Leveraging Agriculture for Growth: Lessons from Innovative Joint Ventures and International Best Practice

Growing agriculture can reduce poverty, create economic opportunities in rural and peri-urban areas, and boost employment, particularly for semi- and unskilled workers. We review several successful joint ventures across South Africa which comprise a range of partnerships between smallholders, commercial farmers, agribusinesses, industry associations and government. Many of these partnerships have generated significant returns and transformational benefits. Well-designed joint ventures can complement existing government initiatives to drive more rapid agrarian transformation and increase production (Steenkamp, A., Pieterse, D & Rycroft, J, 2017. Innovative joint ventures can boost agriculture production and promote agrarian transformation. http://www.econ3×3.org/sites/default/files/articles/Steenkamp%20et%20al%202017%20Joint%20ventures%20and%20agrarian%20transformation.pdf Accessed 19 February 2019). A review of international best practice provides some insights into how government can support the sector to scale-up these interventions. We argue, however, that these interventions must be supported by policy and regulatory certainty and land policies for secure property rights across a range of tenure options.