Amidst the backdrop of South Africa’s agricultural landscape, a groundbreaking partnership between financial giant Nedbank and agricultural transformation specialists Partners in Agri Land Solutions (Pals), has emerged as a beacon of hope for the sector.
This alliance, aimed at fostering inclusive agricultural growth and sustainable land reform, has garnered widespread attention from agricultural news outlets, with commentators heralding it as a pivotal moment in the nation’s agricultural narrative.
Investment in training
In September 2022 Nedbank partnered with Pals to fund their enterprise development until 2025. The agreement includes an amount of R1 million per year to fund the training of new farmers through an enhanced Next Level Training (NLT) curriculum.
According to Nedbank, the NLT curriculum builds on and enhances the training facilitated by Pals from 2016 to 2022.
Lennox Plaatjies, Pals’ national liaison manager, said the training and mentorship had been one of Pals’ main focus areas since its launch in August 2014, as the requisite skill set is a critical success factor for a sustainable agricultural enterprise.
‘Pals is proud of the pioneering work and enriched training that has been developed and presented because of the Nedbank grant.
“The 2023 training calendar was filled with a comprehensive range of training sessions for new-era farmers, which allowed us to successfully coach many previously disadvantaged Pals beneficiaries who do not have access to formal business training. The training calendar for 2024 will build on this substantial base and the lessons learned,” he said.
Plaatjies said the insight and commitment of Nedbank, and their investment in a more inclusive future through the training of new era-farmers, is invaluable and they are humbled by and extremely grateful for their ongoing support.
Transforming the agriculture sector
Cobus de Bruyn, head of client value propositions for agriculture at Nedbank Commercial Banking said they had opportunity to attend some of the training sessions hosted by Pals.
“What a privilege to attend a training session attended by new-era farmers and successful commercial farmers, all around one table we are exceedingly proud to see how our purpose become action.
“Our purpose is to do good for individuals, families, business and society, and our partnership with Pals forms part of Nedbank’s commitment to facilitating transformation in the agricultural sector and the future commercial viability of emerging farmers,” he said.
De Bruyn said the initiative is aligned with their goals to contribute positively towards achieving food security, economic growth, job creation and skills development and transfer.
According to Nedbank, in 2023 more than 30 NLT events were held in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga and the Free State, upskilling almost 240 new-era farmers.
Some of the subjects that were tackled include responsible leadership and mentorship, financial principles and skills, money matters, management information, marketing for fruit exporters, farm management and finance, corporate, business and legal principles training and youth development and leadership.
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