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PLAAS
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Can this Budget bring about land justice? Something has got to give

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PLAAS
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Islam, custom, statutory law, and women’s land rights in rural Senegal

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PLAAS
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Lessons from the International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure Conference

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Ngala Chome et al.: Corridors Miniseries –The Political Economy of Agricultural Growth Corridors in Eastern Africa BlogUncategorized

Ngala Chome et al.: Corridors Miniseries –The Political Economy of Agricultural Growth Corridors in Eastern Africa

Words by Ngala Chome, Euclides Gonsalves, Ian Scoones and Emmanuel Sulle A new wave of agricultural commercialisation is being promoted across Africa’s eastern seaboard, by a broad range of influential actors—from international corporations to domestic political and business elites. Growth corridors, linking infrastructure development, mining and agriculture for export, are central to this, and are generating a new spatial politics as…
Esté Beerwinkel
January 21, 2020
Ian Scoones: Rural support for authoritarian populism is strong—but another way is possible Blog

Ian Scoones: Rural support for authoritarian populism is strong—but another way is possible

The rise of authoritarian populism continues. Now the UK has a fully signed-up version in its new right-wing government, with allies in Trump, Modi, Bolsarano, Orban and others. It is a dangerous, but perhaps inevitable, trend. The soul-searching on the Left after the UK election rather belatedly diagnosed the problem. It has been long in the making—the result of sustained…
Esté Beerwinkel
January 15, 2020
Farai Mtero: Elite capture in land redistribution: Winners and losers Blog

Farai Mtero: Elite capture in land redistribution: Winners and losers

It has become widely accepted across different sectors of society that South Africa’s land reform has fallen short of expectations.  There is growing public impatience with the slow pace of land reform—government has fallen woefully short of the targets it has set itself for land transfer. In response, activists and politicians have made proposals to amend the constitution and allow…
Deshnee Subramany
December 3, 2019
Moenieba Isaacs: Blue Justice for small-scale fisheries BlogFeatured BlogUncategorized

Moenieba Isaacs: Blue Justice for small-scale fisheries

Words by Moenieba Isaacs The Blue Economy development agenda raises a myriad of red flags relating to the issues small-scale fisheries face. Small-scale fisheries contribute to food security, poverty eradication, sustaining ecosystems, supporting local communities and livelihoods, and promoting cultural inheritance. The Blue Economy development agenda for coastal, lakes, and marine protected zones looks to protect and restore the ocean’s…
Esté Beerwinkel
July 23, 2019
Emmanuel Sulle: Lack of policy implementation holds back women’s land rights in Africa BlogUncategorizedWomen's Land Rights

Emmanuel Sulle: Lack of policy implementation holds back women’s land rights in Africa

Words by Emmanuel Sulle For many African countries, the lack of proper implementation of existing policies, laws and programmes hold back women’s rights to access, use, control, and own land. Speaking to members of parliament during the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Learning Exchange in Kigali, Rwanda, it was argued that the high levels of illiteracy among their…
PLAAS
July 19, 2019
Mnqobi Ngubane: Immigrant farm workers on land reform farms in South Africa: the eastern Free State province Blog

Mnqobi Ngubane: Immigrant farm workers on land reform farms in South Africa: the eastern Free State province

Words by Mnqobi Ngubane Should migrant farm workers from other countries such as Lesotho benefit from South African land reform? This was one of the questions raised at a land redistribution conference held at the University of Western Cape in February 2019. Opinion was divided. Some found the idea a rather shocking surprise, while others expressed sympathy for Lesotho immigrants…
Esté Beerwinkel
June 12, 2019
Nkanyiso Gumede and Katlego Ramantsima: Farm Worker Equity Schemes Blog

Nkanyiso Gumede and Katlego Ramantsima: Farm Worker Equity Schemes

Words by Nkanyiso Gumede and Katlego Ramantsima “We are tired!” shouted an angry farm worker. “We have been exploited for far too long. These schemes are not working for us”. That was the main message shared by farm workers from Witzenberg and surrounding regions in the Western Cape during the speak-out meeting held in Ceres on May 4, 2019. The…
Esté Beerwinkel
June 10, 2019
Stephen Greenberg: Neoliberals capture South African smallholder farmer support policy Blog

Stephen Greenberg: Neoliberals capture South African smallholder farmer support policy

Ideological and factional divisions and contradictions between neoliberals, ‘patrons’ and progressives have manifested in South Africa’s smallholder farmer support policy. This was evident at a national stakeholder consultation held by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) in April 2019. The policy is meant to support marginalised producers. But it has been thoroughly captured by neoliberals under the banner…
Deshnee Subramany
May 20, 2019
Florian Kroll: Picturing a nourishing food system Blog

Florian Kroll: Picturing a nourishing food system

Can pictures and images be used to solicit thoughtful and reflective discussion about one’s position in the food system?   PLAAS  and the Centre for Excellence in Food Security (CoEFS) worked together in 2018 to build a platform for a Community of Practice on food sensitive planning, and have been trying out some interesting ideas.   Food systems research  has highlighted the…
Deshnee Subramany
May 13, 2019