THE government has pumped more than R60bn into land reform since the 1990s. Despite this investment, it has not stimulated economic development in rural areas.A recent report by the Financial and Fiscal Commission shows that the potential of land reform as a mechanism for agricultural development and job creation has largely gone unrealised.A survey by the commission in three rural provinces (Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape) found that most land reform farms show little or no agricultural activity. On-farm beneficiaries earn little to no income, and the majority of beneficiaries seek employment on surrounding commercial farms instead of actively farming their own land.Where land reform farms are in operation, they operate below their full commercial potential and have a strong bias towards subsistence agriculture. Across sampled sites, crop production had decreased by 79% since conversion to land reform.This dramatic decline has serious implications for employment in the aff...

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