R1.2BN PACKAGE PLOUGHED INTO THE FARMING SECTOR

MINISTER of Agriculture Thoko Didiza yesterday announced a R1.2 billion package to cushion the farming sector from the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The department has ringfenced R1.2bn for assistance to mainly target financially distressed small-scale farmers,” Didiza said. A third of the funding has been allocated to farmers who are part of the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme, while the rest will be used for relief for all farmers, with a focus on the poultry, livestock and vegetable production sectors. The department will distribute day-old chicks, lay chickens, poultry and livestock feed, medication, fertiliser, seedlings, herbicides and pesticides to those growing food. Didiza said relief funding will not be made available for mechanisation, overheads and other infrastructure costs. “This is not a comprehensive support, but intervention packages amid Covid-19.” Farmers who are preparing for the 2020 summer production season will not be supported. The aim is to provide immediate to near-term support to smallholder farmers affected by Covid-19. She said the package excluded debt relief. To qualify for the relief measures, farmers need to have been actively farming for a year and to be in a production cycle. They also need to be registered on a farmers’ register or a provincial database. The relief extends to communal farmers and smallholder farmers with an annual turnover of between R50 000 and R1 million, and priority will be given to women, young people and those with disabilities. | African News Agency (ANA)