<
https://theconversation.com/most-south-african-farmers-are-black-why-trump-got-it-so-wrong-257668>
"When world leaders engage, the assumption is always that they engage on issues
based on verified facts, which their administrative staff are supposed to
prepare. Under this assumption, we thought the meeting at the White House on 21
May between South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and US president Donald
Trump would follow this pattern.
Disappointingly, the televised meeting was horrifying to watch as it was based
on misrepresenting the reality of life in South Africa.
Issues of agriculture, farming and land (and rural crime) were central to the
discussions. What is clear to us as agricultural economists is that the skewed
views expressed by Trump about these issues originate in South Africa. This
includes Trump’s statement: “But Blacks are not farmers.”
In our work as agricultural economists, we have, in many pieces and books (our
latest titled
The Uncomfortable Truth about South Africa’s Agriculture),
tried to present South Africans with the real facts about the political economy
policy reforms and structural dimensions of South African agriculture.
Writing on these matters was necessary given that official data – agricultural
census 2017, as well as the official land audit of 2017 – all provide an
incomplete picture of the real state and structure of South African
agriculture. The reason is that the agricultural census, which is supposed to
provide a comprehensive and inclusive assessment of the size and structure of
the primary agricultural sector, and the land audit, which was supposed to
record the ownership of all land in South Africa, are incomplete in their
coverage.
The incomplete and inaccurate official data provides fertile ground for radical
statements by the left and the right – and novices on social media. This is why
South Africa has to deal with falsehoods coming from the US. These include
Trump’s statement that black people are not farmers in South Africa.
South Africa is to blame for providing inaccurate data to feed these false
narratives.
The facts presented here should allow a more nuanced interpretation of South
Africa’s farm structure. Firstly, there are more black farmers in South Africa
than white farmers. And not all white commercial farm operations are
“large-scale”, and not all black farmers are “small-scale”, “subsistence” or
“emerging”. Most farm operations can be classified as micro, or small in scale.
This is important so that one doesn’t view South Africa’s agriculture as mainly
white farmers. Indeed, we are a country of two agricultures with black farmers
mainly at small scale and accounting for roughly 10% of the commercial
agricultural output. Still, this doesn’t mean they are not active in the
sector. They mainly still require support to expand and increase output, but
they are active."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
