Early Land Redistribution and the Food Security of South African Households: Micro-econometric evidence from national data

The South African land redistribution program, which was launched in 1994, has been widely criticised for its slow pace as well as its seemingly limited contribution to poverty reduction, but to the best of my knowledge, no econometric evidence of the impact of land redistribution has been provided so far, as it is the case in most countries having experienced this type of policies. This paper presents estimates of the impact of having received a land grant on households´ self-reported difficulties in meeting food needs in the past 12 months, using data from the September 2002 South Africa National Labour Force Survey. Bivariate probit estimates controlling for potential self-selection of land reform beneficiaries indicate that participation in the land grant scheme has increased food insecurity for poorer participants, whilst decreasing it for comparatively better-off participants.