Amidst the challenges faced by small-scale farmers, the South African government has emerged as a beacon of support, offering assistance programmes aimed at bolstering the resilience and prosperity of those toiling the sugarcane fields.
During the recent imbizo held at the Gingindlovu sportsground outside Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, hundreds of sugarcane farmers were given hope by the government on planned interventions to support growers.
New chapter for small-scale sugarcane farmers
Ebrahim Patel, the minister of trade, industry and competition, said the imbizo symbolically marked a historic change dealing with the legacy of land disposition and the exclusion of black sugarcane farmers for many years.
“Over the transition period, we were able to get Safda in and it was temporary, and now we have a permanent arrangement. For families though it means something permanently. It means access to resources from the sugar industry.”
Patel said the R200 million given to sugar farmers annually will help improve lives and afford them the ability to get their product to the market and ensure that small-scale farmers are sustainable.
“I encourage our small-scale farmers to build the sugar industry and build their farms because it now properly belongs to them. We have to deal with challenges that [the] sugar [industry] deals with globally and with health trends changing and people shifting to other products, we need to find new opportunities for farmers.
“What we have seen is that farming is in the blood of generations of farming families and we need to give them hope that they can stay on the land and feed nations from what they produce here,” Patel said.
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Owning a piece of the sugar industry
Meanwhile, agriculture minister Thoko Didiza said the imbizo was to report back to the farmers on the regulations that have been signed that now allow these farmers to be part of the industry through the South African Farmers Development Association (Safda).
“These farmers have been part of the struggle of the amendment of the legislation and so they understand that this regulation needed to be amended so that space can be created for them to be part and parcel of the decision-making of the sugarcane industry. The report back was important for them because the farmers really understood what their struggle had been about,” she said.
Zulu prince Khumbulani Zulu expressed his excitement and appreciation for the efforts made in favour of small-scale farmers in KwaZulu-Natal.
“This has been such a wonderful experience, it is first in our area. I trust that it will continue. We are honoured to have had the ministers set foot into our community and I am very happy,” he said.
He shared that through the help of Safda, small-scale farmers are now able to make something of themselves in the sugarcane industry.
“The organisation Safda helped us when we had nothing, no tools to pave our way and we did not even know where to start. We were faced with confusion when harvest season came and we got Safda’s help with equipment and many other things. Business is moving at a good pace and well.
“Today is like an opening of a new page, it is like the celebration of new life. It is like we have found our saviour because it was not easy for us to penetrate the sugarcane industry. We are hopeful that there is a way forward and that our lives as small-scale farmers will change,” said Zulu.
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