The land question in smallholder development in South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 188

reform who were shown to devote more resources to the education of their children than
households not affected by land reforms (Deininger et al. , 1999). Similar results have also
been obtained from Brazil where as much as a 5-fold increase in the income of beneficiaries
of land reforms was observed (Buinainain et al. 1999). How the beneficiaries of land reform
are selected remains an important aspects of a land reform programme (Van Rooyen and
Njobe-Mbuli, 1996).
As has been noted earlier, intensive discussions among several stakeholders preceded the
launch of the Land Reform Programme in South Africa. In its own contribution, the World
Bank undertook a modelling exercise that took account of various factors, including land
use patterns, net farm incomes, household size, and agricultural income shares. The purpose
was to assess the extent of income and employment generation that the land re-distribution
process would deliver (World Bank, 1993). The findings of the modelling exercise were
that both rural employment and household incomes would increase as a result of the re-
distribution process. The logic of this finding is obvious. With more rural people expected
to have access to this vital productive resource as a result of the various components of the
land reform process, it seemed obvious that farming would become more widespread and
lead to a stimulation of the rural economy through creating higher purchasing power among
producers. The increased supply of food in the rural areas would also have a positive impact
on food prices and hence real incomes of consumers. The World Bank assessment also
anticipated an increased incidence of part-time farming which will generate a multiplier
effect by increasing the size of part-time jobs (World Bank, 1993).
The market-assisted land reform has gained in popularity in recent times. This is because it
has been found to be a more cost-effective option for promoting equity in the redistribution
of assets in developing countries (The World Bank, 2003). Many land reform programmes
are taking place today within an environment in which markets have been liberalized and
subsidies to the farm sector have been discontinued as part of an economy-wide structural
adjustment programme. In such a situation, it is preferable to adopt land re-distribution
measures which avoid elements of coercion or the favouring of one group over another. The
argument of the World Bank is that when markets are assisted to work in distributing land,
more land is transferred to poor people who otherwise would be unable to compete in a
completely free and unfettered market (The World Bank, 2003). Such an arrangement is also
reputed to avoid the emergence of bloated bureaucracies and non-performing farming units.
With the foregoing in mind, Van Zyl and Binswanger (1996) enumerated a set of design
criteria for an effective market-assisted land reform programme, including:
• Adopting self-targeting strategies to ensure that only willing buyers and willing sellers
are matched.