Call for Land Bank to boost commercial farming

Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas wants the Land Bank to create initiatives and funding mechnism to drive up large-scale commercial farming in South Africa. Image: GetNews

"We must also bear in mind that jobs in the agricultural sector will be driven by large commercial agricultural enterprises," Jonas said.

Speaking at the release of the Land Bank Annual Results, in Midrand, Jonas said South Africa had large areas of arable land but commercial farming remained very low in some parts of the country.

"There are institutions that are supposed to drive agriculture development but what new instruments do they need to come up with to increase commercialisation in parts of the country where agriculture is low?" he asked.

"If you refer to the National Development Plan (NDP), it says we must support commercial agriculture and develop regions that have high potential for growth and employment," Jonas said.

He said he might sound unpopular because many post-independent countries see solutions in small scale farming.

South Africa urgently needs to boost commercial farming enterprises to create jobs and ensure food security. Image: LED Network

Land Bank's contribution to farming

"I think as the Land Bank you must ensure that you create initiatives and programmes to increase commercial agriculture in a very rigorous way. At the same time you must ensure you create better support packages, better systems for small scale farmers and improve the infrastructure access to markets," he said.

Delivering the Land Bank integrated financial report 2014, acting Chief Executive Officer Lindiwe Mdlalose said the bank contributed about R48.2bn to SA's gross domestic product and created more than 23,000 new jobs while maintain employment levels at 370,000.

Mdlalose said the Land Bank was expecting to make a bigger impact on job creation, broaden ownership of farms help with poverty alleviation and contributed to land reform.

She said the bank was committed to conducting its business in a responsible manner.

"The Land Bank had put development at the heart of its strategy as it had created a wholesale finance facility tailored for emerging farmers," Mdlalose added.