8 February 2024
By: Charl van Rooyen
The lack of support for new farmers is the biggest problem in establishing emerging farmers in South Africa, Jerome Topley, managing director for farmer development of the Sernick Group, said during an imbizo presented by African Farming in Boksburg.
In 1994 at the dawn of democracy, 80% of agricultural land was in the hands of white commercial farmers. By 2022 only 60% was managed by whites.
“That is a huge transfer of land in a short space of time,” Topley said. “The pace of land reform is therefore not the problem, despite what the politicians say.
“The Achilles heel is rather the transfer of land without training, access to finance, mentoring and monitoring. We have caught the bus, but what now? We do not really know what to do with the land. We give it to ill-equipped people who do not know how to use it. It is a recipe for failure.”
Who is to blame that 90% of all land-reform projects fail? The myths around land reform also play a part. Myths such as that only 8% of land has changed hands since 1995 (no, it is actually 24%!), that everybody wants to farm (no, everybody wants a piece of land but not everybody is a farmer!), land is wealth (no, land can be a poverty trap because of factors such as high input costs and maintenance!), everybody is going to get land (again a big no!) and that farming is easy (no, the number of farmers is declining; from 120 000 in 1960 to around 30 000 at present).
Jerome said only 30 000 farmers must today produce enough food for local consumption, as well as for export. The answer lies in successful land reform so that all farmers can contribute, but then new famers must be supported by, amongst other things, financial support.
“We also need leading famers like Vito Rugani, Nick Serfontein and Kallie Schoeman to mentor emerging farmers.”
He said the country is now in a better position than it was in 2022 and predicted that the next two years are going to be a rollercoaster ride for agriculture. “We can do it because we have the best farmers in the world. We farm without huge subsidies, yet we still own the land. We as farmers must everyday absorb huge input costs and fight against climate change, theft, Eskom, Transnet and corruption – and we’re still on our land.”
Jerome also predicted that productive land will never be taken away from farmers. “It is not going to happen, even though it will be used by politicians for the upcoming elections. Good agricultural land can have a peaceful night’s rest.”
It is “hell” looking into the agricultural crystal ball, particularly for black farmers, even though we are making some progress.
Even if the worst is still to come, we must remember the words of Winston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, just keep going!”
