Tshwane emerging farmers’ development fund boosted with R2-million

Emerging farmers in Tshwane have until midnight on 14 March to apply for micro-grants from the metro, thanks to a R2-million development fund project which would allow 100 emerging farmers access to capital.

The Tshwane mayor announced the establishment of this emerging farmers’ development fund to assist small and emerging farmers in December last year.

Randall Williams said the need for assistance was expressed to him by two of the metro’s young emerging farmers.

“These young farmers specifically asked me to help them with training in financial management and with access to capital.”

“We have now confirmed through council approval of the adjustment budget for 2020/21 on Thursday that we will seed the fund with R2-million,” he said.

“The micro-grant is not intended to help float the businesses of our emerging farmers, but it is designed to assist them in procuring specific equipment and input material that will stimulate their respective agri-businesses.”

Williams added financial training would be provided to emerging farmers as part of this initiative.

He said the micro-grants would allow emerging farmers to procure drilling and equipping services such as water tanks for storage, irrigation equipment, shade nets or tunnel structures for controlled farming.

“We believe this will allow our emerging farmers to harvest and enjoy future crops with a significantly increased yield,” he said.

“The increase in their financial well-being will be equal to the increase in their crop yield.”

Williams said the implementation of this fund would be through his office in collaboration with Tshwane’s agriculture and rural development division.

“This implementation structure will afford my office the responsibility to monitor progress, engage with the emerging farmer-beneficiaries and provide me with continuous feedback on this critical initiative.

“Agriculture can be found throughout Tshwane, especially in Regions 4, 5, 6 and 7. These areas are also prone to extreme events such as flooding and intense thunderstorms, which can have a detrimental impact on agricultural infrastructure.”

Williams said the launch of this fund was at the forefront of the required climate actions.

Application forms and the requisite criteria are available on the metro’s website.