In other news
News you need to know when you are on the go
More than 15 000 small-scale farmers will receive government support through the COVID-19 Agricultural Disaster Fund.
Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza said 55 155 applications were received from smallholder and communal farmers for the funding. The highest number of applications came from the Eastern Cape Province, followed by the Northern Cape and North West.
The R1.2 billion fund intervention aims to address the effects of COVID-19 and ensure sustainable food production post the pandemic.
“To date, 15 036 applications have been approved, valued at just over R500 million in favour of smallholder and communal farmers. Of the 15 036 approved applications, 5 494 are women, 2 493 youth and 224 people living with disability and males at 9 542,” said the Minister.
Livestock has been the most requested commodity by farmers, followed by vegetables, poultry and fruits.
“Each of the approved farmers will receive inputs in line with the size of their farming operations up to a maximum of R50 000.”
The application process opened on 8 April and closed on 22 April 2020, with 33 000 manual application forms distributed through the department's provincial and district offices, community and civil society organisations.
The department was still finalising its decision on the remaining applications.
A further R400 million is being channelled to farmers within the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS), who were already approved for the department's Stimulus Package.
This had initially been budgeted for in the 2019/2020 financial year.
“It must be noted that an amount of R600 million had to be reprioritised from the Stimulus Package on PLAS farms in the 2019/2020 budget to assist the other smallholder and communal farmers in terms of this COVID-19 intervention.
“The issuance of vouchers to provinces will commence on 18 May 2020. The department engaged the services of different suppliers through an open Supply Chain Management (SCM) process to avoid any delay in the delivery of these inputs,” said the Minister.