WHO WILL HELP THE SMALL FARMER AND LAND-REFORM BENEFICIARIES?
The strategic challenge now is threefold. First, government farm policy must be reformulated so that assistance reaches small farmers, beneficiaries and other poor rural people. It is then hoped that civil society can continue this assistance, or that a cooperative arrangement between government and civil society can be secured to accomplish the task. There are several mitigating factors for each of these strategies. For example, getting government to do more may be politically and economically impossible. Many governments face domestic and international pressure to cut expenditures to meet the requirements of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) in order to bring about a faster growing economy and a more stable currency. Many useful government programmes directed at solving rural development problems have thus had to be sacrificed. Other countries are fighting costly wars or civil disturbances that quickly and wastefully absorb revenues. Some are in trouble because of financial mis
