Joint Venture Schemes in Limpopo Province and their outcomes on smallholder farmers Livelihoods

Publication date: Available online 11 November 2015 Source:Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C Author(s): Everisto Mapedza, Barbara van Koppen, Pinimidzai Sithole, Magalie Bourblanc Joint Venture schemes based on the floppy irrigation technology are being promoted in the post-Apartheid South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Access to land and water resources in South Africa are largely viewed as a mechanism for re-dressing the Apartheid injustices. This research was part of a broader applied research to help inform irrigation practise in the Limpopo Province. The research used literature review, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey. The overall research question sought to understand how the Joint Venture Schemes had benefited the smallholder farmers. This paper argues that the joint venture partnership created a new injustice. Firstly, the Joint Venture Scheme design is fundamentally a bad idea which disempower farmers not only to water access but also land as well. The choice of the 'efficient' floppy irrigation technology was made by the state and entailed that land had to be managed as a single unit. In order to make more effective use of this highly sophisticated new technology, the smallholder farmers also needed to go into a joint venture partnership with a white commercial farmer. By virtue of signing the Joint Venture agreement the farmers were also forfeiting their land and water rights to be used for crop production. The smallholde...
Source: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts ABC - Category: Science Source Type: research