Seminar Information

Afesis-corplan held its 4th quarter seminar on Friday 18th November in East London. The purpose of the seminar was to look at small scale/holder agriculture in South Africa and also looking at the experiences of Cuba. A DVD on how Cuba undertook its agriculture as a measure to address food security in the country was played. The Cuban perspective gave us a different perspective on agricultural activities and community participation. The workshop was being chaired by Dr. Moyo from the University of Fort Hare.  Various people from diverse organisations attended i.e. government departments, municipalities, Non-governmental organisations, academics, development practitioners and community members.

Seminar Presentations
The following were speakers during the workshop (to access the PowerPoint presentations click on the title):
• the_pros_and_cons_of_permaculture_versus_conventional_food_production_in_a_new_climate_change_and_peak_oil_context_by_pierre-louis_lemercier.pdf by Pierre-Louis Lemercier, the Renewable energy centre
• do_atis_respond_to_the_demands_of_small_scale_agriculture_in_south_africa_araia.pdf  by Mulugheta Ghebreslassie Araia, Fort Cox College of Agriculture & Forestry
•  agrianisation_or_de-agrianisation_in_ec_by_dr._mabena.pdf by Dr. Mabhena, University of Fort Hare University
•  promoting_unisa_household_food_security_model_in_eastern_cape_province-_arrtwell.pdf by Artwell Chivhinge

To access the papers click on the title:

• Agrarianisation or De-agrarianisation in the Eastern Cape? The implications for job creation in the agricultural sector by Dr. Clifford Mabhen
• Promoting UNISA Household Food Security model in Eastern Cape Province by Artwell Chivhinge

The link to purchase the DVD, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil can be accessed on the following links:
• http://www.loot.co.za
• http://www.takealot.com
(*Please note that the documentary DVD can also be purchased from any sites that sell books and DVDs the above links are some examples)

Afesis-corplan cordially invites you to attend our fourth quarterly seminar for 2011 which will be held on 18 November 2011 at the Osner hotel (08h30). The topic of the seminar is on ‘Small scale/ holder agriculture’.

Introduction

Small-scale agriculture is an alternative to factory farming or more broadly, intensive agriculture that is prevalent in primarily first world countries. An environmental health perspective of sustainable agriculture notes that it “is not merely a package of prescribed methods. More important, it is a change in mind set whereby agriculture acknowledges its dependence on a finite natural resource base including the finite quality of fossil fuel energy that is now a critical component of conventional farming systems."

South Africa is faced with the issue of how to secure food for its population, whilst addressing the land inequalities that were left by the apartheid government. The South African constitution section 27 (1) stresses that everyone has the right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care; sufficient food and water; and social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance. In other words food is not a business but a human right. The constitution also states in section 25 (5) that the state must foster, within its available resources, conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.

According to the Worldwatch institute, the key to alleviating world hunger, poverty and combating climate change may lie in fresh, small-scale approaches to agriculture. The State of the World report says that ‘small is key ... school nutrition programmes and indigenous livestock preservation are excellent ways to encourage food security’. There have been calls for a move away from industrial agriculture and there has been an increase in discussions around small-scale initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa that work towards poverty and hunger relief in an environmentally sustainable way.

Afesis-corplan is hosting this seminar on small scale/holder agriculture to create a platform where the public can voice their views on small scale agriculture, looking into issues of job creation, food security and climate change.

Seminar Programme

DATE   : Friday, 18 November 2011
VENUE   : Osner Hotel, Quigney, East London
TIME   : 08h30 – 13h30
REGISTRATION OPENS : 08h30
SEMINAR STARTS  : 09h00

Speakers:

• DVD clip: ‘The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
• The pros and cons of permaculture versus conventional food production in a new climate change and peak oil context by Pierre-Louis Lemercier, the Renewable energy centre
• Trends in agriculture: General context for South Africa and other local municipalities by Mulugheta Araia, Fort Cox College of Agriculture & Forestry
• Agrarianisation or de-agrarianisation in the Eastern Cape? Implications to employment creation in the agricultural sector by Dr. Mabhena, University of Fort Hare University
• Promoting Household Food Security model to address household food insecurity in South Africa by Artwell Chivhinge

RSVP
Everyone is welcome to attend and to invite other interested parties. To confirm your attendance kindly email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tel: 043 743 3830

Afesis-corplan  hosted its 3rd Quarter Seminar on the 16th September 2011 in East London on 'Land Redistribution: Moving beyond Rhetoric'.. The aim of hosting the seminar was to create public awareness of the key issues around local governance, sustainable settlements and development.

