Obstacles to Agricultural Development in the Communal Areas of the Eastern Cape Report for the Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan

There are two sets of obstacles to agricultural development in the Eastern Cape Province. This report differentiates between the overarching structural constraints on agricultural production and the specific obstacles in particular development initiatives and agricultural practices. The first set refers to the apparent dualism (which survives as a grim reminder of the legacies of colonialism and apartheid) between the commercial farming sector and the communal areas of the former reserves or bantustans of Ciskei and Transkei. A whole range of barriers to development are related to this abiding regional segregation of the province which structured the reserve areas to be suppliers of labour rather than areas for agricultural production. The reality of this dualism continues to shape the nature of rural social relations and any serious effort at development must take it into account. The other set of obstacles relates to more immediate obstacles which impede specific agricultural systems or projects. There is obviously no Chinese wall separating these two sets of obstacles. They penetrate and feed off each other but the overarching structural obstacles form a context within which the more immediate constraints may be aggravated. Similarly, if local conditions are not conducive to development they contribute to an overall syndrome of poverty and backwardness. Against all the odds of these structural constraints and local obstacles there are many examples of human ingenuity which have created the conditions for survival and even enrichment. Any plan for agricultural revival must overcome both sets of obstacles. This report provides recommendations on how the provincial and national governments may contribute towards a resolution of the problems of poverty and inequality through economic growth. The land question forms an extremely important backdrop to the report. It locates the structural constraints within a context of unequal access to and ownership over land. Over and above this inequality, there is undoubtedly a very high potential for agricultural development especially in the former Transkei, and to a lesser extent iii in the Ciskei, and there are sufficient natural resources to cater for the needs of the people. Yet there is a food crisis. It is imperative that any plan for the regeneration of agriculture in the province should start from an understanding of this paradox. The most compelling questions are: · Why has this potential not been spontaneously realised? · What can be done to boost agricultural output? · What intervening factors continue to prevent the …