Department beneficiaries score an ‘A’ for success

Eighty-three percent of the agricultural businesses and projects supported by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s post-settlement programme from 2019 to 2023 are considered successful or highly successful, according to the results of an evaluation by Phuhlisani NPC and Associates in which 86 of the 137 supported businesses participated.

This is a considerable increase from 72% in 2018 and 62% during the 2014 evaluations. None of the participants failed, while 4% in 2018 and 14% in 2014 were deemed to have failed. However, 17% reported that their businesses were challenged, in comparison with 24% in 2018 and 2014.

David Mason, CEO of Phuhlisani NPC, said during the recent release of the results at Elsenburg in the Western Cape, that there had been a drop in the number of businesses supported through CASP and Ilima Letsema since 2014, which might have affected the results. “Fewer businesses possibly received larger amounts of support, but this was not specifically analysed,” he said.

Most of the businesses (84%) were registered, 89% were tax compliant, 78% complied with the minimum wage and 66% with UIF. Eighty-nine percent kept financial records and 70% produced monthly statements, which Mason said was high for small businesses in general. The different dimensions of post-settlement support were also evaluated. Respondents generally felt that support was “good”. The quality of extension advice scored high at 79%, together with training at 69%. Some 57% of respondents identified positive impacts from mentoring support, while 45% indicated that market access support was good or very good.

According to respondents, support could be improved by increasing the regularity of support, in terms of training sessions, mentor and extension visits; the formalisation and monitoring of mentors, market contract and oversight; and greater intervention from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture in markets and in improving the flow of grants finance and the refinement of procurement systems. Respondents also identified insufficient postsettlement coordination among different actors, highlighting unproductive overlaps in policy and support roles.

Phuhlisani recommended that the Department of Agriculture engage all role players to find a solution to the delayed allocation of CASP and other funds, and for the procurement processes of the Cape Agency for Sustainable Integrated Development and Hortgro to be adjusted to involve producers more closely.

It also recommended that a postsettlement project manager is allocated per business and support, and that smarter ways of using extension officers were developed, to address the overlap in policy and support roles.

The survey revealed that 64% of respondents leased or held a long-term use right for their land, while 75% indicated they felt that insecure land rights impacted negatively on their farming. To overcome this, Phuhlisani recommended that multiple strategies were implemented to address the constraints in access to credit.

It added that allocations of land should be kept as small as possible, at the level of the beneficiaries’ capabilities, and groups that were facing difficulties should be assisted to sub-divide. The feasibility of the subdivision of farms should carefully be considered to enable this.

Dr Ivan Meyer, Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, said the Western Cape adopted data-driven evidenced-based governance, and that the results of the independent survey will help to the department to further improve post-settlement support.

He said that the good results will help him to make a solid case when negotiating more financial support for post-settlement projects. –