Land and agriculture minister Lulama Xingwana said her department and other agriculture stakeholders had acknowledged the urgent need to unleash the land and agrarian reform programme (LARP’s) potential as a tool for poverty alleviation and economic development, at the Limpopo consultation on LARP. Xingwana was speaking at the Agri Sa conference on 9 and 10 October.
Risk-sharing plans and strategies need to be developed among sector partners for the implementation of LARP, she added. Xingwana went on to say that government is committed to accelerating sustainable land reform. She added, “The commission for land restitution should fast-track and remove all bottlenecks to complete the land restitution process and bring to an end the prevailing uncertainty which hampers investment in agriculture.”
She also said government wants to create an enabling environment for emerging and small farmers to access finance, and provide instruments that will allow commercial banks and other financial institution to participate in providing this finance. Xingwana concluded, “Government, commodity and farmer organisations and agribusinesses should strengthen technical assistance and capacity-building programmes, including exchange visits, skills and competency training among agriculture and rural development facilitators through cooperation.” – Rudi Massyn
