Picture: Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza visiting Taung
By OBAKENG MAJE
Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza said the government will continue to work together with farmers to ensure that food security is preserved. Didiza engaged with commercial, subsistence and smallholders farmers around Taung to assess the conditions of their farms.
“One of the issues that the farmers have raised which they requested the government to work on it is the expansion of the irrigation scheme. Clearly, when you look at this area, there is a lot of lands that can still be irrigated.
“Secondly, they also requested the government to assist them in the area of the revitalization of the scheme. They need us to deal with issues of the canals which are very old and some of them need to be repaired,” she said.
Didiza further said irrigation infrastructure is a key area where farmers need assistance. She added that farmers urged the government to give them support so that they can reach their goals.
“They say even though government gives them support, sometimes it comes too late for the agricultural calendar. What do I mean about that is for instance, if it is the summer season where people are planting grains like maize or sunflower, when the government gives some inputs to them, sometimes the assistance comes in the middle of the calendar or even at the end of the season.
“So, those inputs are normally not going to be of use to the farmers. This has propelled some of the farmers to get into contracts with some of the commodity organizations, or in some of the individuals of the members of the commercial farmers. What we are concerned about is the times of contracts they tight themselves to because are not working in their favour.
“Farmers enter into these contracts and my guess is that sometimes they do not examine the conditions of the contracts. This happens because most farmers do not have the implements to farm the land. Contractors come, plant the land and harvest it and at the end, farmers get nothing out of their own land,” said Didiza.
She added that one of the things they have agreed on is coming back here and work with farmers. Didiza said they will look at how they can resolve some of those issues and ensure that they come up with mechanisms to assist these farmers.
One of the farmers, Keitumetse Kgosiemang (27) who has six years in farming said they are faced with a mammoth tasks. Kgosiemang said she is now sitting on top of R80 000 worth of debts after she engaged in a contract with a white commercial farmer.
“I am a farmer at Tshidiso South and I cannot see any progress in farming because of a lack of support from the government. This forced us to resort to seeking assistance from white commercial farmers. They buy planting seeds for us and pay water and electricity bills including the mechanism.
“However, this is not financially viable because we come out of this with nothing at the end of the cropping season. We are forced to seek assistance from these white commercial farmers because we do not have the financial backing to cover all our costs,” she said.
Kgosiemang urged government to provide them with the financial muscle and assist them with machinery and fertilizers.
Another disgruntled farmer, Aobakwe Gaobuse from Bosele Cooperative shared the same sentiments. Gaobuse said they have serious challenges as farmers in Taung.
“Firstly, we have a serious problem in Taung with machinery and even what the government is helping us with is not coming on time. That is why our people go to white commercial farmers for assistance. We also have a challenge regarding our extension officers who supposed to lead us, but they are not helping us at all.
Oratile Segosapelo who is one of the 176 people whom their land was taken by force back in 1992 said they want to be compensated. Segosapelo said even though their land was restituted back to them in 2017, it has turned into a ‘white elephant’ because of a lack of support from the government.
“We are not happy with how the department has handled our matter. We are 176 farmers and our land was forcefully taken away from us back in 1992. The government distributed back the land to us, but it has done little in giving us any support. What is happening is that white commercial farmers have been utilizing that land without compensating us.
“We have even written to the Office of the Public Protector for intervention. We would like at least to get compensated by those who have been benefiting from our land. Government bought a pivot irrigation system for us, but white commercial farmers strapped it and used those parts to fix theirs,” said Segosapelo.
The Guardian 