Inefficient land use in KwaZulu: Causes and remedies

Abstract

Rural KwaZulu is a less developed region of South Africa. Despite intense population pressure, arable land is underutilized. Grazing resources are overutilized.

Supply response to price incentives and farmer support programmes is inelastic as the potential gains to farmers are limited by small farm sizes. Facilitating the land rental market could improve efficiency informing, and also has equity advantages. Institutional changes are needed to encourage land rental

Overstocking occurs primarily because grazing is an open access common property resource. Unlike most solutions to overstocking (eg cattle taxes and quotas), privatization of grazing land (even in the limited sense that arable land is privately controlled) would not only encourage stock‐owners to reduce stocking rates but would also improve their incentive to upgrade herd and pasture quality. It is recommended that privatization be promoted in areas where it is more acceptable to households.

Notes

Respectively Senior Lecturer and Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Natal. Financial assistance from the HSRC is gratefully acknowledged. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the HSRC. The authors thank two anonymous referees for their useful comments.