‘The farmer is the most important person I deal with’ – Mlengana

Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) director general Mike Mlengana has assured the agriculture industry that his main focus is to work with farmers to prevent the sector from declining further.

‘The farmer is the most important person I deal with’ – Mlengana
Mike Mlengana
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“The farmer is the most important person I deal with. You have my support and the government is listening to you,” said Mlengana at the Agri Limpopo Congress which is currently underway in Modimolle.


He said he was worried about the decline in the number of commercial farmers in South Africa. According to Statistics South Africa, the number of commercial farmers has decreased from 120 000 in 1950 to about 37 000 today.

He asked organisations representing farmers in the country to develop growth strategies for the commercial sector. “Please bring proposals to me. There is no strategy for commercial agriculture,” he said.

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Such a strategy was important to ensure commercial agriculture achieved more growth and increased its contribution to the country’s gross domestic product. The focus on smallholder farmer development does not mean that the commercial sector should be neglected, said Mlengana.

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Wilma den Hartigh grew up in Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province. After matriculating from Merensky High School she studied Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University. Her very first job as a journalist was with Farmer’s Weekly in 2005. In the past 10 years she has worked in the financial services sector, public relations and as a freelance consumer and current affairs journalist. Her love for agricultural journalism, farming and the outdoors always stayed with her and now she’s back at Farmer’s Weekly doing what she enjoys most. When Wilma is not writing about farming, she enjoys watching beautiful sunsets, good coffee and exploring South Africa’s small towns.