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Unati Speirs, Andile Matukane and Byron Booysen. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

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Young farmers: Economics key to ‘true transformation’

Instead of becoming agri entrepreneurs, many young people become mere participants. The banking system also doesn't treat 18- to 35-year-olds as capital builders. Change this, and you start to change the farming landscape for our youth, some experts say as Mzansi commemorates Youth Month

by Zolani Sinxo
17th Jun 2022
in News
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
Unati Speirs, Andile Matukane and Byron Booysen. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Unati Speirs, Andile Matukane and Byron Booysen. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Mzansi is good at talking about opportunity for its youth. But the young people themselves feel that these opportunities only favour a few.

As the country commemorates 46 years since the Soweto youth uprising, Gauteng hydroponics farmer Andile Matukane believes true transformation is an illusion.

She not only has a problem with lacking transformation, job opportunities and the incorporation of young people into the sector, but also with the quality of these opportunities.

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“In the sector, young people are told that opportunities [will be created for them], only to find out that they are talking about internships [and] only a few are given the opportunity.”

She is adamant that internships are not truly opportunities.

“When it comes to funding, one needs to have something to ’emerge’. How do I emerge coming from an internship? Some grant funding requires one to have at least three years of operational business [experience]. How do I start that business without the grant, coming from an internship?”

Young people want to join the sector, she says, but due to a number of challenges they come across, they subsequently give up along the way.

Andile Matukane. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
Andile Matukane. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Own opportunities, unfavourable banking system

Access to opportunities seems to be an onerous task when it comes to young people in the sector, says Unati Speirs, newly appointed board director at Hortgro.

“I don’t think the country has done enough to transform the sector. Young people aren’t given enough opportunities; they create it for themselves. The rise of young people seen in the agricultural sector isn’t because of opportunities created for them, it’s them creating jobs for themselves.”

“Yes, things are better compared to the past and many improvements have been made,” she says, “but too many young people are sitting with agri qualifications and cannot get any opportunities.”

Hortgro board director Unati Speirs. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Speirs says there are aspects of the banking sector that should also be reformed to transform the sector, including banking for 18- to 35-year-olds as capital builders.

“This category of banking could change the industry and encourage the growth of the agriculture GDP. Farms that have been handed down to the next generation require new capital and restrictions on the same farm could see these farms losing their previously invested capital.”

A shift in financing to young people for agricultural purposes could shift the prospects of the sector; serviced banking packages will make farming attractive to this generation, Speirs believes.

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ALSO READ: Young and farming in Mzansi: The joys and hard truths

The economic freedom of entrepreneurship

Young farmers such as Byron Booysen believe that transformation can only be realised through economic freedom. It is only once young people play a bigger part in the GDP of the country, that the country can say it has done enough for young people, Booysen tells Food For Mzansi.

He says agriculture boasts a vast number of career options, but instead of becoming agricultural entrepreneurs, many young people become agri participants. This means that young people become workers in other organisations, he says.

Even though there’s nothing wrong with that, he says, “in terms of a transformed agricultural sector, we are not doing enough”.

What Booysen finds frustrating, is that ecosystems that young farmers can really thrive on, do not yet exist. 

“The system asks for us to be engineers and to create our new markets, otherwise liaise with existing markets. So, you’re basically forced to engage with ecosystems that are already empowered,” he explains.  

The young farmer says many of his peers have enjoyed support from government and have shown subsequent growth. However, he asks that government makes use of farmers like himself to empower other people, “so that we can create ecosystems and processing units, because we have the right mindset to do business and to create transformative engagements and to teach our people to help themselves”.

Byron Booysen, is a tomato farmer and a beneficiary of the commodity approach, says it is informative but a few thing can change within the program. Photo: Experience Matshediso (Casidra)
Western Cape crop farmer Byron Booysen. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Where are the young commercial farmers?

Although giving credit for some of the work that has been done by the government to transform the sector, Agri YouTuber and farmer Kwanda Kwenzeka agrees that more needs to be done.

“There is a very small number of youth who are participating in the sector. The last time I checked in 2019, only 5% of commercial farmers were between the ages of 25 and 34. 70% of the commercial farmers were over the age of 50. This shows that there is very little transformation in the sector,” Kwenzeka says.

The biggest problem? He feels that there is no clarity on the support measures for those who are interested in joining the agricultural sector, particularly when it comes to the production side of farming and being active participants in the country’s food production system. In fact, he believes, support is non-existent.

ALSO READ: Youth Month: SA agriculture is getting an attractive facelift

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Zolani Sinxo

Zolani Sinxo

Zolani is an award-winning journalist and holds a National Diploma and a B Tech in journalism, he is a journalist at heart with a particular interest in developmental journalism, politics, African development stories, environment, and global and national current affairs. He started to develop an interest in writing and storytelling at a young age after he co-authored a folk tales children’s book in 2005 titled Our Stories, Amabali Ethu. After graduating, Zolani worked at various government institutions where he worked in the marketing and communication departments specialising in media liaison and editorial management. His passion for developmental journalism saw him being a co-founder of a community newspaper in Stellenbosch, Umlambo News. He has also worked for the Group Editors as a journalist for the George Herald and is also the editor of Idinga community newspaper. Zolani loves books, especially on Africa’s politics, history, stories, and biographies of African leaders who have made a significate contribution to the continent’s socio-economic wellbeing.

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