Almost P12m more to pay farmers

Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Friday February 7, 2014 15:37

 

According to principal public relations officer in the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Boikhutso Rabasha, they had to source funds from elsewhere to pay farmers or suppliers who had sold their small stock to them.  The small stock was to be distributed to beneficiaries of the poverty eradication programme.

Rabasha has acknowledged that there have been delayed payments for small stock farmers who sold their livestock to government from as far back as November last year.  This was due to a limited budget, she said.

“By the time those farmers submitted their invoices LIMID funds were exhausted. We have since secured more funds and all outstanding payments are being cleared,” she said, adding that ideally, farmers should be paid within14 days of selling. 

She says that despite the inconveniences of delayed payments, they have not observed any reluctance from farmers to sell small stock to government under the LIMID programme.  In fact, the number of suppliers has shot up since the programme reviewed and increased prices for livestock under the programme. “More farmers have been willing to supply government ever since prices for small stock increased from P500 to P700 for does/ewes and from P1,000 to P1,400 for bucks/rams,” said Rabasha.

The programme is progressing well, she said. To date a total of 10,878 applications have been approved and a total of 8,447 projects have been established. Further, she said, the programme is under review again to take into consideration comments and observations from various stakeholders.

Meanwhile, some small stock farmers have expressed their displeasure with the ministry for unexplained delayed payments. Thulaganyo Masisi, a farmer from Sekoma is one of those awaiting payments.

“I gave away 18 goats in November hoping to raise funds for many things I have to do here.  Taking children to school was a challenge because we are still waiting to be paid. A lot of us are waiting,” said Masisi.

The farmer said that they have been consulting with the Jwaneng LIMID office where they are always turned back on instruction to wait for phone calls.

“They would not even give you their office number. They said they would call us but here we are, still waiting for that call. There is no explanation as to why we have to wait for this long. Our understanding is that we should be paid in just two weeks,” he said.

According to Masisi, about 60 to 70 goats have been exchanged in his area, where other owners are still waiting to be paid.  Further he said, farmers, not only in his area, are now reluctant to sell small stock to the LIMID programme fearing the inconvenience that others have suffered.

Some who had already sold livestock and are awaiting payment are now threatening to take it from the beneficiaries as they have lost hope that they will be paid.