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In many countries, rural populations are growing, which means demand for land is increasing. To make matters worse, many people do not have secure rights to the land they depend on for survival.This can reduce agricultural productivity and cause conflict. In Africa today, approximately 85 per cent of people do not have security of tenure to their plot of land.
South Africa: a unique challenge
Colonial and apartheid policies have left Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa with skewed land ownership patterns that have traditionally favoured white settlers. In South Africa in 1994, 50,000 white farmers owned 90 per cent of the agricultural land in the country.
Land reform programmes in Namibia and South Africa are trying to reverse ownership, but they face significant challenges. FARM-Africa has been working closely with land reform groups and the South African Government to devise ways of improving the system.
Supporting new farmers
Throughout the last century, many black people in South Africa were forced off their land.This seriously eroded their agricultural knowledge. Although land is being transferred back, the government has been unable to provide these emerging farmers with the support they need to grow produce effectively.
They experience difficulties because they cannot live on or even close to their land. Often, their grants do not stretch to buying tools and seeds to begin farming and they encounter problems accessing fertiliser and diesel.
In the past year, FARM-Africa has helped several large groups in the Northern Cape Province to use their newly acquired farms productively.These include the Witbank Trust in the west, the Prieska group in the centre, and the Khomani San in the north.
FARM-Africa enabled these groups to achieve success in a number of ways. We helped them to develop a common vision of how to develop their land.Then we established loan facilities and secured grants to buy equipment, such as tractors, water troughs and wind pumps. As a result, the WitbankTrust went on to win the Northern Cape's Best Agricultural Project Award in 2004.
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