Western Cape scores 83% success rate in Land Reform Report

Earlier today, Ivan Meyer, Western Cape provincial Minister of Agriculture released a research report by an independent research company, Phuhlisani Solutions.

The report found that 83% of the land reform farmers who received post-settlement support (PSS) from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) consider themselves to be successful agri-businesses.

This stands in sharp contrast to the national government's 90% failure rate.

“We are proud of the outcome of the latest round of evaluation of agricultural businesses and projects supported by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s post-settlement support programme”,  said Minister Meyer.

Minister Meyer continued: “The success of land reform in the Western Cape is underpinned by the quality of extension services, training and financial support and mentoring received from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and its industry partners”.

Western Cape Head of Agriculture, Dr Mogale Sebopetsa highlights that a key component of his Department’s intervention to achieve these outcomes is the “commodity approach” which he said, “creates an ecosystem of support for successful land reform.”

Dr Mogale said, “The Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s land reform success is underpinned by the partnership and collaboration it has with industry partners to strengthen support to our land reform farmers through the provision of commodity-specific extension support.”

The latest evaluation confirms the efficacy of our partnerships and collaborations.

“The evaluation confirms that the Western Cape Government’s approach to land reform is delivering the desired results for the beneficiaries and economy of the Western Cape.

One such beneficiary is Pieter Mentoor.

Mentoor said, “The Western Cape Department of Agriculture has been supporting me on my journey to grow my business. This year I will be harvesting one hectare of produce for the first time and I have already planted another hectare. My business is growing and I consider myself blessed”.

The Report also makes several recommendations.

These include the WCDoA:

• reconsiders its role in coordinating PSS and assumes a pivotal role at provincial and district levels;
• strongly asserts the need for it to be involved in “pre-settlement” planning given the highly negative impacts which stem from its exclusion;
• engage all players to find a solution to the delayed allocation of CASP funds;
• draw in AgriWC and its members to play a stronger role in PSS;
• play a more proactive role in addressing market access; and
• undertake a broader review of the WCDoA PSS programme – extending the focus beyond those producers that have received funding through CASP and Ilima Letsema.

Mariette Kotze Group Operations Manager at fruit industry body, Hortgro, a key commodity partner to the Western Cape Department of Agriculture said, “The report confirms real progress in developing farmers from smallholder farmers to becoming commercial farmers. Regarding elements such as production, access to markets and finance, investing and growing the business and creating jobs, the department has been fairly successful”.

“Commodity partners such as Hortgro now stand ready to assist the Department to tackle the issues highlighted in the recommendations”, Kotze added.

“Land reform is one of the building blocks of our Growth for Jobs Strategy. We will now develop a management implementation plan to ensure that the recommendations in the report are implemented”. concluded the Minister.

A copy of the report can be accessed at here.