Growing food and employment

Entrepreneurship programme provides lifeline to struggling small-scale farmers

WHILE pervasive drought and hardship have driven a sharp decline in the number of emerging farmers across South Africa, a hands-on agricultural entrepreneurship programme has provided a lifeline to thousands of struggling small-scale farmers in the province and further afield.

The AgriPlanner Programme is a joint initiative between the SA Institute for Entrepreneurship (SAIE) and Coronation Fund Managers, which this year celebrates a 16-year record of having assisted more than 5 000 emerging farmers, 65% of them women.

The programme falls under Coronation’s Growing Entrepreneurs initiative and provides practical training and mentorship support.

Of the 5 295 farmers who have received support from the AgriPlanner programme, 4 859 farmers and 201 co-operatives directly benefited, while others received additional support from other donors. In 2019 alone, 128 farmers (103 new and 25 existing), representing 12 co-operatives, benefited from AgriPlanner capacity building and training.

In Cape Town, beneficiaries of the programme are spread across the city, with many in townships such as Philippi and Khayelitsha. These farmers were given access to small parcels of under-used land on school, community or municipal properties, and have turned these into sustainable farms.

In Khayelitsha, four women and two men who came through the programme are today running the successful Siyazama Community Food Garden, a fully organic, 10 000m² garden supported by the community and organisations such as Coronation, SAIE and NGOs.

Nokwanda Nkqayi, 64, who has been farming in the garden since 2004, said: “I like to be in a green environment, and since working here I am much healthier from eating these organic vegetables and getting exercise every day. It has also empowered me, because I was unemployed and now I have skills and a steady income.

“I was able to send my kids to school. I also take veggies to the poor, sick and elderly in the community, and five schools each have a patch of land here that the children farm with our help. It’s rewarding work.”

Nkqayi and her colleagues are originally from rural farming backgrounds.

“Now we grow peppers, kale, cabbage, leeks, rocket, herbs, lots of things. About 30 other gardens in Khayelitsha and many tertiary students have come to learn from us.”

Coronation chief executive Anton Pillay said the importance of emerging farmers in South Africa was undeniable. “Farmers play a vital role in local communities, creating jobs, adding to food security and benefiting the local economy. Climate change, lack of training and business support are just some of the challenges they face, and the reality is that these issues are likely to increase,” he said.