Post-1994, the South African government’s
national and provincial departments of
agriculture (DOA) made concerted efforts
to develop policies and programmes
aimed at making South Africa’s agricultural
sector stronger and more robust. Crucial
to this strategy was to increase the equity
among farmers in terms of racial and
gender representation and access to land,
modern technologies and other inputs. As
this process unfolded it received criticism
from many quarters. The succession of the
many post-1994 policies and programmes,
including the 1995 White Paper on
Agriculture, the 1998 Agricultural Policy in
South Africa discussion document, the 2001
Strategic Plan for South African Agriculture
and the 2004 Comprehensive Agricultural
Support Programme, has exemplified
the criticism that there is an evident
shift away from supporting the poor
and more vulnerable farmers, especially
female farmers, towards an overwhelming
focus on the better-resourced and more
commercially-oriented black farmers (Hall
et al. 2003; Hart 2008, 2011).