The biggest empowerment programme is underway in South Africa and if you are South African, you should not be left out in this once in a life time opportunity! The biggest buzz word in the rainbow nation is land reform and it has two sides, those opposing it and those in full support. So to those interested in farming what steps should you take in order to benefit?
- Follow all land issues especially debates in parliament and on local media.
- Be the first one to benefit! Make this a commitment that when land is allocated you are not left out.
- Check with your leadership and track progress in terms of land allocation.
- Familiarize yourself with agriculture opportunities-read books, join farming groups etc
- Form associations, register companies or NPOs
What if you do not have farming knowledge or funds?
Worry not, the government is perfectly aware that there are gaps in terms of farming knowledge and funding. They are going to design innovative models that will assist new farmers with technical expertise and access to funding.
Overview of farming opportunities
Agriculture has a lot of opportunities and the best way to analyse them is to look at the value chain which is a series of activities that add value from the inputs to the consumer. As illustrated in the above diagram-opportunities abound in the sector not only in farming operations but processing and distribution and marketing. Some will do the physical farming operations and some may find opportunities in the Agro-processing industries. For youths coming straight from college, you may need to consider the developing of startups to tap into the sector.
What happens to white farmers?
White farmers have the best skills and knowledge of farming operations and they have done extremely well and their expertise will be crucial for the success of new farmers. Already some pairing programs where new farmers were being trained by white farmers have been in place since 2012-although done on a small scale we expect the successes recorded to help in scaling up the model.
The white farming community can also benefit through provision of training colleges, agriculture consultancy, development of farming manuals or materials to assist new farmers because the biggest gap is KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS. Anyone who can fill this gap is going to reap rich rewards. Developing of farming apps, farming weekend classes, field day presentations etc
Where can you get more resources?
Our first book ‘Business Opportunities for Zimbabweans’ was distributed to more than 60.000 Zimbabweans. Our second project is ‘Business Opportunities for South Africans’ . The book covers a lot of opportunities in areas such as ICT, Tourism, Education, Construction, Mining and Agriculture. The Agriculture chapter is the largest and takes into consideration opportunities to be brought by the land reform. From poultry rearing, dairy farming-maize, paw paw, tobacco farming and a lot more. The book is your bible of opportunities in Mzantsi and comes after 8 months of researches which saw our team visiting Nelspruit, Joburg, Polokwane, Durban, Mtata, Bloemfontein, East London, Klerksdorp, Queenstown and Port Elizabeth. The book costs R120.00 and will be available on this site and several other online platforms.
So remember the number one rule of land reform empowerment: Be the first on the queue when land is redistributed!
You can also join our Mzantsi Farming Groups by sending an app message to +263 774 081 808
