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Our economy now depends more on agriculture

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Not applicable
Our mining sector with lower exports has been taking a backseat. Only solution seems to me to have some nationalised land so new farmers can have a small piece of land to learn to farm on. The state must always be the owner so if the farmer farms badly he can be removed and the land can be given to someone else.
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11 REPLIES 11
TOPIX
Regular Contributor
And the wooden spoon award for stirring the most goes to..... Eddie, it is exactly the opposite - Farming needs a lot of capital investment to be profitable. Nobody will invest millions if they do not have security of tenure.
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Not applicable
A good farmer could be given land permanently, but listening to Roger Webster on safm Sunday 3pm farming by new farmers has huge problems. Many people survive by means of subsistence farming
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Not applicable
Forgot to say that in Mozambique one can get a long lease (think it could be 99 years) but government remains owner of the land. Many South Africans have gone there to farm on nationalised land
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SimonPB
Valued Contributor
in Mozambique you can't buy land .. you can only get a 99 year lease ..
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jack12
Super Contributor
met a guy that moved to the congo, did very well, his wife did better planting veggies cause most of the tamatoes and such were actually imported. biggest problem was learning french and hiring school teachers.
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topgun
Super Contributor
Then we are in real trouble as SA has now become a net importer of food for various reasons (failed land reforms for one)...and the solution you propose is already on display across the border...funded by Oxfam.
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Not applicable
EddieM we already have that system - LRAD (Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development), where small farms are given to emerging farmers. We have CASP (Comprehensive Agricultural Support Program)where infrastructure is bought on behalf of emerging farmers. We have FSP(Food Security Program) where seed & other inputs are given to emerging farmers. We have PLAP (Progressive Land Acquisition Program) where active running profitable farms are bought on behalf emerging farmers. Yet in all this mess we have no program that supports the emerging farmer with skills support, working capital or holds him / her accountable to actually DO the work required. Look at the debacle that happened when the Minister of Agriculture tried to evict a few LRAD farmers off their land for non-performance. This whole emerging farmer sector has been abused in a huge vote buying exercise where unqualified people are settled on productive land in place of committed farmers. Farming is a calling & there are numerous examples of Black farmers being hugely successful, so it is not fair to say "Blacks can't farm" but what is fair to say is that civil servants cannot legislate farming. Our DoA is full of bureaucrats posing as Extension Agents, under staffed with Agriculturally qualified people & hopelessly under provided for with budget. Above all it isn't "sexy" to farm as farming will never satisfy the craving for the instant gratification that our current generation seeks.... (rant off) lol
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Not applicable
I have heard and read that the bigger co-op type farms have often had big problems. Also have heard that often small family run farms are and have been more successful throughout the world when it comes to less sophisticated farming. For instance Russian peasant run farms were succeessful. State run farms appear to have been unproductive and even Cuba introduced a more capitalist sytem when it came to that sort of thing - private enterprise was allowed in state farms. It seems a big capitalist farm or a small family run farm could be the best options. I still think that the stste should be able to remove bad farmers. The concept of the state owning the land with a capitalistic element in the running of the farm seems to satisfy people. It is peoples land but one is rewarded for good work
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jack12
Super Contributor
not quite true, The Russians sent some of the (socially unacceptable) peasants (normal people, Jews and Germans)to farm in the prime regions( Siberia and Kazakhstan) Yes it worked quite well, if it didn't you froze to death, winter is anything down to -55deg. So I suppose with that in mind they tried very hard to make a success. My question Eddy is with all the BS in SA, what would free farms achieve? I remember watching Carte Blanche about the free Mandela farms near Bethal. also the restitution of land that belonged to Halls, (something along the lines, they paid him 15mil for the land and 5 years later bought it back for 1mil) There are to many social freeloaders in society, dump them first and then it will work.
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Not applicable
Forgot to say that in the ealy days of S A history blacks were farming - remember the story about if the blacks burnt their crops and killed all the cattle the white man would be driven into the sea - it ended in disaster, but the blacks were farming then. If blacks did not farm corn etc how did they survive as they are here today. Small black family farms must have been productive enough for survival
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SimonPB
Valued Contributor
depends what food you're talking about .. the crop estimate for this season will see us as a net exporter of maize .. an if I recall correct we also exported last season ..
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