19 Oct 2022

Horticultural farmers in Kweneng have called on government to increase subsidy allocated to the sector through the ongoing Impact Accelerator Subsidy (IAS) fund.

 The fund is designed to increase production levels of horticultural products.

Introduced in 2021, the fund is part of an economic response plan targeted at addressing short-term working capital requirements for businesses.

Farmers have since aired their views on how the fund could be improved during a meet and greet session organised by National Development Bank (NDB) in Lentsweletau, Saturday.

During the session, it was clear that challenges facing farmers today were far from over, albeit government efforts towards self-sustenance in the horticultural sector.

Farmers, particularly from Farmers United, a company formed by a group of farmers, said Kweneng District was concentrated with a lot of farmers, thus the P50 million allocated to horticulture was not enough to meet their demands.

They also said a lot of farmers were already in debt from various financial institutions as a result, raising the 50 per cent necessary for one to meet the requirements was not easy.

One of the farmers, Mr Thapelo Setimela said farmers were experiencing a lot of challenges and suggested that government should restructure the packages so that they could be inclusive. 

He was of the view that available infrastructural developments on farms be used as collateral and be taken into consideration as a farmer’s share of their 50 per cent contribution.

Another farmer, Mr Casim Longman suggested that NDB should look at the entire value chain in the sector, taking into consideration that the landscape had changed. 

He said during the COVID-19 pandemic, prices of fertilizers and other inputs shot up. 

This, he said, called for the bank to have a fund in place for inputs so that fertilizers and herbicides could be produced locally to beat inflation.

He also said both small and emerging farmers were competing with retailers who were now growing their own crops, which meant that farmers struggled to sell their produce. 

He called on government to regulate all these to level the playing field.

However, other farmers were of the view that the fund should be extended to provide working capital as that was one of their major challenges, citing that most of the farmers already in business had infrastructure on their farms, but did not have working capital. 

Others cited that NDB should come up with an improved insurance scheme for farmers, saying crop failure was high among them. 

Others called for the establishment of an Agri bank to fully cater for farmers’ needs.

However, Farmers United board chairperson, Mr Ratsela Molefe applauded NDB for the initiative.

“We are excited with what NDB is doing.

We believe we are moving in the right direction,” he said. 

He further stated that through their company, they were working towards establishing a distribution and processing centre to make sure that their products were fully utilised country wide.

NDB relationship manager and team leader, Mr Kesego Mokgetse said so far the P20 million disbursed on the fund had already been used up by a total of 239 farmers, the majority of whom were from Kweneng region comprising 109 farmers. 

In total, Kweneng farmers used about P9 million of the fund.

He also indicated that NDB had assisted farmers who did not have their share of 50 per cent with P3.5 million to meet the requirement in order to benefit from the fund.

Meanwhile, Mr Mokgetse advised farmers who were financially challenged to approach NDB for assistance and promised that their cases would be looked at on individual merits. 

Although he acknowledged farmers’ challenges, he said the idea of an Agri bank was commendable, but it presented a lot of challenges.

On the issue of insurance, he said the bank had realised a need to revamp their cover underwriting because farmers felt it was limited in terms of crop coverage. 

He, however, said the bank had noted the farmers’ concerns and the feedback would be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture to improve the fund. BOPA