FRESH PLAZA 1st November 2017 – Organisation believes new financing model with subsidised interest rates will reignite land reform process Land audit: 46.5% of South Africa's high-potential agric land in hands of emerging farmers AgriSA today released its land audit, the first of its kind to calculate the amount of land in the hands of PDIs (previously disadvantaged individuals, meaning South Africans who are not white). in the ground and get a factual basis for the land “We decided: let’s put a peg debate,” explains Omri van Zyl, AgriSA the basis to fire up the executive director. “Agriculture is economy. It is two to three times more efficient to reduce poverty than any other sector of the economy.” This map shows that the highest rates of black land ownership coincides with the areas with highest agricultural potential, in the east of the country (PDIs = Previously Disadvantaged Individuals) The absence of a factual basis for discussions around land ownership was termed “the elephant in the of AgriSA. want to open room” by Dan Kriek, newly appointed president “We up constructive debate around land reform, in order for the process to be done constitutionally and commercially.” Because there is a significant east-west difference to the potential of agricultural land in South Africa the west is arid, the east has much higher rainfall it was decided to base the – – audit (initiated by Agri Development Solutions and Landbouweekblad, in conjunction with AgriSA) not on acreage alone, but also on the value of land as well as its potential. Through looking at land transactions involving hundreds of thousands of transactions from – 1994 up until the present it was found that currently 26.7% of agricultural land is in the –
FRESH PLAZA – 1st November 2017 Organisation believes new financing model with subsidised interest rates will reignite land reform process Land audit: 46.5% of South Africa's high-potential agric land in hands of emerging farmers AgriSA today released its land audit, the first of its kind to calculate the amount of land in the hands of PDIs (previously disadvantaged individuals, meaning South Africans who are not white). “We decided: let’s put a peg in the ground and get a factual basis for the land debate,” explains Omri van Zyl, AgriSA executive director. “Agriculture is the basis to fire up the economy. It is two to three times more efficient to reduce poverty than any other sector of the economy.” This map shows that the highest rates of black land ownership coincides with the areas with highest agricultural potential, in the east of the country (PDIs = Previously Disadvantaged Individuals) The absence of a factual basis for discussions around land ownership was termed “the elephant in the room” by Dan Kriek, newly appointed president of AgriSA. “We want to open up constructive debate around land reform, in order for the process to be done constitutionally and commercially.” Because there is a significant east-west difference to the potential of agricultural land in South Africa – the west is arid, the east has much higher rainfall – it was decided to base the audit (initiated by Agri Development Solutions and Landbouweekblad, in conjunction with AgriSA) not on acreage alone, but also on the value of land as well as its potential. Through looking at land transactions – involving hundreds of thousands of transactions from 1994 up until the present – it was found that currently 26.7% of agricultural land is in the