Land reform in SA | Weeds of corruption in farming

Corruption is growing like weeds in the agricultural sector and this is hampering emerging farmers.

JOHANNESBURG - Corruption is growing like weeds in the agricultural sector and this is hampering emerging farmers.

Farmers United SA says land is given to incapable people while aspiring farmers stand on the sidelines.

It says these farms then go out of business due to a lack of funding, and everyone loses out.

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"Land has been afforded, a lot of it, to our people but the sad part is that it's come with corruption," said Ronnie McKenzie, Farmers United SA president.

AgriSA Executive Director Christo van der Rheede says transformation in the agriculture sector has stalled.

This is because government is failing to up-skill emerging farmers.

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He says the state has expropriated thousands of farms that are now dysfunctional due to a lack of skills.

"Agriculture is highly capital-intensive. You need money to farm," Van der Rheede said.

"Secondly, it's a high-risk business because what do you do? You put the seed into the ground and you hope for the best that rain will fall.

"And you can easily be wiped out after a drought or after a flood, there you sit and everything is destroyed."

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