Agriculture

1. A number of factors are needed, and these are not limited to the following: Access to medium/high potential land and good quality water at a reasonable price; access to stable local, provincial, national, and international export markets. Good infrastructure such as roads, energy, communication, railways, and functioning ports are also critical. A steady and competent labour supply; Further to this, fair financing products are needed for different farmer categories. Unfortunately, ownership of land as collateral is important within the South African financing models. A favourable policy environment in which to practice agriculture.

The land reform process inclusive of the beneficiaries will benefit from the various training opportunities offered by the Further Education and Training (FET) / Agricultural Skills Development (ASD) centres across the province.  This training covers both accredited and non-credit-bearing training opportunities.  Furthermore, the land reform projects also benefit from our commodity approach and partners in the province which ensures that they receive cutting-edge technology and attend information and farmers’ days.  Through this partnership arrangement, our clients receive the best advice in terms of market readiness to ensure that farmers can sell their products at a provincial, national, and international level.  Our Agricultural Economics Services Programme also assist with legal compliance issues in terms of SIZA, Wieta, and HACPP so that farmers export and access several overseas markets within different countries.  The Western Cape also has a very capable team of decentralised Extension Practitioners inclusive of Engineers and commodity specialists.  The Department also has 7 operational research farms where farmers can see and receive research results first-hand. It should be mentioned that land reform is a national mandate according to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.