This chapter focuses on the redistributive dimension of land reform in the Northern Cape province (NCP), which is both South Africa's largest province and its least populous (approximately 840 000 people). About 80 per cent of the NCP is classified as farmland. Crop production requires irrigation and water is taken from the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme (VIS). Most of the available farmland is suitable only for extensive farming (Low and Rebelo 1998). Large, whiteowned farms have been the norm since commercial farming began in the area in the 1930s.

The farms I studied are situated in Frances Baard, which is one of the five districts that make up the NCP. The market-assisted land reform, or ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ model, has been employed in the province's land distribution programme. The aim is to buy land for redistribution and to support beneficiaries to become independent commercial farmers. More than 700 000 hectares of agricultural land have been redistributed in the province since 1994, including 78 500 hectares that have been redistributed to 505 beneficiaries on 29 land reform projects (NCPG 2007). At this rate, the province will meet the government's target of redistributing 30 per cent of white commercial agricultural land by 2014. Despite these impressive figures, however, research suggests that only a handful of the implemented land reform projects have achieved their goals (Bradstock 2005 a, b, c; 2011; Khwene et al. 2004).

Khwene et al. (2004) observe that the majority of the land reform projects in the area have been characterised by low agricultural production, poor infrastructure, a lack of farming implements and machinery in good working order, and too many beneficiaries. Bradstock (2011) concludes that the land reform programme in the Northern Cape is producing a number of dysfunctional groups who are not ‘fit for purpose’. It is evident that the land reform programme in its current form is unlikely to have a significant effect on poverty reduction in the province, nor will it lead to the creation of a black commercial farming class. Even if the government did manage to create such a class, agriculture would remain a risky livelihood activity for the great majority of people in the province.