LABOUR-RELATED STRUCTURAL TRENDS IN SOUTH AFRICAN COMMERCIAL GRAIN PRODUCTION: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SUMMER AND WINTER RAINFALL AREAS, 1945-1987

N. L. Payne, J. van Zyl and H. J. Sartorius von Bach

Agrekon, 1990, vol. 29, issue 4

Abstract: Data from the end of the second World War (1945) to the 1987 production year were used to quantify the pace of change in the structure of farni(ng with regard to labour. Where possible explanations of certain parameters arc put forward with the aim of identifying the economic problem with regard to farm labour. Two structural trends in South African commercial maize production are evident in the summer rainfall areas. The period 1945-1970 witnessed a large expansion in cultivated farm area, probably because tractors replaced draught o»en. Larger areas could be managed and more labour was required. Demands on labour for harvesting were heavy until the introductio. n. of the combine harvester. alleviated .this problem. These trends were strengthened by policies aimed at lowering the costs of capital, g1vmg nse to some of the soc10-econon11c concerns expressed in this paper. In the winter rainfall region where wheat is cultivated the e,-pansion in cultivated area took place before 1945. The period under consideration (1945-1987) therefore only saw the substitution of labour for machinery, especially in the period 1945-1970. It thus seems as if labour related developments in the summer rainfall area trailed that in the winter rainfall area.

Keywords: Crop Production/Industries; Labor and Human Capital; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1990
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:agreko:267339

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.267339

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