Agri Hour, Reggie Ngcobo 16 July
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No confirmation yet about a second phase of Covid-19 relief to farmers
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is monitoring the voucher purchase system which is in place to assist mostly small scale farmers as part of the department's Covid-19- disaster fund of R1.2 billion. Reggie Ngcobo, spokesperson of the department, says the approximately 15,000 farmers across the country, whose applications were successful, are now obtaining farming supplies through the use of their vouchers at various suppliers. About 40 000 farmers originally applied for this relief. OFM News' Christal-Lize Muller spoke to him...
(FOR THE WEB: He says there were initially problems with the availability of some supplies, but suppliers are now fully on board again. Together with that the expiration date of these vouchers was initially at the end of last month, but minister Thoko Didiza has extended the validity thereof until the end of this month. Ncgobo says the decision was made to ensure farmers have enough time at their disposal to obtain the necessary necessities. He says farmers who were unsuccessful for this disaster fund should not be discouraged.
He says when Didiza this year announced the department's relief intervention, farmers had an opportunity to apply. The application process were then closed and the department embarked in a process of evaluation which has been completed. Currently farmers that were successful in their applications are getting their input as vouchers were issued to them. These vouchers were initially expiring at the end of June, but Didiza extended its validity until the end of this month. This enables the farmers to get inputs from the suppliers. He says the department is aware that some of the suppliers were having a challenge regarding the provision of the necessary input required by the farmers. The issue has however been addressed and that is why the validity of the vouchers was extended. Interaction between farmers and supp
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is monitoring the voucher purchase system which is in place to assist mostly small scale farmers as part of the department's Covid-19- disaster fund of R1.2 billion. Reggie Ngcobo, spokesperson of the department, says the approximately 15,000 farmers across the country, whose applications were successful, are now obtaining farming supplies through the use of their vouchers at various suppliers. About 40 000 farmers originally applied for this relief. OFM News' Christal-Lize Muller spoke to him...
(FOR THE WEB: He says there were initially problems with the availability of some supplies, but suppliers are now fully on board again. Together with that the expiration date of these vouchers was initially at the end of last month, but minister Thoko Didiza has extended the validity thereof until the end of this month. Ncgobo says the decision was made to ensure farmers have enough time at their disposal to obtain the necessary necessities. He says farmers who were unsuccessful for this disaster fund should not be discouraged.
He says when Didiza this year announced the department's relief intervention, farmers had an opportunity to apply. The application process were then closed and the department embarked in a process of evaluation which has been completed. Currently farmers that were successful in their applications are getting their input as vouchers were issued to them. These vouchers were initially expiring at the end of June, but Didiza extended its validity until the end of this month. This enables the farmers to get inputs from the suppliers. He says the department is aware that some of the suppliers were having a challenge regarding the provision of the necessary input required by the farmers. The issue has however been addressed and that is why the validity of the vouchers was extended. Interaction between farmers and supp
