CAPE TOWN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Black South Africans are able to make a success of owning and managing land, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.

In an apparent bid to alleviate fears for the proposed land expropriation without compensation, Ramaphosa said black South African farmers "are able to farm successfully, ensure food security and sustain livelihoods."

The president was speaking at an event in Kempton Park, Gauteng Province, hosted by the African Farmers' Association of South Africa (AFASA), which is dedicated to ensuring meaningful participation of black individuals in the mainstream commercial agribusiness sector.

Ramaphosa praised the AFASA for shining a light on the historical challenges faced by farmers, and solely on the basis of their skin color.

"Through its lobbying and advocacy work, AFASA is helping to re-shape agriculture, bridging the divide between policy and reality, between legislation and the live experience of emerging black farmers," said Ramaphosa.

In doing so, it is sending a clear message to young South Africans that there is a future in farming, he said.

The AFASA is challenging some of the preconceptions about black farmers and changing attitudes throughout society, Ramaphosa said.

He was speaking as South Africa's Parliament is accelerating the process to review Section 25 of the Constitution and other clauses where necessary to sufficiently cater for the principle of land expropriation without compensation.

Opponents argue that land expropriation without compensation will drive away white farmers, kill jobs and threaten food security, just like what has happened in neighboring Zimbabwe where farming land seized by blacks has turned useless.

Earlier this month, AfriForum, an association of South African farmers, has launched an international campaign to get the South African government to stop its move to expropriate land without compensation.

Ramaphosa disputed the notion that blacks can't manage land successfully.

The ability of black farmers to work the land successfully is constrained by the accumulated disadvantages of centuries of dispossession and deprivation, the president said.

This is in addition to the challenges they face when the forces of nature and forces of the market conspire to cut production and undermine profitability, he said.

"This is the reality that we need to confront and overcome together," Ramaphosa said.

The country's land must be shared among those who wish to work it, and those who wish to work it must be given the support and encouragement to be successful, he added.

South Africa, he said, has embarked on a program of accelerated land reform that aims to redistribute more land, at a faster pace, to black South Africans.

This will ensure tenure security for the insecure and change the distorted patterns of development, both in the cities and the countryside, said Ramaphosa.

"We should ensure that government uses its procurement power to open up markets for emerging farmers," he said.

It is through engagements with groupings like the AFASA that the government must define what other measures it must take to create a conducive and favorable environment for black farmers to thrive, said Ramaphosa.

He said however that land reform should be guided by the need to increase agricultural production, unlock the economic potential of land, stimulate economic growth, create jobs and ensure food security.

"Black and white farmers must together, and working with government, build a better future not just in the agrarian economy but in society at large," Ramaphosa stressed.

Since taking power in 1994, the South African government led by the African National Congress has made land redistribution from whites to blacks without compensation as one of its main policies.

But land remains predominantly in white hands more than two decades after the end of apartheid, sparking growing discontent among South African blacks. Enditem

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