The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Cllr Geoffrey Makhubo together with MMC for Health and Social Development, Cllr Eunice Mgcina, today launched a R34 million commercialization and mechanization programme for small-scale farmers.
The programme is a partnership between the City of Johannesburg, Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the National Department of Agriculture and Land Reform. Led by the City’s Social Development Food Resilience Unit, the programme aims to address a critical challenge in the commercialization of agricultural commodities, which has been the inadequate availability of produce due to scattered, small-scale production, low productivity and competing use for food and the market.
The programme which was conceptualized in 2011, will endeavor to improve the infrastructure development of small-scale farmers, which mainly compose of cooperatives.
Furthermore, it will engage more organised and commercially accustomed farmers and adopt better production technology to improve the levels of production and income. Over the past 5 years, the City’s Food Resilience Unit and its partners have been supporting the farming sector to modernize their operation through commercialization that seeks to aid a transition from subsistence to income-generating agricultural practices.
“An important priority of the City of Johannesburg arising from the Growth and Development Strategy has to do with food resilience and agriculture. In 2011, we launched this programme and today we are taking agriculture and farming to a higher level. We are trying to speed up our farmers to move from subsistence to commercial farming. Through this programme, we are certain that food security will be addressed by the work being done by these farmers,” said Mayor Makhubo
The programme will further capacitate up to 17 functional co-operatives dealing with crops farming, which includes tomatoes, spinach, green pepper and cucumber. There are also 13 functional co-operatives of poultry farmers specialising in eggs farming, whom are set to benefit from this commercialization and mechanization programme.
The co-operatives signed to this programme are currently in commercial partnerships, which see them selling their produce at the Joburg Market, chain stores such as franchises Spar, Pick n Pay, hawkers and caterers from Eikenhof and surrounding communities.
“Today was a demonstration of the approach the Social Development’s Food Resilience Unit has taken in promoting and enhancing opportunities for emerging urban farmers including fostering co-operation with stakeholders,” said Mayor Makhubo.
As part of the launch, the City’s Food Resilience Unit displayed the tractors that have been bought for the farmers, officially opened the 20 additional tunnels that have been constructed through the support of all partners, Agro-processing products, vegetables and a mobile chicken abattoir.
Through this programme, the city aims to help small-scale farmers to use modern farming machinery and equipment to realize commercially comparable yields per hectare which will help to increase farmworker productivity. The mechanization will enable the entire agricultural value chain, private sector-driven, environmentally competitive and climate-smart, to be economically viable and affordable, especially to small-scale farmers who constitute the bulk of farmers.
“This is the success story of the Food Resilience Unit that has responded to the needs of our farmers. Urban agriculture is the way to go in the City. We encourage farmers to use their skills and teach the coming generation to continue the development of urban farming,” concluded Mayor Makhubo
For Media Enquiries
Mlimandlela Ndamase
Director: Mayoral Communications
MlimandlelaN@joburg.org.za
083 480 0014
