Page 4 - 05 Cotton SA March 2015

Opkomende boere - Smallholder farmers
Minimum wages for farm

workers sector

Minimum rate for period Minimum rate for period Minimum rate for period
1 March 2013 1 March 2014 1 March 2015
To To To
28 February 2014 28 February 2015 29 February 2016
Monthly Weekly Daily Hourly Monthly Weekly Daily Hourly Monthly Weekly Daily Hourly

R2274.82 R525.00 R105.00* R11.66 R2420.41 R558.60 R111.72* R12.41 R2606.78 R601.61* R120.32 R13.37

*For an employee who works 9 hours per day
**The CPI utilized to determine minimum wages is 6.2% for the lowest quintile as published by Statistic South Africa dated 10
December 2014 plus 1,5% which add to 7,7% increase.

Smallholder cotton production

programmes

Lawrence Malinga, ARC-IIC The 5 year programme will consist of five and production programme. The partner-
projects in four provinces including the ship between all the relevant stakeholders
n 2012 Agricultural Research Council Dicheung Irrigation Scheme in Loskop Val-
(ARC) and Department of Rural Develop- will enable the members of Dithotse Tsa
Iment and Land Reform (DRDLR) entered ley, Limpopo. The Loskop Valley (incorpo- Lerotse to successfully implement, man-
rating Alias Motswaledi and Ephraim Mo-
into an agreement to support two cotton age, market and evaluate the proposed
development projects for a period of one gale Local Municipalities) forms the core value crop rotational project.
year, namely (i) “Enhancement of cotton agricultural hub of the Sekhukhune Dis-
production by small holder farmers in the trict Municipality. The agricultural sector A leading commercial farmer, Jannie Ter-
Makhathini region” and (ii) “Establishment is the most common activity in the district blanche, in the Loskop Scheme along with
of guidance and training opportunities on despite the fact that its contribution to the Loskop ginning, LDA and several small
industrial and alternate crops for commer- GDP is low due to agricultural activities farmers have engaged in a possible part-
cial and small holder farming enterprises outside of the Loskop Valley that are un- nership for better utilization of the unused
in the different Provinces of South Africa”. dertaken on a subsistence level. This sec- land. The commercial farmer is currently
tor is however an important contributor in
The programme envisages the continu- terms of employment and poverty allevia- involved on an ongoing basis with the
ation for a 5 year period in support of tion in the district. The sector compromis- emerging farmers in the area and this is
promotion of cotton production by small es of subsistence and commercial farming the main reason why the small-scale farm-
holder farmers in SA in these and other activities, which includes the production ers requested a partnership on the basis of
areas. In collaboration with the ARC and of maize, tobacco, cotton, sunflower, citrus the project management. The LDA has giv-
CottonSA, the programme further seeks fruit, grapes and vegetables. en the undertaking to partner and support
to provide extension and training to the the project. The focus is develop the small-
farmers and ensure that their businesses The Dicheung irrigation scheme develop- scale farmers to commercial farmers in the
are sustainable. The programme is fully ment and production project was pro- near future. The scheme has about 400 ha
funded by DRDLR. The initiative is to en- posed by members of Dithotse Tsa Lerotse of potential land under irrigation that can
hance cotton production by small holder Cooperative after they got permission to
farmers in South Africa to enable them to occupy and use 100 ha of land for agricul- be phased in over time with 80 ha cur-
become sustainable producers of quality tural development purposes. The coopera- rently, through the funding from DRDLR
cotton. This will also apply to the on-going tive needs support in order to install centre and the mentorship of the ARC, Cotton SA
job creation potential of the programme pivots with a pump station, buy mecha- and Jannie Terblanche, under cotton with
related to continuous cotton production nisation and inputs, and training to start an intention to increase the production in
to feed the entire value chain. with the proposed scheme development the next season.

Katoen SA Cotton 4 January-March 2015