Agriculture

1) (a) The total amount of vouchers issued as communicated by Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) as on 28 January 2022 was R5 572 800.  However, it must be noted that this figure is subject to change as process and verification unfold at a National level.                              

(b) It must be noted that this programme was a National initiative and Provincial Departments were requested to assist with the roll-out of the project. The Department of Agriculture assisted at both a district and provincial level with the following:         

• Participate on the assessment committees.
• Verification of 5% sample size per district as was prescribed by national guidelines of the information provided by farmers.
• Facilitate transport for delivery of production inputs to farmers.
• Facilitation role between National, accredited service providers and farmers to ensure farmers receive inputs on time.
• Monitoring through the normal site visits to farmers.

(2)      Yes, there were some incidents reported of the abuse of this support programme.  Some of the incidents of abuse brought to my attention were the following:

• A few complaints/rumours around the selling or exchange of products.
• Farmers complained about the 5 - 27% mark-up by middleman.
• Inflated prices by service providers on inputs as compared to local suppliers.
• Accredited service providers that were far away from where farmers are residing.
• Lack of transport and high cost for farmers if transport was available.
• Limitation on variety of products what farmers could buy with the voucher.
• Some farmers who were approved on the first round still awaiting finalisation of their vouchers.