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Minister Nkwinti’s radical 50:50 land reform proposal will put food security at risk and lead to increases in prices, interest rates and inflation, according to Grain SA chairperson Louw Steytler.

Minister Nkwinti’s suggestion that 50% of farms be transferred to farm workers, ignores empowerment strategies championed by organised agriculture and is a departure from the land reform model proposed in government’s National Development Plan.

The 50% land to farm worker proposal is impractical and has dangerous ramifications.

During the past six months government has been pushing forward with a number of new laws that comprehensively contradict the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP), said Anthea Jeffery, head of policy research at the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).

The farming community is up in arms over the recent proposal from minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti that farmers should give 50% of their land to their workers.

The latest proposals for land reform have been met with surprise and panic by organised agriculture. But political analysts and the land reform department have stated that no farmer will be forced to sell land for below market value. Lindi van Rooyen reports.

Agri SA is of the opinion that it was not fair and equitable to encumber fellow land owners in a district with the financial burden of land reform undertaken in the public interest.

President Jacob Zuma’s proposed land reform plan came under fire from TAU SA. In a statement in response to the proposed plan, TAU SA said Zuma's proposals are not feasible and may even be counter-productive in terms of food security.

Agri SA believes it has a funding mechanism which would fast track government’s slow land redistribution efforts.

Negotiations about sweeping reforms to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is being concluded this week.

Land reform should aim to address poverty and create livelihood opportunities for those at the lower end of the historically disadvantaged spectrum. This isn’t happening, according to the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies. Instead, land allocation and access to resources are skewed in favour of well-off beneficiaries.

Any amendments to Section 25 of South Africa’s Constitution needed to prioritise the protection of the land rights of farm dwellers and those living on traditional authority lands.