Instead of taking food security seriously and striving to partner with and support Free State farmers, the provincial government has opted to be hostile toward the agricultural community.
Free State farmers are already battling the elements in their fight for survival and cannot afford to be affected by ideologies and policy that make successful farming nearly impossible.
Farmers in the Free State do not get adequate support from the Free State government and are frequently overlooked when it comes to aid due to incompetence and poor planning.
The national Department of Agriculture confirmed that the Free State provincial government failed to table a business plan to apply for drought relief funds for the province.
The FF Plus tabled a motion in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) demanding that an investigation must be launched into the matter and that the Department must be held accountable for its failure to submit the application. The motion was denied after a Free State ANC member of the NCOP voted against it and that raises the question of who is being protected by sweeping it under the carpet.
And now the farmers in the Western Free State who have been suffering due to severe droughts for years will not receive any aid.
Farmers, however, do not only have to endure the elements of nature and the provincial government’s maladministration, but also the utter lack of effective rural safety. Farmers are producing and living in fear of the next farm attack or murder.
There is no doubt that the ANC does not realise the value of the agricultural community, particularly in the Free State. Even though the Free State is South Africa’s breadbasket, the government does not provide commercial farmers in this province with enough support.
The Department’s feeble attempts to provide aid during this time exclusively to subsistence and small farmers do not contribute to food security in any way.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Armand Cloete on FF Plus
South Africa Today – South Africa News
Farm attacks and drought: Agriculture is not a priority for Free State government
