Medium-scale farmers reportedly feel burdened by the additional cost of transporting workers and goods in ways that comply with lockdown regulations.
The official opposition has appealed to Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza and her department to expand its Covid-19 relief efforts to include measures to support medium-scale farmers with a turnover of up to R100 million per year.currently only makes provision for farmers who earn less than R1 million per annum.
According to Steyn, the party has received worrying reports from some farmers about lacking funding to safeguard the health of their workers adequately. “Farmers need urgently financial relief to consolidate their current debt. The added cost of health and safety requirements on input and production will only add to the burden of many farmers.”
“It already has extensive measures in place to monitor and vet to ensure that the projects meet business, agriculture and financial criteria. The bank has agricultural economists that annually review and report on successes and failures of projects and can use that expertise to closely monitor fund expenditure,” explained the DA.
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