Ido Lekota is a former Sowetan political editor. 

Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza tabled a R17, 3 billion budget in the past week to help support food security in the country.

Didiza said the money will be distributed through a range of programmes, including the commercialisation of black farmers through land development support.

"If you look at the R17.3bn of our budget, the majority of that is transferred to provinces dealing with food security," she said.

Nick Vink and Johann Kirsten

Most countries in both the rich and the developing world have some sort of programme to help early career farmers (mostly, but not exclusively young people) to get established in a farming or agribusiness enterprise. South Africa sticks out like a sore thumb, even against many African countries, in not having such a programme.

In our view, subsidies for black farmers in South Africa are justified. This is because they would help deliver a more inclusive agricultural sector and correct past racial biases.

Daily Maverick Our Burning Planet: Op Ed by Malik Dasoo

Regenerative agriculture, which involves special techniques to cultivate nurture-rich soils that also trap greenhouse gases, can initially be time and labour intensive. But farmers who stick with it are witnessing enormous returns.

The Budget 2022 has introduced key reforms in land records management that highlights the adoption of an unique land identification number that in turn will be linked to the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) that aims to adopt a pan-India uniform process for registration of deeds and documents. It will be interesting to see how this top-down land records management 2.0 reforms fits within the constitutional and federal framework of the country and addresses the issues of land administration in India.

Abraço ao Cemitério do Povo Negro escravizado, em Santa Luzia, MG. Foto: Alenice Baeta

Kazakhstan and China must reach mutually beneficial agreements on water issues. 

by Wilder Alejandro Sanchez for Center for the National Interest

Blog written by AYJAZ WANI for Observer Research Foundation

Originally posted at https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/kazakhstan-on-the-brink/

Main photo: Getty

The Land Portal works to embed land governance in open data discussions and vice versa. This primer is extracted from the recently published Open Up Guide for Land Governance.

First, What is Open Data?

There is an immense pressure on land in Uganda. The country has a rapidly growing population and is host to the world’s third largest refugee population. Particularly poor people struggle to get access to healthy food. Agriculture practices need to become more efficient and focused on the domestic market. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Uganda works to improve food security in selected areas in the country. Among several food security projects, the EKN works with the LAND-at-scale program to improve land governance.

Submission Deadline: All manuscripts should be submitted for consideration by December 31, 2021.

The global environmental crisis is intertwined with the crisis of social and economic inequality. From coal plants to palm oil plantations, economic activities that threaten the planet are concentrated in communities with less power and wealth. “You can’t have climate change without sacrifice zones,” writes Hop Hopkins, “and you can’t have sacrifice zones without disposable people.”1

By Allan Cain, Development Workshop Angola

* This article was originally published as part of the online discussion on customary law in Southern Africa