Pretoria - Women, farmworkers and persons with disabilities were among the latest beneficiaries of a multi-million rand fund to acquire land through the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s land reform programmes.
A game and livestock farm was acquired for R6.3 million under the department's Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) for a female farmer with 21 years of farming experience at Limpopo's Blouberg Municipality.
She has been farming in the backyard with vegetables and has 40 cattle grazing on communal land and another 40 on cattle on privately leased land.
"The purpose of acquiring this farm is to support smallholder farmers farming in communal areas like Blouberg," said Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti.
The department has also approved a R3.8 million land acquisition for 22 farmworkers from the Zululand District in KwaZulu-Natal. The farm dwellers will receive a full title deed on the land.
"We found out during a land rights enquiry that two families on the farm had resided there for over 40 years. These families own 22 cattle and 27 goats. This is a practical step for us in strengthening the rights of farm dwellers working that land," Minister Nkwinti said.
In Mpumalanga, the department acquired a farm for R4.1 million and allocated it to a farmer with disabilities the Ehlanzeni District.
"The grazing land he is currently occupying is not big enough for his current livestock and it also does not allow him to expand his herd," Minister Nkwinti said.
More importantly, the beneficiary was losing cattle due to livestock theft in the communal area.
A total of 11 farms in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Western Cape and Mpumalanga received funding to start social and agricultural infrastructure upgrades on the allocated land.
The department approved R73 million for farm recapitalisation projects in this latest round, for farmers in poultry production, table grapes, grapes for wine and raisins, maize, lucerne and crops and livestock.
A total of R74 million was spent by the department on land acquisitions.
A total of 7725 0883 hectares were acquired across five provinces under PLAS. – SAnews.gov.za