Background

The conventional wisdom is that as a result of our colonial and apartheid past in 1994, 87 percent of the land was owned by whites, while just 13 percent was reserved for blacks. Redistributing white farmland into black ownership would address not only the historical injustices but also the contemporary scourge of rural poverty and underdevelopment. Yet to date a mere 7 percent of this land has been redistributed, and there is widespread recognition that the land reform programme is not working as originally hoped. In urban areas we still find more than 2.1 million households still in need of adequate housing, despite making housing opportunities available over the last couple of years in urban areas. There are also still no clear strategies in place to make sure that future settlement patterns are more environmentally friendly with, for example, public transport orientated development located around areas of higher density.

In 1994 and the years immediately following, there were high expectations from all involved that South Africa’s past racially distorted land distribution patterns would be addressed by the new democratically elected government.  But 17 years into the new democracy even the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Gugile Nkwinti has admitted that 90% of government’s land reform projects have failed.  http://www.fm.co.za/Article.aspx?id=149406

Given this failure, some are arguing for a radical overhaul of the whole land reform programme, with some calling for the expropriation of the land without compensation while others are saying that there is no need for such drastic action as the state already owns lots of land that has not been redistributed, and transferring land without adequate support to productively use the land leads to a worsening of the food security situation of the country. In terms of land redistribution (for both urban and rural land), government has been focusing on three main approaches to achieve this redistribution:  
• The development of state land for farming and settlement purposes
• The purchase of identified private land following the willing seller/ willing buyer approach; and
• The expropriation of private land as a last resort.

The seminar aimed to assist us move towards an informed debate about what the real challenges are with past attempts at land redistribution, and how land redistribution can be effectively approached in a manner that leads to a more sustainable and equitable land ownership and settlement pattern.

Seminar Presentations (click on title):

 “Introduction to Land Redistribution Seminar”
Ronald Eglin (Afesis Corplan).

 “Land redistribution In South Africa:  history, context and future prospects”
Dr Michael Aliber from the Dept. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Pretoria

 “Land Expropriation:  Experiences, challenges, opportunities and recommendations”
Mr Saul Du Toit from Appraisal Corporation in Cape Town.

 “Prospects of using Land Value Capture tools for land redistribution”
Mr Moegsien Hendricks from DAG in Cape Town..

 You can  find a copy of the green paper on land reform at:
http://www.ruraldevelopment.gov.za/DLA-Internet/content/news/Greenpaper.jsp

Afesis-corplan conducts a popular quarterly seminar programme dealing with emerging issues in local government.

Previous and upcoming seminars will be posted on this page on an ongoing basis. View the list of available presentations that can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format.

Picture shown: The Afesis-corplan seminar team

Afesis-corplan, with the support of the UK high Commission, hosted an information sharing event on “Trusts for Community Development within the Renewable Energy Sector” in South Africa on 15 March 2011 in East London. The purpose of the event was to learn from the views and experiences of different role-players from government, developers, financiers and communities, on how community development can be promoted in the renewable energy sector.  Many international and local investors, funders and developers are looking at South Africa as a place to invest in large scale renewable energy projects from wind power, concentrated solar, biogas and bio-fuel projects to name just a few. This provides us as a country with a unique opportunity to ensure that the (economic, social and environmental) benefits from this investment are of benefit, in a sustainable manner, to poorer rural and urban communities.

Information from this workshop can be found at:

Energy Trust Research Report 2011 March 515.55 Kb

Letter of invitation 283.62 Kb

Energy trust Learning Event report 139.72 Kb

Afesis-corplan presentation 319.32 Kb

UK High Commission presentation 62.74 Kb

Pure Carbon presentation 3.24 Mb

East London IDZ presentation 26.30 Mb

Provincial Department of Economic Affairs and Environment  presentation 3.88 Mb

Industrial Development Corporation presentation 2.21 Mb

Leonard Tebbutt Chartered accountants report 144.10 Kb

In line with the new trend of trying to revive rural development, the Eastern Cape has in the recent past produced a rural development strategy aimed at ensuring that such development happens in tandem not only with the local needs but also the broader framework provided by the ANC during the Polokwane Conference.

Besides the provincial department of rural development and land reform, a key ingredient in the mix that is supposed to promote rural development are development agencies. In the more recent past, 3 state development agencies have undergone a merging process ostensibly in the pursuit of efficiency and greater coordination of their rural development mandate. A primary offshoot of this process has been the formation of the EC Rural Development Agency.