Agri Dept approves just over 25% of farmers who apply for relief
Applications from livestock farmers made up the bulk of the relief fund applications, followed by that of vegetable, poultry and fruit farmers.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development approved 15 036 applications valued at just over R500 million, for its disaster fund intervention scheme which was announced last month. A total of 55 155 applications were received. This constitutes just over a quarter of applications.
This was today confirmed by the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, as she announced the outcomes of the fund application process. The R1,2 billion intervention, she said, aims to address the effects of the Coronavirus and ensure sustainable food production post the pandemic.
Commenting on the number of unsuccessful applications, the minister said this could be attributed to two reasons. Firstly, farmers had to have an annual turnover threshold of at least R20 000, which resulted in many of the declined applications. In this instance, the department would be working with provinces and NGOs to see how best these farmers could be assisted. The second reason, she said, was that many farmers could not produce the necessary documentation to prove that they farm on a particular piece of land, whether it be private or communal land.
The application process for smallholder and communal farmers stretched from 8 to 22 April, and 33 000 manual application forms were distributed through the department’s provincial and district offices, commodity and civil society organisations.
The highest number of applications came from the Eastern Cape, followed by farmers in the Northern Cape and North West. The department will finalise its decision on the remaining applications in the next week.
Livestock has been the most requested commodity by farmers, followed by vegetables, poultry and fruit. Each of the approved farmers will receive input in line with the size of their farming operations up to a maximum of R50 000, the minister said.
The minister added that 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 as they had initially been budgeted for in the 2019/20 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 2019/20 budget to assist the other smallholder and communal farmers in terms of this Covid-19 intervention,” Didiza said.
The issuance of vouchers to provinces will commence on 18 May. The department engaged the services of different suppliers through an open supply chain management (SCM) process to avoid delays in the delivery of these inputs.
The minister concluded by saying she urges food value chain role players to strictly comply and adhere to health regulations to contain the spread of Covid-19 as farmers strive to supply food to the nation.
Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
Read original story on reviewonline.co.za
