No land for ‘cell phone farmers’ – Didiza
Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform Thoko Didiza says the department has received over 5000 online applications from aspiring and existing farmers for the advertised agricultural state land.
Earlier in the year government announced a plan to allocate 894 vacant or underutilised farms on state land to farmers in its efforts to address land reform and boost the economy.
Didiza briefed the media in Pretoria on Tuesday.
She said government has made headway on land reform, reiterating government’s commitment to accelerate its land redistribution programme.
“We have received 5 838 online applications which include cooperatives/companies and individuals. A number of physical applications have also been received and will be consolidated after the closing date.”
The state land includes land currently occupied by individuals and communities living on state land without the leases, communities who applied for the 30-year lease but whose applications were not finalised and first-time applicants interested in agriculture.
“It is important to emphasise that the main purpose of this process is not to destabilise farmers who have been farming and producing in farms in the past, but to put in place a state land administration and management system that ensure security of land tenure, stability and provide an opportunity for sustainable food security and economic growth,” she added.
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Didiza further added government would only prioritise those enthusiastic about farming and promise to make something of the land.
“One of the things we have said is that everybody who gets access to land, going forward we will make sure that those people accept to subject themselves to training, we will make sure that those people are actually fulltime, not cell phone farmers that only go to see their farms and they think the land looks beautiful but do nothing about it.
“We want people that are actually going to work the land productively so out support as government is important to give a kickstart to those people in order for them to succeed.”
The programme will run in all provinces except Gauteng and the Western Cape, where no state land is currently available.
Listen to Didiza below:
