Sasol trains farmers in the Gert Sibande District
Applications for next Bridge to Work programmes will open later this year.
Sasol’s farming training programme, Bridge to Work Iphepe, reaped good results when 40 smallholder farmers graduated on February 15.
These farmers received training in poultry, livestock, vegetable production and farm business management.
This programme aims to improve livelihoods through agriculture in the communities surrounding Sasol.
Sasol provides these farmers with business development and support services after graduation to ensure the growth and sustainability of their enterprises.
Since this programme began in 2018, a total of 450 emerging farmers from the Gert Sibande municipal region have completed this programme.
The upskilling of smallholder farmers is a partnership between Sasol and the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs, African Farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA) and Buhle Farmers Academy.
This training programme is open to farmers and individuals actively involved in agriculture.
Sasol and partners have the past five years recruited emerging farmers within the Gert Sibande municipal area to receive accredited training programmes that would allow them to turn their small-scale operations into viable businesses.
Sasol began supporting farmers in 2016 when drought hit South Africa and when food producers in the Free State and Mpumalanga received water tanks and boreholes.
Applications for the next intake of Sasol’s Bridge to Work training programmes will open later this year.
