| Overview : The South African Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) has introduced the Regulations of Agricultural Landholdings Policy (RALHP) and accompanying Bill (RALHB) with the aim of reversing the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, and to ensure a “just and equitable” distribution of agricultural land among those who live in, and work, it. The proposed reforms seek to ensure progressive realisation of the objectives and principles enshrined in the Constitution, particularly section 25(5), (7) and (8) as well as Section 27, on equitable access to land by citizens and redress for those who lost tenure and land as well as local and household food security. The RLHB/RLHP stem from the 2011 Green Paper on Land Reform’s unitary and integrated 4-tier tenure system, particularly the tiers on Privately-owned land (freehold with limited extent) and Foreign-owned land (combination of freehold with limited extent).To achieve land redistribution and racial redress RALHB requires and provides for the establishment and maintenance of a register of public and private agricultural land holdings. This needs to specify land location, quality, size, use, ownership by nationality, gender and race; declaration of present ownership and acquisition of private agricultural land; submission of information on public agricultural land; prohibition on the acquisition of agricultural land by a foreign person; and regulation of lease by foreign persons; determination of ceilings in respect of privately owned agricultural land; and redistribution of agricultural land. The Regulations of Agricultural Land Holdings Bill (RALHB) was published for public comments on the 17th of March, 2017 and closed on 17 May 2017. This Bill has attracted different reactions from different stakeholders and interest groups in the public. Further research to address public reactions or responses was also commissioned and is continuous.For efficient and equitable implementation of RALHB, it is desirable to estimate the consequences of alternative distributions of farmland for six groups of TARGET VARIABLES, viz. land, water, and total-factor farm productivity and efficiency; farm and non-farm output; poverty; employment (including self-employment); and personal incomes, including numbers of gainers from redistributed land and levels of gain; ethnic and interpersonal distribution of income and businesses. In this regard, UNDP together with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform requires services of a South African Research Team (SART) which will work with International Support Team (IST) and other experts who will form part of the project. This is to DEVELOP LAND SIZE AND EFFICIENCY SIMULATION MODEL TO ASCERTAIN THE ECONOMICS OF REGULATION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND HOLDING BILL and the Overall scope of research to be undertaken is in three sequential (possibly overlapping) phases, preceded by a planning and inception Phase 0, and followed by a final report. |
