LONI PRINSLOO
SOUTH Africa created a R1 billion ($68 million) fund to help small-scale Black farmers enter commercial agricultural production.
The Department of Agriculture will finance the project that will be run by the Industrial Development Corp., a state-owned bank that plans to provide loans to farmers.
The fund will have an initial duration of 10 years.
“The broader agricultural sector is central to the recovery of the local economy,” IDC Chief Executive Officer Tshokolo Nchocho said in a statement Thursday.
In addition to addressing the racial inequality that is a legacy of apartheid, the fund will help fill a void left by the Land & Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa, a state lender that’s defaulted on its debt and is struggling to provide new loans to farmers.
The creation of the fund may encourage lending to the sector by commercial banks and other state development institutions, Agriculture Minister
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