This comes after the department made R1.2 billion available for assistance to mostly small scale farmers to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19-pandemic in South Africa. The assistance will be given in the form of vouchers to these and farmers in communal areas as well.  This was announced by minister Thoko Didiza on Monday in Pretoria when the media and other roleplayers in the agricultural sector watched the session online and had an opportunity to pose questions.

Here is Didiza... 

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Didiza said the assistance is mainly to target small-scale farmers who  are  encountering financial difficulties.  R400 million of the money has been allocated for farmers withing the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) programme.

The rest of the money will be allocated towards farmers in the poultry, other livestock and vegetable sectors. She said other commodity sectors are also included and will be evaluated on a case by case basis, while the department continuously monitors the impact of the Covid-19.

She added only South African citizens who have been actively farming for a minimum of 12 months and who are currently in the production cycle qualify for the assistance.

These farmers must also be registered on a farmer register, commodity database or provincial database. They also need to have an annual turnover between R50 000 and R1 million to qualify.

Didiza emphised mechanisation, infrastructure and overhead costs will not be supported. Those preparing for the 2020 summer production season will be excluded and farmers who are currently receiving support through other programmes of government and its entities will also be excluded. 

She also said this intervention is a form of assistance to farmers and cannot be used for the debt of their payments. Application forms will be available on the department's website, http://www.dalrrd.gov.za. It will also be available at the department's national, provincial and district offices.

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