The struggle to access land and finances are still key barriers most black farmers in South Africa are confronted with. This is especially true for women farmers who are only able to access a fraction of the land available in Mzansi.
Despite this, women farmers across the country continue to work the land with an optimistic mindset and pilot around these age-old hurdles.
Food For Mzansi spoke to a few women farmers to unpack their journeys and struggles to access land and finance in Mzansi.
Junior Perekwa, who specialises in poultry, exotic birds and horticulture, from Pasi Farms in Pretoria, explains that at the start of her farming journey two obstacles stood in her way: finances and land access.
“Funding a farm is difficult, especially if you are starting off,” she says. “I have realised that the white farmers have come up with their own financial structures that support upcoming white farmers. However, for black people, we don’t have such, you rely on your own pocket or the government.”
Small beginnings
Perekwa started off with broiler chickens in her own residential area and acknowledges that having a small space somewhat minimised her land struggles.
But a person with no land and funding has an even bigger burden to carry. Perekwa says that although there might be structures that assist with land applications, business collateral is very important. “To get the farm that I wanted was a bit difficult for me as a black woman,” she says.
Perekwa says she eventually received assistance from the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme (IFSNP). It decreases food insecurity in households by providing agricultural assistance through the provision of seedlings, equipment, fertilisers, etc. Those who claim the grant have to produce their own food and groups of small-scale gardeners and subsistence farmers can also apply.
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Leasing instead of owning land
Itumeleng Tsotetsi from the Free State has been farming with chickens and distributing vegetables for the past two years, and echoes similar challenges to that of Perekwa. Although her business, Merchants Way, has been in a state of improvement since its inception, one major problem has remained a thorn in her flesh.
“My biggest problem is accessing land,” she says, adding that when she was only beginning as a start-up, branching off from her chicken distribution business, Tsotetsi, needed only good soil and a borehole.
“When I tried to source land I couldn’t afford a deposit. I had to lease land and a lease contract either goes for 12 months or 24 months and then after that, you have to look for a different farm to lease. This is really my main challenge,” she explains.
She believes that if access to land and finance is sorted out, black women farmers have a chance of making an impact within the agricultural sector.
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Conquering the challenges
For Lebogang Mokwene and her team at Phetego Farming in Pretoria, innovation has been the biggest survival mechanism. While financial challenges and land access remain difficult to conquer, with an optimistic mindset, Lebogang says they somehow navigate their way through.
“There have been challenges from the beginning when we were trying to enter the market. We could not access funding,” she says.
She managed to enter into an agreement that assisted with providing funds for her business. Through hard work, these funds were then paid back and it was only later when they had more business value and collateral. This led to easily qualifying for government assistance.
Investing in her employees
She explains that investing in her employees has helped improve the output of the business product, especially when it comes to employees who align well with her business model with their added skills.
Not only that, sacrifices from her side had to be made and she took a step back from the farm to get a job externally. This move, she says, was necessary to help sustain her family and the business.
“I personally thought that it was going to be easy but it was not, and at the end of the day one has to eat,” she says. “I didn’t give up on my dream of being an entrepreneur, I had to step back and when I came back, I came back a better person.”
While the farming industry in South Africa seems to be showing improvement, start-ups have had to make ends meet despite difficult beginnings. However, farmers believe the future is indeed bright if these two struggles are minimised.
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