Productive value of farmland in Gauteng with implications for land reform

Abstract

Information about the productive value of farmland is essential for willing buyer, willing seller land reform. We used the farm census to investigate the demand for land for two statistical regions in Gauteng over the period 1983 to 2002. With values in constant 2010 prices throughout, comparable demand curves were constructed from gross farm revenues. Although gross revenue varied from year to year and site to site, it usually fell in a band of R2,000 to R3,000 per hectare for this maize growing and cattle rearing area. During the study period maize production shrank by three quarters in both areas, while cattle numbers stayed constant at one site and fell by 67% at the other site. While one would expect some decline in agriculture due to urbanization, it is likely that the census no longer attains sufficient coverage to be considered a census. The minimum land reform grant can typically buy less than a hectare of farmland in this area while the maximum grant plus substantial own contribution barely achieves a farm size of thirty hectares. It is therefore unsurprising that land reform is failing.