Student experience
EvyLand is power, and land questions are highly controversial in most countries. Even more so in countries where land historically has been distributed according to race or ethnic divides. In Namibia the distribution of land has been both unequal and unfair in the past. After decades of apartheid, the new Namibian government decided that they wanted to redistribute land from white commercial farmers, to poor black farmers. However this process is complicated and the white landowners are not too supportive. In their opinion a land reform may lead to ecological disaster, in a fragile and dry ecosystem. They are also afraid that the Namibian economy will suffer from a reform.
"In my work, I interviewed 17 commercial farmers about their opinions on land reform. I then compared their arguments with results from ecological and economic research, and found that the commercial farmers lack support in science. Small scale farmers are both economically efficient and environmentally friendly, they only farm in a different manner than the large scale farmers with large capital and machinery. Thereby, the main arguments posed by the Namibian elite, and to a large extent their government officials, are proved wrong (After Eirin Hongslo MNRSA, graduate 2001)."
Updated: 29.06.05
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Del med en venn:
Department of International Environment and Development Studies
- Noragric
Phone: +47 64 96 52 00
Fax: +47 64 96 52 01
E-mail: noragric@umb.no
Postal address:
Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
P.O. Box 5003
NO-1432 Aas
Norway
Visiting/delivery address:
Universitetstunet 1 (Tivoli)
NO-1432 Ås
Phone: +47 64 96 52 00
Fax: +47 64 96 52 01
E-mail: noragric@umb.no
Postal address:
Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
P.O. Box 5003
NO-1432 Aas
Norway
Visiting/delivery address:
Universitetstunet 1 (Tivoli)
NO-1432 Ås