This article firstly gives a short chronological overview of the small farmer development concept in South Africa and shows how this was generally associated with the traditional black rural areas and subsistence agriculture. This restricted the wider application of this concept. Valuable lessons however can and must be learnt from this experience because small farmer programmes is currently viewed as an important aspect of agricultural development in South Africa. The discussion then highlights several problems of which policy constraints, insufficient participation, Jack of ownership, ad hoc participant selection, lack of property rights to farm land, ridged project planning and design, the incorrect choice of a farming model and deficient support services played a significant role-all issues which are valid in the current restructuring environment in the country. In conclusion a number of "rules" are proposed for future small farmer development schemes.