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Fund aims for more agriculture sector jobs

16 Sep 2015

The Treasury's Jobs Fund, which has a target of creating 150,000 jobs by next year, is focusing on small and medium enterprises to help make inroads into SA's stubbornly high unemployment rate.

sarangib via pixabay

The fund, set up in response to the slowdown from the 2008 financial crisis, has to date allocated R4.74bn out of R9bn in grant funding, leading to the creation of 55,000 jobs, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said yesterday. The jobs were created in 90 projects and an additional R3.54bn was raised from project partners.

Public and private sector projects are co-financed and allocations are decided through a competitive proposal process. The Treasury has acknowledged the programme is expensive, telling Parliament's portfolio committee on finance in March that the average cost per job created was R52,000 - excluding administration.

Allocations to agriculture jobs projects

In the present round of funding, R800m has been allocated to 18 agricultural jobs projects.

Small businesses in the growing and processing of sugar cane will benefit and a venture with Tongaat Hulett will see the development of 12,000ha of underutilised land in KwaZulu-Natal. The project aims to create small businesses and 3,000 jobs in four rural districts.

A project in Mpumalanga between TSB Sugar, Mpumalanga Cane Growers Association and the government aims to create 1,281 black farmers of sugar cane through the rehabilitation of 10,000ha.

Challenges for small and medium enterprises

Small and medium enterprises remained "disconnected from markets, facing shortages of skills and infrastructure", said Jonas.

Gordon Institute of Business Science director of enterprise development, Yogavelli Nambiar said yesterday that the business environment for small and medium enterprises remained "harsh and hostile" considering the sector's potential for inclusive growth. Small and medium enterprises contributed 36% of SA's gross domestic product, and 60% of total employment.

Source: Business Day

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