Distressed small farms to get R1.2bn in aid
• Financial assistance package will prioritise women, youth and people with disabilities
Distressed farmers would receive government grants in coming weeks to help them through the coronavirus crisis, agriculture, land reform & rural development minister Thoko Didiza announced on Monday. The department has ringfenced R1.2bn for assistance, mainly for financially distressed small-scale farmers. Of the R1.2bn, R400m has been allocated for farmers in the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme.
Distressed farmers are set to receive government grants in coming weeks to help them through the coronavirus crisis, agriculture, land reform & rural development minister Thoko Didiza announced on Monday.
The department has ringfenced R1.2bn for assistance mainly to target financially distressed small-scale farmers. Of the R1.2bn, R400m has been allocated for farmers in the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme. These are the beneficiaries of the government land-acquisition model under land redistribution. The rest will be channelled to other farmers, mainly poultry, livestock and vegetable producers.
“Other commodity sectors will be evaluated on a case-bycase basis, as the department continuously monitors the impact of Covid-19 on the sector at large,” Didiza said.
The coronavirus has left the global economy reeling and stocks plummeting amid fear of a jobs bloodbath. The pandemic has also led to a drop in Asia’s agriculture demand and falling agricultural commodity prices.
SA’s agricultural sector could lose as much as R42bn in export revenue due to the outbreak, as key trading partners limit business activity to curb the spread of the disease.
The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation highlights that transport restrictions and quarantine measures are likely to impede small and large-scale farmers’ access to input and output markets, curbing productive capacities. Shortages of labour caused by the virus could also disrupt production and processing of food.
In a bid to slow the spread of the virus, President Cyril Ramaphosa, like many other leaders, announced a 21-day lockdown, due to end on April 16. But indications are that it could be extended. Didiza said support extended to the agricultural sector was partly to ensure the country had enough safe and nutritious food. She said the support would be reserved for SA citizens or permanent residents actively farming for at least 12 months and now in the production season or cycle as well as smallholder farmers with yearly turnover of R50,000 to R1m.
“The adjudication will prioritise women, youth and people with disabilities.” Those seeking to apply for assistance “should also be registered on farmer register, commodity database or provincial database”. Those not on the farmer register would be registered to benefit, Didiza said. The minister said that communal farmers would also be prioritised.
“Mechanisation, infrastructure and overhead costs will not be supported. This is not comprehensive support, but [an] intervention package amid Covid-19. Farmers who are preparing for the 2020 summer production season will not be supported. The aim is to provide immediate to near-term support to smallholder farmers currently affected by Covid-19,” the minister said.
She said farmers who were now getting support through other programmes run by the government and its entities were also excluded, and the grant could not be used to pay debts. It could be used only for production purposes, such as feed, fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and soil correction.
Applications for funding would be open from April 8 and would close on April 22.
“No late entries will be accepted. Application forms will be available on April 8 2020 on the departmental website — www.dalrrd.gov.za — and through national, provincial, district and local offices of both the national department of agriculture, land reform & rural development and provincial departments of agriculture.
“Applications will be lodged electronically at applications@dalrrd.gov.za or submitted to the offices as outlined.”
AID TO BE USED ONLY FOR PRODUCTION PURPOSES, SUCH AS FEED, FERTILISERS PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES AND SOIL CORRECTION