PERCEPTIONS OF FARM WORKER EQUITY-SHARE SCHEMES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Sl Knight and Mc Lyne

Agrekon, 2002, vol. 41, issue 4

Abstract: Farm worker equity-share schemes have received both positive and negative publicity since they were initiated by the private sector in the early 1990’s. This paper adds to the debate surrounding these land reform projects. In particular, it compares the results of case studies conducted by the Surplus People’s Project (SPP) in 1998 with more recent (2001) case studies. The latter suggest that many of the concerns raised by the SPP, such as beneficiaries’ participation and expectations, power relations between management and worker-shareholders, skills transfer and labour relations have been addressed. The paper also highlights those issues that remain areas of concern, for example, beneficiaries’ tenure security, literacy levels amongst worker shareholders, skill and wage differences between men and women, and exit procedures. It is recommended that Department of Land Affairs (DLA) grants should be awarded only to beneficiaries of projects that have been co-financed by a bank or reputable investor as this ensures a thorough financial assessment of the project, and only to projects that can demonstrate a history of good labour relations. It is also recommended that the DLA should consider extending its grants to regular but seasonal farm workers who wish to participate in an established project. While fam worker equity-share schemes may not provide all the answers to land reform they have an important role to play in redistributing wealth and deracialising commercial agriculture in South Africa.

Keywords: Farm Management; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/246004/files/41_4_6.%20Knight_%20Lynel.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:agreko:246004

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.246004

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Agrekon from Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().