Smallholder farmers receive financial assistance

The National Treasury Jobs Fund has teamed up with the Lima Rural Development Foundation to support smallholder farmers in 16 sites across five provinces.
The partnership will see small-scale farmers in Lephalale receiving assistance from the Lima Smallholder Farmer Support Programme, whose objective is to create an estimated 4 700 jobs and to train 12 800 farmers nationally.
The fund has provided R60 million in grant funding to the programme.
Lephalale, one of the driest areas in South Africa, is a challenge due to the low levels of rainfall it receives. The town experienced an economic boom at the height of the construction of the Medupi Power Station, but the construction of the coal-fired plant is nearing completion, resulting in the scaling down of the workforce required for construction.
A press release issued by the fund quoted Deputy Director General for Employment Facilitation, Najwah Allie-Edries to have said the intervention was creating jobs in the area while simultaneously helping to diversify the town’s economy away from dependence on coal mining and electricity generation.
The integrated support services to farmers are delivered by Lima through agri-hubs, where beneficiaries can walk in to either seek loans; order or collect input; access farming equipment or apply to participate in off-take contracts that Lima has entered into with major food retailers. Lima also uses highly-skilled agricultural extension advisors who visit farmers to provide technical advice about crop, poultry, pig, and livestock farming.
Duncan Stewart, Managing Director of the Lima Rural Development Foundation, was quoted to have said: “These farmers have a history of being under-serviced and face stiff market competition from their commercial counterparts. They are isolated from input and produce markets as well as production information, contractors and credit facilities.”