The Motsepe Foundation and RCL Foods will provide funding of about R70m in farming projects involving rural and traditional communities in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, they said on Wednesday.
The agricultural and farming projects are in partnership with Agri SA, through its subsidiary Agri Enterprises and established commercial farmers as well as traditional leaders in those provinces.
Funding will be in a form of soft loans at 3% interest.
Founder of the Motsepe Foundation Patrice Motsepe said “it is imperative that traditional communities, poor rural and urban communities, black farmers and other historically disadvantaged communities participate and benefit from agricultural and farming industry in SA.”
“We have a lot of urgent work and measures to implement to make this happen,” he said.
According to the foundation, in Mpumalanga, they will rescue a land reform project, which the government funded and handed over to the Hhoyi, Siboshwa and Matsamo traditional communities.
The project failed because traditional communities did not have the capital, financial and technical resources, the skills, and expertise for the sustainability and long-term success of this project, the foundation said.
Three ventures have been established to cultivate cane on this land, said Agri SA.
In Limpopo the project will focus on citrus farming established for the benefit of the Majeje traditional community led by Hosi Ntswanwisi in partnership with Komati Fruit Group and Absa.
This project is for planting citrus fruits on 457 hectares of irrigated land and will create about 50 new permanent and 300 seasonal jobs. In total the two projects will create and maintain 1,541 jobs (seasonal and permanent).
Agri SA said together with the Motsepe Foundation, they have identified access to capital “as a key constraint facing projects with real potential to support and advance emerging farmers, and have partnered together to find concrete solutions. Due in large measure to a lack of secure land tenure, a number of promising projects around the country have been unable to secure adequate funding for their operations.”
Similar funding projects will also be rolled out to other provinces.
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Traditional communities to get soft loans via Patrice Motsepe's hook-up with agriculture role players
Image: Bloomberg
The Motsepe Foundation and RCL Foods will provide funding of about R70m in farming projects involving rural and traditional communities in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, they said on Wednesday.
The agricultural and farming projects are in partnership with Agri SA, through its subsidiary Agri Enterprises and established commercial farmers as well as traditional leaders in those provinces.
Funding will be in a form of soft loans at 3% interest.
Founder of the Motsepe Foundation Patrice Motsepe said “it is imperative that traditional communities, poor rural and urban communities, black farmers and other historically disadvantaged communities participate and benefit from agricultural and farming industry in SA.”
“We have a lot of urgent work and measures to implement to make this happen,” he said.
According to the foundation, in Mpumalanga, they will rescue a land reform project, which the government funded and handed over to the Hhoyi, Siboshwa and Matsamo traditional communities.
The project failed because traditional communities did not have the capital, financial and technical resources, the skills, and expertise for the sustainability and long-term success of this project, the foundation said.
Three ventures have been established to cultivate cane on this land, said Agri SA.
In Limpopo the project will focus on citrus farming established for the benefit of the Majeje traditional community led by Hosi Ntswanwisi in partnership with Komati Fruit Group and Absa.
This project is for planting citrus fruits on 457 hectares of irrigated land and will create about 50 new permanent and 300 seasonal jobs. In total the two projects will create and maintain 1,541 jobs (seasonal and permanent).
Agri SA said together with the Motsepe Foundation, they have identified access to capital “as a key constraint facing projects with real potential to support and advance emerging farmers, and have partnered together to find concrete solutions. Due in large measure to a lack of secure land tenure, a number of promising projects around the country have been unable to secure adequate funding for their operations.”
Similar funding projects will also be rolled out to other provinces.
TimesLIVE
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