Some socio‐economic characteristics of tribal and private farmers in the Hlanganani district of KwaZulu*

This study was supported by the HSRC. Views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the HSRC.

A survey of eighty‐nine tribal farmers and nine private farmers in the Hlanganani district of KwaZulu was conducted. Results show that agriculture is dominated by elderly tribal farmers operating land allotments of less than one hectare in size primarily for home consumption purposes. Private farmers control much larger farms and are less dependent on off‐farm income.

Almost one half of the tribal farmers interviewed favoured private ownership of grazing and arable land. Traditional leaders favoured the reallocation of land to fewer people and the conversion of grazing land into arable land as a solution to the small farm size problem.

Although education levels were similar among both groups of farmers, most private farmers invested in soil conservation whereas the majority of tribalfarmers did not. Crop losses caused by livestock on arable lands (a result of the tribal tenure system) were identified by tribal farmers as the most important factor restricting increased crop production.

Notes

Masters student, senior lecturer and lecturer, respectively, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. The authors thank two anonymous referees for useful comments.

This study was supported by the HSRC. Views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the HSRC.