Economic Opportunities
Whether any financial and/or other assistance has been given to any existing emerging and commercial farmers and/or agricultural cooperatives in the Western Cape in the (a) 2010/11, (b) 2011/12, (c) 2012/13, (d) 2013/14 and (e) 2014/15 financial years; if not, why not; if so, for each case, beneficiary and financial year, (i)(aa) what are the names and (bb) addresses of the farms and (cc) the names of the respective farmers or co-operatives that received assistance, (ii) what is the (aa) exact nature, (bb) total financial cost and (cc) the benefit derived from the assistance provided?
The Western Cape Department of Agriculture offers a suite of comprehensive support services to farmers across the province.
There is a focus on land reform beneficiaries and black farmers who have acquired land privately.
The Department receives conditional grants, namely; Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme (CASP) and Ilima Letsema (Ilima) from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF).
The purpose of the grant is to provide effective agricultural support services and promote and facilitate agricultural development by emerging farmers.
The grant also seeks to target black producers who have acquired land through private means and are engaged in value-adding enterprises domestically or involved in export.
Funding support is used for infrastructure projects (fencing, irrigation), production inputs and mechanization. New farmers receive training to aid in the management of their enterprises. We have partnered with the private sector to boost the support we are able to offer.
Financial Support provided to Farmers since 2010:
(a) 2010/2011 :R68 784 000
(b) 2011/201 :R110 151 000
(c) 2012/2013 :R121 059 000
(d) 2013/2014 :R130 631 000
(e) 2014/2015 :R134 864 000
Total CASP and Ilima investment since 2010 is R565 489 000
Attached please find list of projects supported since 2010: Annexures A1 – Annexure A5. It must be noted that this is limited to smallholder and commercial farmers and does not include the food garden programme – supported through our suitcase programme targeting food insecure households with the means to produce own food to enhance food and nutrition security.
(cc) the benefit derived from the assistance provided?
The Department conducted an external agricultural land reform evaluation study independently assess the performance of projects that had been supported since 2009. The study focused on a sample from the population of 246 agricultural land reform projects supported, based on 5 critical success factors; i.e. secured linkages to markets; financial management and record keeping, reinvestment into the business; availability of an updated and implementable business plan and compliance with labour and tax laws. Accordingly, the study revealed a 62% success rate.
A separate study commissioned by the DAFF in 2014 (impact evaluation of the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme) concluded that the Western Cape farmers performed better in terms of rate of commercialisation, food security and job creation when compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country.
