720 black livestock farmers conclude ground-breaking Farming for Tomorrow rural development initiative
The Agri SA Group is proud to announce the successful conclusion of its ground-breaking two-year rural development initiative, Farming for Tomorrow. With a growing urgency from within the sector to make agriculture more inclusive, led by Agri SA, this all-encompassing programme for emerging black livestock farmers represents a giant step in the right direction.
Agri Enterprises, a subsidiary of Agri SA, launched this initiative in partnership with AgriSETA and the International Agricultural Academy for Africa (I3A) in 2020. It introduced a National Comprehensive Mentorship Programme to fast-track the establishment of emerging black farmers in three critical livestock value chains: beef cattle, wool-sheep and goat farming.
The beef, wool and goat industries are worth an estimated R30 billion cumulatively. Through the Farming for Tomorrow initiative, Agri SA is empowering black farmers to play a far greater role in rural economies.
While most of the sector’s transformation initiatives focus on supporting small-scale farmers, this programme is designed to position farmers for commercial success on a larger scale. In addition to technical skills, the programme provides leadership, management, and entrepreneurial training which includes business planning, identifying opportunities, market access, and understanding company structures.
The initiative is the most comprehensive approach to assist emerging farmers develop in the agricultural sector to date. It carried out extensive research into the operations of the participating farms and oversaw the building of a comprehensive database for participating farmers. From the data collected, the Agri SA team and I3A assisted all the farmers to officially register their companies with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) to formalize their businesses.
The research conducted also revealed that farmers did not have sufficient market information on pricing, market access opportunities, commodity fluctuations, funding opportunities, and disease outbreaks in their areas. To address this Agri SA Enterprises and I3A established WhatsApp and Agri-social platforms where the farmers receive weekly and monthly updates. These communication channels also serve as a space for farmers to communicate together on an open-source platform.
Under the leadership of Dr Innocent Sirovha, AgriSETA has played a tremendous role in mobilizing teams and resources to make this project possible. AgriSETA’s vision and execution on this project was vital for the success of this initiative.
Given the success of the programme, Agri SA Enterprises wants to reaffirm its commitment to developmental and emerging farmers in South Africa. As the Rural Development team, we will continue to source funding and other resources for emerging farmers to grow and prosper.
Enquiries
Omri van Zyl
CEO, Agri Enterprises
082 417 5724
Christo van der Rheede
Executive Director, Agri SA
083 380 3492
Mandy Rutgers
Head: Marketing and Communications, AgriSETA
082 496 2457