Developing agriculture in rural South Africa.

One of the news about Trump's becoming president of the United States for Africa is the cessation of USAID funding for South Africa (about USD 400 million). Although this will have negative effects on ARV recipients, and the medical coverage of a large number in this country with a very high rate of HIV infections, USAID funding only represents 17% of the country's medical assistance needs. The reason given by Trump is the adoption of the land expropriation bill introduced by South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa. For Trump, it is a racist law against white farmers who can be dispossessed of “their lands”; a debate that we will not dwell on, because it is propaganda from white supremacists who consider that they acquired these lands legally, but everyone knows that it is their spoils of apartheid.

For our part, we will cite Houphouët Boigny, first president of Côte d'Ivoire, who, to launch the vast agrarian programme in Côte d'Ivoire in the 1970s, had the slogan, "The land belongs to the one who works it", which resulted in positioning this small country that is Côte d'Ivoire (322,462 km² of surface area) as the world's leading producer of coffee and cocoa for decades.

Does this law allows the expropriation of land from white people? But in fact, this law speaks of compensation. 

Does this tie in with the idea of ​​"willing buyer, willing seller" to acquire this land at an agreed price? 

The land, the majority of which belong to white South Africans, have been developed by them.

The problem then is, will Black South Africans be able to do what the whites did with these lands? If this is not the case, then the country will find itself in a scenario like Zimbabwe during Mugabe's time. 

We don't improvise as farmers; it's a calling that can be established with passion and dedication.

If you can't do farming on 100 square metres, you won't be able to do it on 1 hectare (this statement is from experience and facts).

Of course, President Ramaphosa wants to satisfy his people in their desire to rectify the inequalities inherited from apartheid, but are Black South Africans equipped and ready to work the land?

Land is wealth because agriculture is food. But it must be worked to produce for consumption, sale, and export of agricultural products.

Putting the cart before the horse is the hallmark of government policies in Africa; ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) has established the free movement of people like the EU but does not have a common currency and free movement of goods through standardisation of customs tariffs within its region, unlike the European Union. And since then it has struggled to establish it, even though it was necessary to start there, because the free movement of people does not facilitate trade but rather goods, and above all, a common currency in a region between several countries eases payments, reduces exchange risks, increases intra-regional trade, fosters investments, and everything that goes with it.

If, therefore, the land that must be acquired is for a part of the population who has been deprived of it, for what purpose will this be done? Build low-standard housing or establish farms?

I think for the 2nd case, that is to say, to work the land.

It is therefore imperative for the South African government to prepare its populations to cultivate the land; this must be done gradually, by encouraging small-scale farming, as there is land available for this without dispossession of anyone. The development of small-scale farming must be the priority to encourage Black people to take up agriculture. Developing this initiative in rural areas will firstly establish food self-sufficiency in these areas in a country with a high unemployment rate, targeting young people whose unemployment is more than 40%; the return to the land must be encouraged and structured. These rural areas, therefore, through this small-scale farming, will first contribute to creating self-sufficiency in these areas, and the sale of agricultural products will create a subsistence economy which, with adequate government policy and the assistance of local authorities, will reduce the rural exodus. The success of small-scale farming, and its expansion throughout the South African territory, will be the agrarian revolution of which Black South Africans will be the first beneficiaries.

Don't we say that "appetite comes with eating"? When these small-scale farming are implemented, after the first harvests, the desire to increase their production to increase their income, and satisfy local demand will bring the need for more land. In this sense the acquisition of land will therefore be justified, and appropriate, because, it meets a legitimate need. It is this natural process that will lead to the "conquest of new territories", in the case of agriculture, the acquisition of more land. Europe, following the industrial revolution, leading to energy needs and growing local demand for finished products, embarked on the search for raw materials, and the conquest of new territories. This is how the natural order of things operates in a developing society.

Any development program, especially in Africa, must start at the base and evolve gradually. The ANC does this in politics when it speaks of "grassroot level" for political campaigns, which must also be able to be reproduced in other sectors of the economy, especially in agriculture.

Africans must learn to start small to acquire experience and know-how, then scale up, which in the field of agriculture is done through the creation of agricultural cooperatives, leading to the establishment of agricultural production zones. The creation of wealth that will be generated in these agricultural areas through agricultural production, with effective supervision of rural populations through agricultural cooperatives, will promote the export of agricultural production across the country and outside the country, from these rural areas.

It is inconceivable that in rural areas, people cannot feed themselves with the fruits of the work of the land, when they can acquire small portions of land to begin their subsistence production first, and then the sale of these agricultural products, for which there is a growing demand.

The South African state has the desire to rectify the injustices inherited from apartheid, but it must be strategic, and can do so peacefully without despoiling a part of its population. The segment of the population that consumes the most agricultural products is Black, because it constitutes 80% of the population, so it is not a question of taking from a minority to give to the majority who are not well equipped to work the land.

Experience has demonstrated that the policy of granting shares and high positions in large companies to Blacks in various sectors of the economy, built by the white minority, has not had the expected effect. This just created a tiny portion of prosperous Black people, mostly in political circles; instead of widening the "cake" (the economic base) by the creation of successful companies, "the cake" was shared (distribution of shares and positioning of Blacks in company management positions). The economic fabric which has not expanded has resulted in a negative impact on job creation and economic growth. A mistake not to be made again with the redistribution of land to Blacks without proper strategy. Therefore, the South African state must promote, and implement a policy of creation and expansion of small-scale farming, which will create an agricultural pool of small Black farmers. And, by extending it, will increase agricultural production, and the establishment of an economy in rural areas, based on the production of these areas, which will reduce poverty and unemployment in rural areas. In conclusion to paraphrase Julius Malema, the South African government must “make agriculture fashionable again” in order to reduce rural exodus, create wealth in rural areas, and more Black farmers.

Marius Yusuf M. C. Oula