Agri SA passes hat around

6 Jun 2016

Commercial farmers say they need R1-billion to recover from the devastating effects of the drought. Although the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has helped about 80,000 farmers with drought relief, AgriSA said it is not enough.

©Johan Larson via 123RF

The department did not provide details on how much was spent on drought assistance. AgriSA said more money was needed and it had started its own drought-relief fund.

AgriSA CEO, Omri van Zyl, said the organisation had collected R16 million so far from the private sector and donors. "If we are all suffering, you cannot just help a small population. Commercial farmers pay taxes and the question is: Is it fair that we are not being assisted?

"Drought recovery is very important and we cannot say we are able to come out of a drought within six months. It will take up to three years for us to recover, " said Van Zyl.

In a written reply to questions in parliament, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department said because of insufficient funds to cater for all farmers, it was forced to prioritise based on the effect of the drought in affected provinces.

The forestry and fisheries department said it had helped more than 79,400 farmers across all nine provinces. Most of the funds went to farmers in North West and Limpopo, it said.

Source: The Times

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