New organisation vows to protect family farmers’ rights

Dr Theo de Jager, president of the World Farmers’ Organisation and a Limpopo-based farmer, has set in motion plans to create a new agriculture organisation intended to serve the interests of family farmers in South Africa.

De Jager said representatives of some 18 organisations, as well as individual farmers, met in Pretoria recently to discuss the establishment of “a nextgeneration civil society organisation”.

He said that the meeting explored the need for a new national farmers’ organisation, which would “focus on the needs and interests of family farmers”.

A representative committee had been appointed to investigate the feasibility of such an organisation and to design a launch plan.

This would include finding a name, a logo and developing the necessary structures. De Jager said it was hoped that the new organisation would be launched early next year. He used the analogy of bookstores to explain how the organisation would differ from other existing structures.

He said that Agri SA, TAU SA and the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa represented bookstores such as Exclusive Books, CNA or PNA, whereas the new organisation represented the Internet company, Amazon.com.

The organisation planned to use the latest digital and communication technology to involve as many farmers and sympathisers as possible.

“Amazon.com doesn’t keep warehouses full of books; it sources from the original publishers, facilitating a connection between demand and supply,” he explained.

De Jager said family farmers would not have to terminate their membership with other organisations, but said he believed that the new concept could fill the gap where ideological differences existed. Partnerships would be explored with existing structures, as well as other civil rights movements, he said.

The new organisation would also not focus on commodities, nor would it be primarily driven by a development agenda. De Jager said one of the aims of the organisation was to aid family farmers who were faced with the threat of their land being expropriated, and would fight for the right of members to receive market-related compensation.

Reacting to the news of the new organisation, Dan Kriek, president of Agri SA, said that Agri SA already fully catered for the needs of all farmers, including family farmers, who remained the foundation of the association’s grassroots membership.

On expropriation, Kriek said Agri SA’s view on compensation for land was that market value needed to be the primary factor that dictated compensation. – Sabrina Dean