“This paper analyses the shifting role of South African farmers, agribusiness and capital elsewhere in southern Africa and the rest of the continent. It explores recent expansion trends, investigates the interests and agendas shaping such deals, and the legitimating ideologies and discourses employed in favour of them. While for the past two decades small numbers of South African farmers have moved to Mozambique, Zambia and several other countries, this trend seems to be undergoing both a quantitative and a qualitative shift. Whereas in the past their migration was largely individual or in small groups, now it is being more centrally organised and coordinated, is more frequently taking the form of large concessions for newly formed consortia and agribusinesses, and is increasingly reliant on external financing through transnational partnerships. As
of early 2010, the commercial farmers’ association Agri South Africa (AgriSA) was
engaged in land acquisition negotiations with governments in 22 African countries.”
