Policy Issues In Agricultural Development In Jozini

Government and community policy clash in the Jozini area around food security versus food sovereignty. Historically, societies have produced most of the food they consumed within and to their (changing) environments. This alternative to the neo-liberal reading of agricultural and food policies is described as food sovereignty, a concept developed and popularised by Vía Campesina (the Latin American peasant movement) and introduced into the public debate during the World Food Summit in 1996. Food security involves prioritising local agricultural production to feed the population and promoting access for small scale farmers to land, water, seeds and credit. The discourse emerged in response to threats to food security posed by the proliferation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which undermine free access to seeds, and promote the neo-liberal agenda of the privatisation of resources and reduced government support for small scale producers.

The South African government supports the proliferation of GM technology, and promotes it as part of the new green revolution. The actual impact of GMOs, however, is a negative one for small farmers, undermining their capacity to produce food and the rights of consumers to food that is not genetically modified. With the support of NGOs, Jozini communities have come to believe that this technology is not about advancing humanity, but a profit driven device that privileges fast growing, high producing and disease resistant seeds over ecologically friendly sustainable and health-enhancing food. The capacity and right to control and distribute seed at the local level, is a pillar of food sovereignty. Biowatch, (an NGO supporting local food sovereignty) supports these initiatives through seed banks, while the government on the other, pushes GM seeds. Mainstream agriculture development policy has exposed Jozini to both the international food market as well as the GM technology in BT cotton, with disastrous results on food sovereignty as well as food security. This has placed local communities, NGOs and the government on a collision course. The exposure of local communities to the international food supply chain, undermining the right of smaller nations to protect themselves from excessively cheap agricultural and food imports (dumping), is underwritten by the dominance of trade liberalization and the chosen neo-liberal policy regime adopted by the South African government in 1996. This policy was declared non-negotiable (Bond 2000).

The Vía Campesina movement has demonstrated the power of the rural poor to articulate positions that challenges the neo-liberal practices that undermine food sovereignty by giving precedence to international trade over peoples’ food rights and failing to eradicate world hunger. The same cannot be said for the subsistence and small scale agricultural sector on the African continent. Instead of articulating their policy disagreements, the rural poor tend to migrate to urban areas in search of jobs. This results in the mere transfer of rural poverty to the urban areas, creating further strain on the capacity of urban administrations to meet service delivery demands (interview with the LED Officer, Umkhanyakude District Municipality 2010).

Key issues affecting smallholder producers in Jozini include the lack of access to irrigation water, fencing off animals from arable land, small land holding and poorly developed market access for agriculture produce. A very small area of Jozini, Makhathini flats, receives irrigation water from the Jozini dam. Irrigation has not been widely developed to provide access for the majority of the peasant producers. Those with access to irrigated land put emphasis on cash crop production (cotton and sugar, at the expense of food production) in response to existing market demand. The remainder and majority of the rural producers occupy rain-fed land and practice seasonal agriculture which increasingly fails to meet the local demand for food. As in many parts of South Africa and the continent, smallholder agriculture in Jozini remains subsistence oriented, technology averse, disarticulated from the local market and maligned in policy, practice and in the eyes of the fiscus. Deborah Bryceson (1999,

2 Statements like these require caution though as they are more than often misconstrued to mean that only farming is what is needed to improve rural livelihoods. This often leads to an approach that suggests that agriculture is the be all and end all of rural development efforts. Agricultural support should be one in a basket of well coordinated interventions that support improved socio-economic conditions.

Farmer experiences with development initiatives in Jozini

An organised group of small holder farmers in Makhathini called Dlan’ Uphile Ezaleni Garden Project chaired by Mr Zwelibanzi P. Sithole of eMkhonjeni articulated the major concerns with government approaches to agricultural development. These farmers produce primarily for consumption and through the support of Biowatch (a development NGO) they prefer traditional methods that resemble organic systems and shun fertilisers and pesticides. This is always in direct conflict with the government’s green revolution oriented extension systems, which promote the use of fertilizers and pesticides. These farmers produce food crops such as gusha (okra), green pepper, brinjal, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, king onions and shallots, spinach as well as fruit, such as mdoni, organic peaches and avocado trees on home gardens. Mr Sithole emphasises the fact that while fertilizer-grown king onions could have bigger heads when compared to traditionally (organically grown) ones, the later are much tastier and have a stronger aroma. Dlan’ Uphile group has a 14 ha piece of land which is currently not usable as it is neither fenced nor irrigated. The organic production focus of Biowatch and the green revolution approach of government supported schemes often leave communal farmers torn between the two.

Government officials simply dump seeds and fertilisers on farmers without training them about their use and explaining the potential side effects. Makhathini Flats was developed into irrigation schemes in the 1980s as the downward beneficiation project from the Jozini dam that led to the diversion of the Phongola River. The small growers in the irrigation schemes have each an average of 1ha of land, but often farm in co-operatives. Some lease out land to those with capacity to grow and enter into various production and marketing arrangements. This requires government support in drafting contracts with agribusiness and business (big or small) to protect these communities from potential abuses. The Dlan’ Uphile project members suggest that their production at the domestic level has not been satisfactory owing to land shortage, lack of fencing and water. However, during times when they produced satisfactorily, the market has always been the biggest problem. Market is the lifeblood for successful farming and rural advancement. As one farmer put it:‘We do not have land, seedlings and water. When we try to grow our vegetables, they are eaten by goats and cattle. We do not have extension officers. We have not received help from government. This is our 6th year as organised farmers. We are still waiting for government. NGOs also come and promise to help us, they record our problems and take our details. They go away and make money for themselves from our stories and problems. We see nothing’ (interview with Ms Mabaso of Makhathini).

The farmers of the Dlan’Uphile applied for cattle and goats under the government’s drought relief restocking programme but never received them even after being told that their stock was delivered. Cattle and goats manure would be very useful in improving the quantity and quality of the produce by rural farmers. However, with government projects such as the one mentioned above failing to address the stocking requirements of these farmers, agricultural produce remains severely compromised.  

KwaZulu-Natal is known to have intermittent droughts with the last recorded major droughts occuring in 2002/2003. The effects of climate change will also worsen the impact of droughts for rural communities. Jozini farmers suggest that they are still to recover their stock lost in the most recent drought. The government needs to engage the smallholder and subsistence farmers in such issues as how to manage, reduce the impact of these natural occurrences. Rural development is seen as the line function of the Department of Social Development (DSD). The municipalities, which are the local delivery arms of government, also run local economic development-oriented projects. The Department of Health run projects aimed at nutrition and so food-related projects are prioritised. The Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (at the provincial level) has rolled out a ‘one home one garden’ project to improve food security at the household level. This programme is knee-jerk in its orientation. It is a response to the 2008 global recession and fuel-hike-associated food shortages and is not informed by a wider social and economic upliftment agenda.