Brendan Jacobs, the head of agribusiness at Standard Bank, said the bank has been at the forefront of helping new-era farmers transform their operations into sustainable and commercial ventures.
Speaking to Food For Mzansi, Jacobs shared insights into the agribusiness transformation programme, ongoing mentorship, support amid climate shocks, and how they position themselves as a trusted partner in agriculture.
Patricia Tembo: What is the transformation programme all about for new-era farmers
Brendan Jacobs: In South Africa, we’ve got a severe disparity. With our agribusiness transformation programme, we actually had the graduation recently of our sixth cohort of graduates. I think we now have about 160 farmers who have gone through our programme through collaboration with the University of the Free State and the department of agriculture in the Free State. That programme focuses on access to markets, access to finance, and access to information.
Why is it important for farmers to formalise their agribusinesses?
The reason for all of this is because it’s important for food security. We need farmers who will be able to produce food for the nation, and that time is now, which is why we are doing this programme. We know now that by 2050, we are expecting the African population to double, and we need to provide for people on the continent.
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Is there ongoing support for the graduates that goes beyond the programme period?
Yes. A key component of the programme is the mentorship programme that we offer. So that’s through the professors from the university who run the programme. These are all existing farmers who get chosen through a selection matrix.
So, they are self-sustaining, but we want to take it to a commercial level. Besides the mentorship that’s attached, we also have our aggregate advisors and the banking team from the bank that form strong relationships with these farmers, so the decisions are jointly made with them as we progress.
Looking at the droughts and climate extremes farmers experienced this past season, how does the bank support farmers?
Agriculture fluctuates; you have good years and you have bad years. So it’s very important for us to be with our farmers in the bad times. Every person’s situation is different. What we encourage our farmers to do is speak to us early so that we can sit and plan to see how and what we’re going to do, because each person’s situation is different.
There’s no one-size-fits-all or one product that solves it. We plan to see how we’re going to go about it. Do we need moratoriums in place? Do we need to extend payments? Do we need to scale back? So we plan with each farmer to custom-make the solution for each one.
It’s obvious that you can’t always help everyone. But the quicker and the better we communicate with each other, the more likely a solution can come of it.
What encouragement do you have for farmers, especially those interested in scaling their agribusinesses?
Come to us. I think finance and banks are all very similar, but I believe what differentiates us is the quality of our people and the quality of the relationships we have with our clients. I’m very proud of the agricultural specialists that we have on board at Standard Bank.
We are present across 15 African countries with agribusiness-specific teams. We have a strong relationship with China, so we offer a link to China as well. I think that differentiates us.
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