Country Analysis -- Specialization and Production Pattern in South Africa

South Africa, which was acknowledged as the 35^th country with highest agricultural production in 2006 by the World Development Indicator Database, has been facing a significant decline over years. The agricultural production accounts for 2.7% of South Africa’s GDP in that particular year. This might be caused by lacking commensurate amount of public support, causing black farmers to suffer. Take the Land Act that happened in 1913 and the cooperatives act in the 1920 as examples; these act excluded black farmers from participating in farmer cooperatives. In order to solve the problem, South African government establish several programs, such as the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development program, the Comprehensive Agricultural Support program that provides post-settlement support for black farmers. Although these regulations caused number of farms to decline, AgGDP continued to grow inflation-adjusted terms, US $3333/capita in 1970 to US $6747/capita in 2004.