Ellen Hillbom

Professor, Deputy head of department, Director of third cycle studies, Department of Economic History

Institutions, Equity and Distribution of Resources in Kgatleng District, Botswana

Author

Ellen Hillbom

Summary, in English

During Botswana’s four decades of high levels of growth the agricultural sector has lagged behind and productivity among smallholders has been especially poor. In the article an equity perspective is applied in the analysis. The main claim is that one important explanation for the current lack of agricultural development is the unequal distribution of agricultural resources. It takes into account both the national institutional structure promoting inequality at large and the concrete case of distribution of boreholes and water resources on the communal grazing range in Kgatleng District. It is argued that ever since the first administrative effort to develop water resources in the 1920s the country’s official policy and legislation has directly or indirectly favoured the large scale farmers over the smallholders. Further, that customary property rights principles have supported the process leading up to contemporary institutional inequality.

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