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KZN youth gets farm training

Tractor on a field
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Youth from different farms  in the Bloodriver area in northern KwaZulu-Natal say they are ready to run their own businesses. Young people have been  trained by local owners to run the properties should farms be expropriated. The youth say it is not true that black people don’t have skills to run farms effectively.

Expropriation of land without compensation gives hope to many South Africans to participate in the economy of the country. The lack of skills by some black farmers has been identified by commercial farms in public hearings of the expropriation of land without compensation as main challenge. To address these challenges, black farm owners have taken an initiative to train local youth from different farms around Bloodriver and Utrecht  to run farms successfully.

Mbongeleni Nkosi is a local young person who works on a farm. He says they are faced with many challenges on farms. “We are trying by all means to support ourselves although we don’t have resources and we have a few cattle as some were taken by white commercial farmers. We are left with a few livestock.”

Gugu Zondi, one of the Brakspruit farm owners, is prepared to change the negative perception that black people cannot run farms. Zondi has established a programme called Farm Dwellers and Youth Training Initiative.

The aim is to equip youth who are farm dwellers with necessary skills that can help them run farms effectively. The youth is trained on livestock breeding, farm management and other related skills.

Zondi insists that black people can effectively run farms if government can support them financially. “We have started the triple P’s where government together with the private sector are joining hands and better the lives of people who are on farms. What we have done has produced a positive impact on the youth as they are not on drugs but they are getting knowledge on how to run farms.”

Sthembiso Mhlungu from Grootvlei and Simakade Cele say they are now confident that they can successfully run farms as the experience they have acquired is relevant.

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