BackGround

Farming in South Africa is a major economic activity and in turn it contributes greatly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Farming in our country is not just an economic activity but it is rather a way of life in the broader sense. The Government of the republic of South Africa has for many decades tried to change the face of farming so as to accommodate farmers from all walks of life and ultimately try to get them to participate in commercial farming. The process however has not been a smooth one and it has been one that has received a lot of criticism. Through learning from its mistakes and acting upon suggestions/ recommendations from various role players. The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NAFCOC) called for an establishment of a union that would champion the interests of black farmers. The main objective of this new union would be to primarily facilitate the entry of black farmers into the mainstream agricultural economy by lobbying the government of that time to assist black farmers to access land and farming resources. The union that was formed was called the National African Farmers Union (NAFU-SA) and it was formed in 1991.

OBJECTIVES

• Institutional Development - (BFA-1) - Provision of an appropiate management and administration infrastructure provincially.
• Rural and Urban Farmer Development Support Services (BFA-2) - Development of farmers support services centres countrywide which will facilitate aquisition of land, securing of credit facilities, provision of training and skills development and facilitation of acess to technology and insurance.
• Tertiary Education and Finncial Assistance (BFA-3) - Provision of tertiary education, financial assistance to vunerable farmers, women, youth and people with disabilities to acquire agricultural business management in order to operate, run and manage their farming operations effectively.

This also included bursaries to encourage the to study agriultural and economic sciences.

• Commodities and Co-operatives for Profits and diversification (BF4) - The development of agricultural commodities, agri-businesses, processing plants, agritourism units and agri-co-ops for profits.

This was intended to create opportunities within and outside the agricultural industry and to ensure that the developing emerging commercial farmers have a role to play in land preparation, harvesting, transportation,processing and other related opportunities.

• Lobbying and Advocy (BFA-5) - NAFU-SA has been attempting to strengthen it's efforts on lobbying and advocacy specifically for land, water, basic and advanced technical and management skills, markets, rural and peri-urban infrastructural development, access to finance, information, training the trainer, mentors skills developmentfacilitators, assessors and moderators to add value to emerging farmers, youth and women.
• NAFU-SA has engaged on rolling-down all the information through the regional and provincial road-shows with the nominal support from the government and other strategic partners or key stakeholders such as the NAFCOC.