South Africa black-owned farms 'failing'

[DavidDvorkin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8547621.stm

Some 90% of farms redistributed to South Africa's black population from white farmers are not productive, the government has said.

Basing land policies on ideology is always an iffy idea.

[Craftsman]

1. Modern large scale farming is a capital and knowledge intensive process

You just can't give land and expect a bounty to flow. See Zimbabwe.

[slackmaster]

2. Another Utopian idea found to be impractical, and people will suffer because of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRewcZXEMb8

[tabatha]

3. In defense of Black farmers,

they were very productive prior to their lands being seized a long time ago.
(See After Apartheid: The Solution for South Africa by Frances Kendall, Leon Louw.)

They have not had the opportunity to come up to speed in the short time they have had their land.

"The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says some black farmers are likely to argue that they have been struggling to get the resources and skills to develop their land."

That is true.

I knew White farmers in South Africa, who had their land for many years, were settled in homes that had been built by Blacks for a pittance, and as new technology emerged (e.g. drip-feeding), they had the time of several years to evaluate and experiment, without having to worry about lack of income which was on a relatively stable footing.

In comparison, Blacks who were denied education, have been given these lands and are expected to perform in a short period of time, in a manner equivalent to White farmers who have had decades.

Apples and oranges. But bash the Black will trump reason.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Land policies have to deal with the current situation

Not history. That's why they can't be based on ideology.

Clearly, much planning was needed and far more time and training.

[tabatha]

5. Yes, if you have all the money in the world.

Sanctions against South Africa brought it to its knees.

And what I wrote about was NOT ideology - it was reality.

South Africa after Apartheid presented one of the most challenging in the world to any government. With the bulk of the population in poverty, uneducated and with no infrastructure. There were also all sorts of physical, emotional and mental problems in a population that had been abused for generations.

Anything is better than those years for certain people. There has to be a leveling, bringing up a bulk of the population, while the privileged have to give up some things.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. The "reform" under discussion is making things worse

That's why reality is preferable to ideology in such matters.