Land reform: We need not only equity but food security

Among the gloomy economic data released last week - shrinking GDP in the first quarter, and fast-rising consumer and producer price inflation - there was a glimmer of hope.

South Africa is about to produce a bumper maize crop - its biggest since 1981.

The upshot of the record crop is that the price of maize is dropping sharply and will, in time, put downward pressure on food-price inflation, not least because the production of meat, poultry, eggs and milk depends on grain.

In the context of shrinking mining and manufacturing output, higher inflation and protracted rand weakness, the role of organised agriculture in propping up the faltering economy - and ensuring our food security - cannot be overstated.

This should give the government pause in its dealings with commercial farmers, particularly as it strives to effect much-needed reforms to deal with the deep inequalities that persist in our rural areas 20 years after apartheid.

The Expropriation Bill, which will replace the willing-buyer, willing-seller principal with a model that envisages expropriation of land "in the public interest'' at an ''agreed price'', with disputes being referred to the courts, will be a step in the right direction if it speeds up land redistribution without harming food security.

Far more worrying is the Department of Rural Development's ''final policy'' on land reform, which envisages the expropriation of half of all commercial farmland, with farmworkers being given shares in the expropriated portions proportional to their length of service.

Instead of compensating farmers, the state would put the money into an ''investment and development fund'' that would cater for the ''further development'' of the farms.

This is a terrible proposal which, if effected, would result in the wholesale unravelling of property rights, potential friction at farm level, mismanagement of the fund - and, ultimately, capital flight and compromised food security.

The government would be advised to drop this crude, unworkable plan. Successful farming requires more than land: it's a business that needs continual investment, modern techniques, excellent management and hard work.