EADI COVID-19 Virtual Dialogue: Lockdown challenges for land reform beneficiaries: South Africa
Channel: EADI
Date: 2020-10-27

Smallholder farmers and land reform beneficiaries have been greatly affected by the restrictions of movements that took place in South Africa with the declaration of the global pandemic. The reduced mobility for farmers and a drop in demand for produce, resulted in a loss of income. South African's Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced a Covid-19 relief fund for South Africa’s smallholder farmers and land reform beneficiaries but concern has been raised about the nature of the support.

A rise in theft and restrictions on labour movement have further exacerbated the plight for farmers. In this virtual dialogue Nkanyiso Gumede, from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape details the issues impacting farmers and how support and how relief aimed to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 for farmers and land reform beneficiaries must be relevant and based on a thorough consultation with those it targets.


Nkanyiso Gumede is a researcher at the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. His research is mainly on land and agrarian reform in South Africa. He has undertaken work looking at the nature and character of land redistribution in South Africa. His current research is about rethinking agrarian reform in South Africa to ensure equitable access to land and is titled “Equitable Access to land for social justice in South Africa”. He holds a Masters degree in Agriculture (Food Security) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He is also a Master of Philosophy student at PLAAS, investigating the outcomes of land reform for employment, livelihoods and land tenure rights for farm labour on land redistributed through the Pro-Active Land Acquisition Strategy in selected provinces in South Africa.




In the EADI Virtual Dialogue Series on COVID-19: National and local coping strategies following the Covid-19 pandemic, speakers from around the world will explore the variety of responses to the pandemic from a multidisciplinary perspective and offer insights into the local realities and lived experiences in different regions.

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https://www.eadi.org/eadi-virtual-dialogue-series/