The mayor of the City of Tshwane, Randall Williams has announced the establishment of an emerging farmers development fund to assist small and emerging farmers in Tshwane.
Williams said the need for assistance was expressed to him by two of the metro’s young emerging farmers.
“These young farmers specifically asked me to help them with training in financial management and with access to capital,” said Williams.
He said they have now confirmed through council approval of the adjustment budget for 2020/21 on Thursday that we will seed the fund with R2-million.
“Through reprioritisation efforts and identified savings, which included internalising a number of planned research projects, we have now confirmed through council approval of the adjustment budget for 2020/21 on Thursday that we will seed the Emerging Farmers’ Development Fund with R2-million,” he said.
Williams said the micro-grants would allow emerging farmers to procure drilling and equipping services such as water tanks for storage, irrigation equipment, shade nets or tunnel structures for controlled farming.
“We believe this will allow our emerging farmers to harvest and enjoy future crops with a significantly increased yield. The increase in their financial well-being will be equal to the increase in their crop yield,” said Williams.
Farmers in Tshwane have until midnight on 14 March to apply for micro-grants from the metro.
