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Agriculture

Landbounuus-podcast: Government to give small-scale farmers financial assistance

───   CHRISTAL-LIZE MULLER 11:44 Tue, 07 Apr 2020

Landbounuus-podcast: Government to give small-scale farmers financial assistance | News Article

Small-scale farmers with financial challenges are mostly in line for the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development's R1.2 billion assistance.


The funds were set aside as an intervention to assist the sector during the Covid-19-pandemic. Agriculture Minister, Thoko Didiza, said R400 million has been allocated to farmers within the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme. The rest will be channelled towards all other farmers in the poultry, livestock, and vegetable sectors. She said the qualifying criteria include South African citizenship and that these farmers have been actively farming for at least 12 months. Those who apply and are eligible are mainly women (50%), youth (40%), and people with disabilities(6%). Applications will open tomorrow and close on April 22.  Application forms are available on the department's website and at national, district and local offices.

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Meanwhile, TLU SA has raised its concern about government's approach towards the reality of food security in the country. Bennie van Zyl, general manager of the organisation, says it is alarming that Agriculture Minister, Thoko Didiza, granted R1,2 billion to emerging smallholder farmers as an intervention to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 locally. This while commercial farmers are left in the cold. Van Zyl says this intervention is aimed at only 1,9% of farmers contributing to the country's total food production while 69% of South Africa's population is urbanised and depends on the commercial industry for food. This comes after Didiza announced that R100 million of the total amount is going to the Land Bank and commercial farmers can turn to this bank and commercial banks during this challenging time.

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