Agriculture and Land Reform in South Africa

In 1994, the Government of South Africa inherited one of the most racially skewed land distributions in the world — whites owned 87 percent of agricultural land, while blacks owned only 13 percent. To support fundamental change in patterns of land ownership, the World Bank developed an extremely productive partnership with the Ministry for Agriculture and Land Affairs in the early 1990s, one that ultimately has played -- and continues to play -- a constructive role in land reform, agricultural policy, and rural development. In particular, the Bank and South African partners developed a new approach to land reform, based on a system of grants that eligible beneficiaries could use to purchase land on the open market. In addition, the partnership contributed to the formulation of the government's Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Program, and several publications on agricultural land reform.