Briefing Paper

Assessing Potential for Employment-intensive Land Reform in South Africa

This policy brief focuses on the potential contribution of redistributive land reform to employment creation. The research questions are: What are the promising commodities with the potential to create sustained livelihood and employment opportunities for small scale producers? What are the requirements for agricultural finance, access to value chains (informal and formal), provision of appropriate extension and advisory services, secure land rights and tenure? How will climate change impact on farming systems in the future and smallholder producers in different settings? What can we learn from the international experience of attempts to create employment and livelihood opportunities through agricultural production? What can local municipality case studies tell us about the employment creation potential of land reform? How many jobs could be created by redistributing 50% of remaining agricultural land in South Africa?