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Januarie 2018
10
Farmer Development Programme
partners invest in food security
G
rain SA has been involved in
farmer development since its in-
ception in 1999 and the relevance
of this programme has increased
over the years.
Because of the political and historical past,
commercial agriculture rested in the hands
of whites. Since 1994 with the dawn of
true democracy in South Africa, there has
been a lot of land restitution and redistribu-
tion, while at the same time farmers in the
old ‘homeland’ areas have access to very
large tracts of land which is not being used
optimally (for various reasons that will be
discussed later in this article). This has con-
tributed to the increased need for farmer
development.
Background
Farmers use land to produce food and
fibre and through this secure household
and national food security. As a developing
country, South Africa needs a vibrant rural
economy. People are moving to the cities
in vast numbers with the hope of a ‘better
life’.
Regrettably, many are disappointed by
the fact that the cities cannot really
accommodate them adequately and there
are only few employment opportunities
there. By assisting farmers to use the land
they have available (however small), the sec-
tor will be able to ignite the rural economy
and set the base for other developments.
The agricultural sector needs to be trans-
formed so that it can have a united voice
representing the sector and addressing the
common needs and challenges. As a coun-
try, South Africa needs food sovereignty
– it cannot afford to be reliant on imports of
basic foods.
The unemployment rates in the country
are very high and although the grain sector
is not very labour intensive, there are many
employment opportunities, which are cre-
ated in the rural areas because of primary
agricultural activities.
Existing programme
Over the past number of years, Grain SA
has been very fortunate to receive funding
from the Maize Trust, Winter Cereal Trust,
Oil and Protein Seeds Development Trust,
the Sorghum Trust, the AgriSETA, the
ARC, the national Departments of Agricul-
ture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Depart-
ment of Rural Development and Agrarian
Reform (for the recapitalisation of farmers)
and the various provincial departments
that deal with agriculture.
In an attempt to service all developing
farmers in the grain, oil and protein seeds
and cereal producing areas, offices have
been established in Lichtenburg in the North
West, Ladybrand in the Free State, Nelspruit
in Mpumalanga, Louwsburg and Dundee in
KwaZulu-Natal which also services parts
of Mpumalanga, Kokstad, Maclear and
Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, and Paarl
in the Western Cape (nine offices in total
as well as Bloemfontein from whence this
programme is managed). These offices are
strategically placed to service a wide area
where grains can be produced profitably
and where developing farmers have access
to land.
New partners in
the programme
Since the inception of the programme, we
have relied on the generous support of the
grain trusts for the major funding of the
programme. However, since the 2016/2017
financial year, we were very fortunate to
have had new partners assist with the
funding for the programme. We were very
blessed to have Monsanto contribute very
generously to the programme, as well as
Afgri, DuPont Pioneer, Sasol Base Chemi-
cals and Pannar.
Without these new partnerships, we would
have had to scale down on the programme
and lose some of the momentum that has
been gained from the efforts made over the
preceding years. It has been most hearten-
ing to realise that input suppliers realise
the importance of farmer development and
are willing to invest in these farmers for the
future of this country.
Focus of the programme
The mission of the programme is ‘To devel-
op capacitated sustainable grain farmers,
and to contribute to household and national
food security through the optimal use of
the land available to each farmer’.
Farmers in this programme fall under all
forms of land tenure – communal land that
is managed by the tribal authority while
owned by the government, commonage
land that is owned and managed by the lo-
cal municipalities, restitution farmers, farm-
ers who have been the recipients of land
redistribution, own private land, as well as
leased private land.
The land redistribution programme in-
cludes the Settlement Land Acquisition
Grant (SLAG) which was granted to groups
of families on land, the Land Redistribu-
tion for Agricultural Development (LRAD)
grant, and the Proactive Land Acquisition
Scheme (PLAS). The first two programmes
transferred the ownership of the land to the
beneficiaries while in the last scheme, the
land is owned by the state and leased to the
beneficiaries.
The study of human development has be-
come a focus area over past decades and
through various interventions in many
countries, it has become evident that the
most important factor that leads to sustain-
able development is the development of the
capacities of the individual who has to take
responsibility for his/her own destiny.
Over the years attempts have been made
to encourage development through the
investment in infrastructure, production
inputs, mechanisation and machines, and
giving grants and it has been realised over
the years that the single most important fac-
tor in successful growth, development and
transformation is the human element.
It is a result of all these studies that the
programme believes that:
Farmers should be empowered to farm
for themselves (not farmed for by con-
tractors).
Where at all possible, farmers should
own their own equipment and not
rely on the activities of other service
providers.
Farmers with any size of farm can be as-
sisted to use the land that is available to
them using the most modern methods
of crop production.
The measure of success is the sustain-
able optimal production of profitable
crops on every hectare (and not the total
number of hectares planted, or the total
number of tons harvested).
Strategy of the develop-
ment programme
Sustainable land use
Optimal use of currently unproductive
land
GRAIN SA
JANE MCPHERSON,
manager: Farmer Development, Grain SA