Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies
Recent Publications
COVID-19 Impacts: Household Food Production, Agroecology, Rural Livelihoods and Alternative Food Systems
By Farai Mtero This report analyses the extent to which local household food producers in Ncerha (Eastern Cape) and Ozwathini (KwaZulu-Natal) use agroecological farming methods, and whether such practices can form the basis of alternative food economies, especially in the context of COVID-19 and the far-reaching ramifications it had on the wider food system. The COVID-19 crisis accentuated the enduring…
Read More
Changing Customary Land Tenure Regimes in Zambia: Implications for Women’s Land Rights
By Phillan Zamchiya and Chilombo Musa Can formalization help protect women’s rights in land? Can innovative systems of recordal provide safeguards for the vulnerable position of women who hold informal or customary land rights? In our newest paper, we explore this question by an in-depth investigation into the complexities of rural certification in the case of Nyimba District, Zambia. In…
Read More
The Land and Its People: the land question and the South African political order
Why is the land debate in South Africa so difficult to resolve? Why has it for twenty-nine years resisted the best efforts at resolution by land and agricultural policy experts? Why, in fact, do those experts sometimes seem to be mere bystanders in a superheated and emotionally charged debate dominated by opportunist politicians? Could it be that the…
Read More
Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods in South Africa: An Agenda for Policy-Oriented Research
This report sketches the outlines of our research agenda on the intersections of climate change, agrarian change, and rural livelihoods. The report marks an important change for us. For more than twenty-five years we have been documenting the changing nature of rural livelihoods and agrarian relations on this continent, and the transformations wrought by politics, by agricultural commercialisation, value chain…
Read More