The farming community of Shutalale village at Ga-Mphahlele outside Lebowakgomo in Limpopo are accusing the provincial Agriculture authorities of leaving them in the lurch. The small-scale farmers say they were promised funding since 2017, in the One Household, One Hectare programme.
The department has, however, since discontinued the programme, and the small-scale farmers say they have been left struggling.
Chairperson of the Lepelle Green Pastures project, Malegodi Mathabatha, says theyre struggling to start the farming project.
We did everything that was required by the department in our application. We also got a certificate for water right in Lydenburg. They dont want to fund us. They have been sending us from pillar to post when we enquire about our application. This farm is huge and we have a lot of water from the nearby Lepelle River. We have been waiting for seven years and they must tell us what happened to funding, says Mathabatha.
The Department of Agriculture Spokesperson Avhashoni Magada says, What happened was that the green pastures like many other smallholder farmers in the district were considered for funding and assisted them to develop a business plan. We assisted them to submit their application, and while we were drafting submissions to the national office, we realised that the policy that was supposed to assist them with the one-hectare one-household has been discontinued. The new policy that replaced the one-hectare one-household, did not cover smallholder farmers like green pastures. Thats why they were no longer considered because we could not help them or fund them when there is no policy that allows us to do that. Because it was going to be fruitless expenditure.
