Livelihoods, institutions and the small farmer - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 296

• Integrating analysis, action and change at different levels of spatial, economic and social
organization.
• Replacing patron-client relationship with cooperation and collaborative partnership.
In the light of the foregoing, applying the ARD approach to institutional analysis in South
Africa's second economy, namely the rural and under-developed parts of the country where
conditions are similar to what obtains elsewhere in the region and the continent, promises
to provide a much stronger platform on which to build the institutional base that will serve
the needs of the resource-poor smallholder. But that is not the end of the matter. Analysis
will increase the stock of information available to us about the enormity of the problem
and how best to tackle it, but will not do the job for us. When we know enough about the
root causes of the slow progress towards transformation in society, the challenge will be to
identify appropriate strategies to realize sustained change and be able to secure the required
buy-in to ensure that we succeed. It must be possible to implement the needed practical
actions in an atmosphere that effectively responds to real grassroots concerns. Finding a
way to do this will provide the answer to the second question as to how collective action
can help to speed up the pace of agrarian reform in South Africa.
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