Why Have South African Smallholders Largely Abandoned Arable Production in Fields? A Case Study

Our article concerns the decline in arable production in the former homelands of South Africa – part of a longer-term trend that has probably accelerated since the mid 1990s. Our material is taken largely from interviews in Mbotyi village on the Eastern Cape coast, where rainfall is high. Even here, arable fields have largely been left fallow in recent years. Our interviews confirm that people in Mbotyi believe that there has been a marked and sharp decline in cultivation. While the general phenomenon that we are exploring is quite widely accepted in academic literature, explanations are less certain and it is difficult to rank the causes. Our aim is to contribute to this debate by considering especially people’s own perceptions. An investigation on a micro-scale allows for a multi-faceted analysis of the range of issues that confront cultivation in Mbotyi – a complex mix of disincentives that includes environmental problems, cost and risk, declining patriarchy and changing attitudes to work. We believe that it is important to engage with popular perspectives and understandings of these issues. Our analysis places at its centre a shortage of labour for agricultural purposes, despite high unemployment in the village. We conclude by suggesting some of the implications of this analysis for land reform and the priorities for agricultural policy in the former homelands.