Tshwane metro starts small-scale farmers development fund

The Tshwane metro has launched a development fund to the value of R2 million for rural and emerging farmers in the region.

On Saturday, Tshwane mayor Randall Williams announced that his office would be partnering with other metro departments to fund the costs of this small farmers’ development pilot programme.

Williams said the fund would focus on skills training and inject micro-grants to assist emerging rural small-scale farmers.

“Over the past week, I had the opportunity to interact with various residents, stakeholders and organisations across Tshwane. Through these engagements, I could immerse myself in many of the issues and challenges affecting our citizens’ lives and assess how the municipality can support them,” he said.

“I am pleased to announce that we are going to launch this pilot programme that focuses on a development fund for farmers.

“Partnering with other city departments, the mayor’s office intends to fund this programme so that we can offer skills training and grants to assist emerging rural small-scale farmers.”

Mayoral spokesperson Jordan Griffiths said although the metro was cutting budgets to ensure financial stability after hitting a billion rand deficit, it would be able to fund the programme.

“We will look into cutting some budgets such as travelling allowances and catering budgets to fund it. Over the coming weeks, we will be launching a number of projects that will be funded by the mayoral office’s small operational budget. This programme is one of them,” he said.

“It is important that we deploy the office’s operational budget to assist and help as many people as we can.

“The farming community is an important sector. With the right kind of support and injection, small farmers have the potential to grow their businesses.”

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Griffiths said during this month, they would look into applications while the training and micro-grants would be facilitated during January and June 2021.

Pretoria-based Pure Organics Little Farm’s Pieter Kemp said provision of training for small farmers was immensely important for the sector’s development.

“There are many people that would love to get into farming, but they never know how to start. Some start, but then give up. With the provision of skills the metro can enhance many small-farmers’ capabilities and assist in seeing many becoming established farmers.

“While the small farming sector might not provide many jobs, those directly involved can provide something for themselves and the communities around them,” Kemp said.

“If small farmers can concentrate on farming a variety of things, some farming livestock and others looking into fresh produce, it can help the farmers assist each other. Most people always have the idea to have a big farm, but it all starts small.”

Farmers who would like to apply for the grant can send inquiries to jordang@tshwane.gov.za.

This article was republished from Rekord East with permission

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