Despite being a cornerstone of South African agricultural legislation since 1983, farmers say limited awareness and poor enforcement of the Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (Cara) threaten its effectiveness. This is especially true among new-era and small-scale producers.
Administered by the national department of agriculture, Cara was designed to ensure the long-term conservation of natural agricultural resources. Its provisions are intended to maintain the production potential of land, prevent erosion, protect water sources and vegetation, and control the spread of weeds and invasive plants.
Yet, many land users are unaware of their legal responsibilities. According to the act, these include prohibitions against cultivating virgin soil or land with a slope steeper than 12% without written permission and obligations to prevent erosion and salination on cultivated or irrigated land.
Gauteng crop farmer Nhlalwenhle Rapodile has added his voice to the growing concern around Cara’s lack of implementation and education.
“The act was introduced to control the utilisation of natural resources in South Africa. The government should really bring more awareness to the policy because the majority of farmers, especially new entrant farmers, implement farming practices that are detrimental to the soil or pollute the water and ultimately ruin the vegetation.”
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Education about agricultural law is key
Rapodile pointed out that poor water management has driven up farmers’ costs when municipalities are forced to repair contaminated or mismanaged water systems.
According to Rapodile, the inaccessibility of Cara has created serious knowledge gaps among producers. He noted that trends in fertiliser sales and supermarket supplies further reflect widespread non-compliance with the act’s environmental objectives.
“The government is also not doing enough in spreading awareness about the act and the importance of farmers and agripreneurs to be compliant. Farmers are really unaware of the regulations stipulated in the act to preserve the health of the land and the vegetation on land.”
Rapodile proposed that the government take lessons from the private sector on how to reach its audiences through digital platforms.
He believes the government should leverage platforms like social media and other accessible communication tools to better inform the public and farmers about farming laws.
Making the law accessible
To close the gap in education, Rapodile recommended that the government host more frequent consultation workshops in various farming regions across South Africa. This would ensure that farmers have no reason to be uninformed about the law’s requirements.
“They should do them on a more regular basis in more farming areas across South Africa so that farmers don’t have an excuse of being miseducated about it,” he said.
Dikgang Molebatsi, a crop farmer and soil scientist from North West, echoed these sentiments and emphasised the need to strengthen extension services at the ground level.
“If they could integrate the Cara into agricultural training curricula and university programmes, it would ensure that young professional graduates will also have a strong understanding of sustainable farming laws,” he said.
He advocated for more targeted support at local levels, such as hosting workshops in rural and farming communities and partnering with agricultural cooperatives and community radio stations to expand the reach and impact of awareness campaigns.
To make Cara more practical and user-friendly, Molebatsi proposed simplifying the law’s language and translating it into more South African languages. “This will actually make the Cara accessible in multiple languages and in simplified formats, which will also bridge the gap between the policy and the practice as well,” he said.
Moyahabo Manthata, assistant director of natural resources at Limpopo’s department of agriculture and rural development, highlighted the provincial government’s current approach.
“The province does not enforce compliance but goes out on awareness campaigns. The monitoring is the number of awareness campaigns conducted,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that enforcement remains weak, with major constraints including the land tenure system, competition for land use, and limited institutional capacity.
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