New agri agreements aim to support small-scale farmers

The South African Farmers’ Development Association (SAFDA) has signed a five-year memorandum of understanding and a service level agreement with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) to establish farmer production support units for developing sugar cane farmers in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The signing took place at a SAFDA imbizo in KwaGingindlovu to celebrate the association’s third anniversary.

According to a SAFDA statement, the DRDLR acting director-general, Rendani Sadiki, said at the meeting that the agreements “will provide, among other things, inputs such as fertiliser, chemicals, seeds, farm implements, equipment [and] transport. This is expected to reduce production costs for farmers and give them a fighting chance to succeed. In addition, this is expected to create thousands of jobs and revive small, medium and micro rural enterprises”.

SAFDA spokesperson, Ronda Naidu, explained to Farmer’s Weekly that one of the aims of the agreements would be to provide sugar cane ratoon management and sugar cane establishment programmes for land reform beneficiaries and small-scale growers in the industry.

Naidu added that another aim would be to provide “postsettlement support interventions for the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development [programme], the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, and [land] restitution projects that have gone out of production or reflect a decline in production”.

The third aim was to support the establishment and viability of agri-parks in KwaZuluNatal, Mpumalanga and the north Pondoland area of the Eastern Cape. –

Fw archive RIGHT: Small-scale and developing farmers are set to benefit from agreements signed between the South African Farmers’ Development Association and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.