Farmsol is a SAB Thrive Fund initiative and black-owned agricultural services company focusing on incubating emerging farmers into fully-fledged, future-fit, sustainable enterprises. They plan to attract and empower more young farmers through their national programme in preparation of tackling food security challenges in South Africa by 2050. According to MD of FarmSol, Aron Kole “we believe that equipping future-fit smallholder farmers with the necessary skills requires a generational outlook and long-term approach. This bears testimony to the resilience of the farmers in the programme and the commitment of all the stakeholders involved” says Kole.
According to Stats SA, the country’s unemployment rate increased from about 27% earlier this year to 29% in the second quarter of 2019. This figure involves a significant number of young people who are in the job market and people who have stopped looking for work. Studies show that addressing some of the constraints to empower women in agriculture, particularly in rural areas, have greater returns on investments, the economy, and society. FarmSol’s core agenda focuses on creating and sustaining agricultural jobs, skills development and sustainable farmers. Njabulo Mbokane is a young maize producer from Ermelo who won this year’s SAB and FarmSol young emerging farmer of the year award for her resilience and growth as a farmer. She nurtured her passion for agriculture on a lucrative vegetable school garden in Mpumalanga and recently graduated onto a commercial scale of 200 hectares.
Kole says that the company has supported 420 farmers across seven provinces in South African to date, with a total of 113 female farmers of which 32 are young female farmers in the FarmSol programme “We have a number of leading young producers in our programme, but I think it’s not enough. We plan to involve more young people and women in our programme, through partnerships and a targeted outreach initiative. For us, the involvement of young people in agriculture is not just a symbolic issue, but a social and economic imperative that should be an integral part of the sector’s development”.
