NERPO REQUESTS A GRACE PERIOD FOR PLAS BENEFICIARIES
30 May 2007
At a recent meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Lulu Xingwana in Cape Town, the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (NERPO), requested the Minister to improve the Pro-active Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) which is aimed at fastracking the redistridibution of Agricultural land. This request came after NERPO has observed that projects implemented under the auspices of the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS), are not sustainable due to exorbitant prices of land, which makes it extremely difficult for the emerging farmers and youth to repay loans and/or lease fees.
According to Mr Aggrey Mahanjana, the Group Managing Director of NERPO, the organisation welcomes PLAS but, in order to make sure that the strategy is a success, he suggests that a minimum grace period of 3 years should be granted to beneficiaries of PLAS, during which they do not pay any capital, interest nor lease fees but instead receive mentorship and training on the same property. “If the department does not adopt this approach it will be impossible to have any successful project under the Land Redistribution Programme due to high price of Agricultural land” said Mr Mahanjana.
NERPO has also observed that Agricultural Financial Institutions are reluctant to fund any purchase of livestock or start-up enterprises in primary agriculture The organisation made a proposal to the Minister that a certain portion of the MAFISA be wholesaled to NERPO for on-lending to emerging livestock farmers and Youth Agri-Business Projects. Such a move will speed up delivery and improve access to MAFISA Funding, as the organisation has already designed appropriate funding models that are suitable for emerging livestock farmers and youth empowerment.
The Minister welcomed the proposals from NERPO and undertook to give them serious consideration and urgent attention.
NERPO is a mouthpiece of South Africa’s emerging livestock farmers and sought to create successful commercial farmers out of its 40 000 members who are predominantly from historically disadvantaged groups. The organization is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year.
Further Enquiries
Aggrey Mahanjana
Group Managing Director
Tel : +27 (0) 12 361 9127
Cell : +27 (0) 82 556 7297
E-mail : aggreym@nerpo.org.za,
Website: www.nerpo.org.za
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