Joint farming efforts start to take root

THE PUBLIC-private partnerships between the government and the private sector always make for an excellent blueprint for sound social partnerships that, if managed properly, can yield good spin-offs.

The announcement by African Rainbow Minerals chairperson Patrice Motsepe earlier this month that he was planning to set up a multibillion-rand fund to benefit emerging black farmers is a great initiative.

It will contribute towards government efforts that assist smallholder farmers in the country.

The fund will focus on helping those in agriculture, agribusiness and related industries. If this comes to fruition, the fund and government intervention will act as a springboard for a successful land reform and agrarian transformation.

Motsepe said the fund would enable black farmers to be part of sustainable, commercially viable and profitable enterprises which would build a brighter future for all the farmers, and stimulate the economy.

Motsepe’s fund will be in tune with the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza’s sentiments during her budget speech in July when she said agriculture had the potential to contribute to economic growth.

Minister Didiza announced that for the 2019/20 financial year, the department would allocate a budget of more than R1.5 billion to provincial departments of agriculture. The funds are to ensure that smallholder farmers and black commercial farmers, who are in distress, are supported with production inputs, mechanisation, on- and off-farm infrastructure, training and mentorship, market information, extension and advisory services, among others.

The minister said the country needed to envision an inclusive agricultural sector by working together to deliberately increase the market share of black producers in the various sectors of the agricultural economy.

With this in mind, the government needs to make an effort to attract young people and women to seize job opportunities that will result from the agricultural value chain; thereby denting the scourge of unemployment. THEMBA MZULA HLEKO | Pretoria