TY - JOUR
T1 - Transitional rural landscapes
T2 - The role of small-scale commercial farming in former homelands of Post-Apartheid KwaZulu-Natal
AU - Agergaard, Jytte
AU - Birch-Thomsen, Torben
PY - 2006/1/1
Y1 - 2006/1/1
N2 - The paper presents trends in past and present land use patterns in parts of a former homeland of KwaZulu-Natal, and discusses the changing role of farming. It suggests that an understanding of the transition in rural land must take into account the impact of rural-urban relations and the Colonial and Apartheid socio-spatial policies. A sequence of map data is analysed and compared with interviews with residents of the studied area and official data concerning actual and prospected development. The data demonstrate how population pressures and changing sources of income during the Apartheid period have resulted in a land use system dominated by home gardens and some attempts to develop small-scale commercial farming, while traditional subsistence farming has gradually decreased. On this background the prospects for small-scale commercial farming are discussed. It is argued that at least four aspects may explain why commercial farming is still marginal: the troubled land allocation system, the continued dependency on cash income for successful farming, the institutional obstacles to farmers from the homeland who wish to develop market relations, and the changing territorial logics that have characterised demarcation and land use in the post-Apartheid period.
AB - The paper presents trends in past and present land use patterns in parts of a former homeland of KwaZulu-Natal, and discusses the changing role of farming. It suggests that an understanding of the transition in rural land must take into account the impact of rural-urban relations and the Colonial and Apartheid socio-spatial policies. A sequence of map data is analysed and compared with interviews with residents of the studied area and official data concerning actual and prospected development. The data demonstrate how population pressures and changing sources of income during the Apartheid period have resulted in a land use system dominated by home gardens and some attempts to develop small-scale commercial farming, while traditional subsistence farming has gradually decreased. On this background the prospects for small-scale commercial farming are discussed. It is argued that at least four aspects may explain why commercial farming is still marginal: the troubled land allocation system, the continued dependency on cash income for successful farming, the institutional obstacles to farmers from the homeland who wish to develop market relations, and the changing territorial logics that have characterised demarcation and land use in the post-Apartheid period.
KW - Access to land
KW - Land tenure
KW - Land use
KW - Role of agriculture
KW - Rural-urban linkages
KW - South Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33947277353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00167223.2006.10649559
DO - 10.1080/00167223.2006.10649559
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:33947277353
VL - 106
SP - 87
EP - 102
JO - Geografisk Tidsskrift
JF - Geografisk Tidsskrift
SN - 0016-7223
IS - 2
ER -