23 August 2011
The Land Bank’s commitment to spend around R1-billion on emerging farmers in the next two years could unlock agriculture’s long-term potential growth, says the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).
The plan was “consistent with the South African government’s intention of mainstreaming agriculture sectoral growth in the New Growth Path Strategy,” Idasa’s Small-scale Agriculture Project in a statement on Monday.
Project manager Leslie Nyagah said the money would promote rural employment, build value chains and encourage investment in agricultural capacity through skills training and growth in infrastructure.
“Increasing medium- and long-term fiscal incentives that encourage skills transfer, capacity building and long-term mentoring of emerging black farmers is not only necessary for empowering South African citizens but is also required for broader economic recovery of the country,” Nyagah said.
He said, however, that in the first quarter of 2011 statistics showed agriculture’s contribution to gross domestic product in South Africa slowed to -2.6 percent.
“This was opposed to the robust growth of the manufacturing sector of 14.5 percent during the same period, reflecting an economy that is increasingly becoming dependent on manufacturing and services,” he said.
The Idasa project promotes small-scale agriculture and aims to find solutions to global developmental concerns such as high food prices and high unemployment rates, especially among young people.
Sapa
