State adds to target for new black farmers
The government is looking to increase the number of black commercial farmers to ensure ownership and control of the agricultural value chain by previously disadvantaged groups.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana said on Wednesday during his budget vote speech in the National Assembly the target was an additional 2,250 black commercial farmers by 2022.
The government would fasttrack the transformation of the agriculture sector by paying specific attention to the development of 450 existing large-scale black commercial farmers.
The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies has stated that more than 70% of commercial farms in SA are owned by white farmers. There are about 39,000 white commercial farmers in the country, and 5,300 black farmers, according to the African Farmers Association of SA.
In many instances, black farmers struggle to get access to markets, finance and technical support to link them with integrated value chains.
Zokwana said his department would commit R220m in the current financial year to the development of smallholder farmers to graduate them to commercial farmers.
“A significant part of SA is unsuitable for crop production due to low rainfall and poor soil conditions, where estimates indicate that no more than 15% of land is arable.
“Resource-poor smallholder farmers are vulnerable because they seldom apply inputs to improve soil health and their crops often lack moisture, especially during droughts, which in turn, results in very low production yields,” said Zokwana.
The department’s budget allocation is R6.8bn for 2017-18. This is a slight increase of R292m from the previous year.
DA MP and spokeswoman on agriculture Annette Steyn said: “The allocated budget to the department is only 0.01% of the national budget, which indicates that the government is not taking these industries seriously.
“The department has not been able to show why the Treasury must provide it with more funding. With [a lot of money] allocated for smallholder farmers over the next three years, the focus needs to shift from the number of people helped to the outcomes achieved.”