south african farmer
More than just land: Andries du Toit reviews Land Matters by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi BlogFeaturedFeatured Blog

More than just land: Andries du Toit reviews Land Matters by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi

By Andries du Toit Andries du Toit reviews Land Matters: South Africa’s Failed Land Reforms and the Road Ahead by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi Do we really need more books about South Africa’s Land question?  In the last few years, the political crisis around expropriation without compensation has already generated  a  fair bit of reading material: Finding Common Ground by Wandile…
PLAAS
May 28, 2021
Lost seasons for small-scale fishers during Covid-19 BlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

Lost seasons for small-scale fishers during Covid-19

By Maia Nangle The geelstert (yellowtail) is a favourite, much consumed fish in South African households, as well as an important source of annual income for small-scale fishing families and communities across the country. Fisherfolk nationwide, including from communities in Gansbaai and Ysterfontein in the Western Cape, travel to Struisbaai near the tip of the Cape Peninsula to harvest this…
PLAAS
May 28, 2021
How Covid-19 regulations affected commercially oriented smallholder farmers in uMgungundlovu in South Africa BlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

How Covid-19 regulations affected commercially oriented smallholder farmers in uMgungundlovu in South Africa

By Nkanyiso Gumede The South African government’s bias towards the corporate food system during hard lockdown left many South Africans vulnerable to hunger and food insecurity, and resulted in lost income. Most South Africans rely on supermarkets for food. Most of the food in the supermarkets is sourced from large-scale commercial farmers. Meanwhile, the country’s many smallholder farmers have limited…
PLAAS
May 17, 2021
Ghanaian tomato producers and traders struggle with the state under Covid-19 BlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

Ghanaian tomato producers and traders struggle with the state under Covid-19

By Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey In time of a pandemic when food access is already a challenge for many vulnerable people, a country cannot afford unhealthy tensions developing between the state and food producers and traders. Yet, this is currently the state of affairs in Ghana amid a stand-off with the government over the production and supply of tomatoes, which have…
PLAAS
May 14, 2021
Food trader’s perspective on the COVID-19 disruption in South Africa BlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

Food trader’s perspective on the COVID-19 disruption in South Africa

By Marc Wegerif Gloria*  is standing under a rough shelter made from poles with an old tarpaulin over them. This gives her and the fruit and vegetables set out on a rough wooden table in front of her some protection from the sun and rain. The stall is on the corner of the street where Gloria lives with her four…
PLAAS
May 6, 2021
Food traders’ perspectives on the COVID-19 disruption in Tanzania BlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

Food traders’ perspectives on the COVID-19 disruption in Tanzania

By Luitfred Kissoly Since first reported on, back in December 2019, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has swiftly spread globally affecting millions of people. In Tanzania, the first recorded case of Covid-19 was on 16 March 2020. The disruption brought about by this pandemic has affected the entire spectrum of human life, and food systems are not being spared. In food…
PLAAS
March 12, 2021
Why Zimbabwe needs an urgent moratorium on evictions of people living on customary land BlogFeaturedFeatured Blog

Why Zimbabwe needs an urgent moratorium on evictions of people living on customary land

By Phillan Zamchiya Dear Reader, I argue for a moratorium on the continued rise of large-scale acquisitions of customary land for private ‘investments’ in the marginalised rural areas of Zimbabwe to allow for a post-colonial democratic national resolution of the three issues articulated below. The latest such unchallenged trend is epitomised by the recently gazetted Statutory Instrument 50 of 2021.…
PLAAS
March 3, 2021
pastoralists
Cross-pollinating pastoral studies with wider agrarian questions Agrarian ConversationsBlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

Cross-pollinating pastoral studies with wider agrarian questions

Linda Pappagallo How can we transcend fixed and imprinted imageries and open possibilities of innovation in agrarian struggles? Agrarian conversations typically center around land rights, food sovereignty and everyday interactions with neoliberal pressures. These conversations might make you think of farmers ploughing land and uniting for agrarian struggles, as is currently happening in India. We may be aware that the…
PLAAS
March 2, 2021
The trials and the efforts of a farmer during COVID-19 BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogUncategorized

The trials and the efforts of a farmer during COVID-19

By Marc Wegerif In January 2020, Thulani* looked like a very successful and entrepreneurial black farmer with a quality product and a niche high-value market. He was growing micro-greens, herbs, and edible flowers for upmarket restaurants, hotels, and caterers around Johannesburg and Pretoria. The produce gets picked in the morning and distributed in refrigerated delivery vans to be eaten fresh…
PLAAS
February 19, 2021
accra ghana food market
The ravages of COVID-19 measures in Ghana for women in the food system BlogFeaturedFeatured Blog

The ravages of COVID-19 measures in Ghana for women in the food system

By Akosua Keseboa Darkwah Map of field sites in Ghana. The year 2020 will go down in history as the year when all countries across the world imposed a myriad of barriers on their citizens in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19 within their borders. Ghana was no exception. Beginning in mid-March 2020, the Ghanaian government put in…
PLAAS
February 19, 2021