Black farmers on Monday called for unity among all farmers to address challenges facing the sector.
”Without this unity we shall continue to fight about land from a political stance instead of solving the problem from a social and economic sustainability perspective,” the president of the National African Farmers’ Union of South Africa, Motsepe Matlala, told the body’s annual congress in Bloemfontein.
Matlala said the black farming body will play a significant role in building unity among all farmers in future. It is only when all farmers have a common purpose that they will have an impact on issues such as criminal violence against them.
”This congress marks the end of the era where we talk of should or could.”
Matlala went on to say: ”We are business people, not a political force or party.”
On issues facing black farmers, Matlala said access to market mechanisms must change. ”No amount of progress of land reform, access to production financing, technical assistance or education will benefit our members if their access to market mechanisms remains unchanged.”
Although land reform affects on agriculture, it is not an exclusively agricultural issue. ”However, the country continues to leap towards the agricultural sector to solve all the problems in this regard,” he said. — Sapa