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PODCAST Ep 11: Land, labour migration and pathways of change in rural China Agrarian PoliticsNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PODCAST Ep 11: Land, labour migration and pathways of change in rural China

In one of the biggest rural transformations in world history, China’s land reforms through the twentieth century involved first the redistribution of farmland, then farming cooperatives, and collectivisation of land under the commune system. In this episode, we speak with Prof. Yan Hairong, a scholar on China’s rural transformations. She explains how, in the decades after the revolution, initial freedoms…
PLAAS
October 19, 2023
PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – Race, water and precision technologies in Global Production Network of Citrus in Western Cape FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – Race, water and precision technologies in Global Production Network of Citrus in Western Cape

The main component of water reforms in South Africa, redressing the racial injustice of the past in existing and all new future water allocations, has failed to materialise. Ramsha will argue that the emergence of a strong Global Production Network (GPN) of citrus export at the time of rolling out of the water reforms has, and continues to have, contributed…
PLAAS
October 18, 2023
Rural Women and Climate Justice: A call to action in EMS Faculty BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Rural Women and Climate Justice: A call to action in EMS Faculty

Professor Ruth Hall and Professor Moenieba Isaacs, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) In a world gripped by the urgency of climate change, the voices of rural women often remain unheard. On August 23, 2023, we convened a public webinar hosted by our Economic and Management Sciences Faculty, bringing together a panel of experts to shed light on…
PLAAS
August 31, 2023
ACADEMIC SEMINAR – Transforming Mexican Coffee Policies: A Closer Look at President López Obrador’s Impact FeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

ACADEMIC SEMINAR – Transforming Mexican Coffee Policies: A Closer Look at President López Obrador’s Impact

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s tenure as president of Mexico has marked a significant departure from past administrations, including in the context of the coffee industry. This was the topic of an academic seminar delivered on 22 August 2023 by Claudia Oviedo Rodriguez, a Ph.D. student at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Hosted by the Institute of Poverty, Land and…
PLAAS
August 25, 2023
PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – The Promised transformation: Mexican coffee policies during the administration of President Lopez Obrador FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – The Promised transformation: Mexican coffee policies during the administration of President Lopez Obrador

Abstract This thesis analyses Mexican coffee policies during the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). It builds on approaches of state theories, agrarian political economy, and global value chain studies, and contributes to debates regarding the role of the state in small farmers’ livelihoods. The thesis is based on a case study analysing the implementation of rural policies…
PLAAS
August 11, 2023
PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – The Land and its People: The South African ‘Land Question’ and the Post-Apartheid Political Order FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

PLAAS ACADEMIC SEMINAR – The Land and its People: The South African ‘Land Question’ and the Post-Apartheid Political Order

Abstract Professor Andries du Toit will examine the disjuncture between the discourses of policy deliberation and contentious politics in debates about ‘the land question’ in South Africa. He will argue that the South African land debate as it unfolds in the public realm is best understood as a displaced discourse indirectly addressing the terms of political belonging and the nature…
PLAAS
July 26, 2023
IASC Keynote: Taking Back the Commons: Decommodification, Deconcentration and Democratisation FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

IASC Keynote: Taking Back the Commons: Decommodification, Deconcentration and Democratisation

Taking Back the Commons: Decommodification, Deconcentration, and Democratisation Ruth Hall and Moenieba Isaacs Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape South AfricaAbstract The battle is on for Africa’s commons, but not all is lost. Beyond the onslaught of corporate, elite and state-backed land and resource grabbing that is rampant across the continent, this talk…
PLAAS
June 29, 2023
Digital tech in African agriculture FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Digital tech in African agriculture

The digital revolution in global agriculture has begun and this includes digital tech in African agriculture. We now see the use of a variety of digital tools on the continent, such as drones, precision farming machinery, digital decision-making support tools, digital labor management tools or online food and agricultural input marketplaces. Even though the digital revolution is still at an…
PLAAS
June 7, 2023
PLAAS PUBLIC LECTURE – Obstacles to women’s land rights and ways forward: Insights from India and beyond FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PLAAS PUBLIC LECTURE – Obstacles to women’s land rights and ways forward: Insights from India and beyond

Tuesday, 13 June 2023, 13h00 - 14h30 CAT Please join us for a public lecture by Professor Bina Agarwal from the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester in the United Kingdom who will be talking about ‘Obstacles to women’s land rights and ways forward: Insights from India and beyond’. Abstract Globally, for many decades (sometimes even a century) rural women…
PLAAS
June 1, 2023