Land Use and Redistribution in the Arid West: The case of Laingsburg Magisterial District

Data collected during a multi-year study of farming in the district is updated to compile a land register. It identifies 30% of farmland by farm size and type and provides estimates of financial performance in each class. Three redistribution scenarios are considered – proportional redistribution, targeting large bona fide operations and targeting lifestyle land. The basic premise is still willing buyer willing seller. Changing the acquisition rules hardly affects the number of beneficiaries or the cost of redistribution but demonstrates that it is important not to overpay for lifestyle land. A redistribution plan for smallholder and settlement-orientated land users is added to the commercial plan according to Aliber's ratios. Commercial redistribution will involve 33 farms with a combined area of 2113 km2 at a total cost of between R352–384 million (using 2015 prices) and will include scope to provide for 132 commonage farmers and 660 settlement-orientated land users. Two-thirds of the land involved was for sale in January 2019 or could be enticed onto the market relatively easily because it has a low opportunity cost in agriculture and the plan would reach as many beneficiaries as there were indigent households in the district in 2017.