, 17 February 1994. significant enterprise if not a life style, from among the 1990. additional contexts for this analysis and an urgency for its dis:iemmation. The original issue, identifying high general rural population. A similar problem faces DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. (1994). Abstract potential, or "serious" farmers and quantifying their designers of the forthcoming land reform, identifying of Agricultural Statistics, Directorate Agricultural characteristics, remains a valid research topic. recipient households that will likely utilize newly Economic Trends, Pretoria. However, in addition to targeting farm support acquired farm lands at or near their agricultural programs, such analysis should also now be useful in potential. Survey data and field observations indicate guiding land redistribution toward those households that the "serious farmer" criterion might limit the most ~ely to use agricultural land productively. selected group to only a small portion of the rural Further, m the context or emerging farmers, quantifying population. Yet there is sound developmental logic for the c~teristic~ and c~nstraints of high potential farming systems research projects and other support farmers 1s essential to gwde research on appropriate technologies for these conditions. Finally, in the policy programs to assist these emerging farmers to develop arena, there is much current optimism about land reform their farm enterprises and to better utilize the country's and its possible contributions to various politically limited agricultural potential. This paper develops two endorsed, rural reconstruction objectives. Data reported methods of identifying serious farmers using survey data here offer sobering insights into the existing incentive from the former Ciskei, quantifies the farm and family structures faced by small scale agriculture and their resources at their command, and discusses implications possible impact on farm management and output The of these findings for a possible land reform. analysis below suggests that at least some of the current optimism may be misplaced. 3. Theoretical and Practical Background 2. The Research Problem in the Former 1 Alan Low's household economics model (1986a), Ciskei developed with southern African data, provides strong logic to explain the relative lack of serious attention to The former Ciskei is largely rural. Approximately 44 farming in areas such as studied here. He reminds us percent of rural residents are land holders with arable that economic rationality will allocate household labour holdings averaging some hectares. However, in 1988, to its highest paying opportunity. He then notes that in 42 percent of these fields lay unploughed, or if southern Africa this is frequently off-farm in the 49 - Agre/con, Vol 34, No 2 (June 1995) Eckert and Williams Agrekon, Vol 34, No 2 (June 1995) Eckert and Williams relatively well developed non-agricultural labour men left at home may grow some crops, they face A common mistake in earlier agricultural development efficient method of selecting farmers from among rural market. This