LABOUR-RELATED STRUCTURAL TRENDS IN SOUTH AFRICAN COMMERCIAL GRAIN PRODUCTION: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SUMMER AND WINTER RAINFALL AREAS, 1945–1987

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Abstract
Data from the end of the second World War (1945) to the 1987 production year were used to quantify the pace of change in the structure of farming with regard to labour. Where possible explanations of certain parameters are put forward with the aim of identifying the economic problem with regard to farm labour. Two structural trends in South African commercial maize production are evident in the summer rainfall areas. The period 1915–1970 witnessed a large expansion in cultivated farm area, probably because tractors replaced draught oxen. Larger areas could he managed and more labour was required. Demands on labour for harvesting were heavy until the introduction of the combine harvester alleviated this problem. These trends were strengthened by policies aimed at lowering the costs of capital, giving rise to some of the socio-economic concerns expressed in this paper. In the winter rainfall region where wheat is cultivated the expansion in cultivated area took place before 1945. The period under consideration (1945–1987) therefore only saw the substitution of labour for machinery, especially in the period 1945–1970. It thus seems as if labour related developments in the summer rainfall area trailed that in the winter rainfall area.