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...

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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 necessities. He says farmers whose applications 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 was then closed and the department embarked in a process of evaluation which has been completed. Currently farmers who 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 suppliers now runs smoothly. He says meanwhile the department is currently monitoring the situation and after the expiration of the vouchers the department will embark on assessing the process to establish if all the farmers that were successful in their applications received vouchers. 

He adds that farmers who were not successful in their applications need to concentrate on the ordinary programmes of the department.

Together with that the department can't make a pronouncement about a second phase of its Covid-19 disaster relief fund as there are a lot of things happening within departments especially with regard to government budget cuts. This Covid-19 relief fund was initially made available to assist farmers to continue producing, while existing programmes by the department are still in place. These programmes are also aimed at assisting farmers.  

"We said those farmers who have already support through various programmes were excluded to aim at those that government are not assisting." This is aimed at expanding the net and enable more farmers to get assistance from government. Ngcobo says at this stage the department cannot clearly confirm a second phase of this Covid-19 disaster relief and has not indicated in any way before that there will be a second phase.

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