Here are some of the questions:
Silindokuhle Farmer Zikalala: What does he [the minister] think about including more agricultural graduates in the land reform programme? And what are plans for the government to give jobs to the unemployed graduates?
Mthokozisi Hadebe: What has the department done for the unemployed graduates? We have tried applying for bursaries to further our diplomas but only those who have relatives in the department get them.
Selaelo Slys Waga Boloka: Why [doesn’t] government increase internship programmes and more junior positions for graduates to gain experience?
The minister’s response:
Creating employment opportunities for graduates in the field of agriculture was one of the issues that was debated at Lekgotla in January this year.
Our view is that when people are given land, either through transformation in agriculture or land reform, if they are new to agriculture no amount of money will substitute [for] knowledge. And no amount of money will make that farmer efficient.
So our call is that for every piece of agricultural land given to a new farmer or community, provision needs to be made to appoint an extension officer to each farm. This is where we can create job opportunities for agriculture graduates – for every new farmer or farming co-op there has to be an extension officer appointed to assist the new farmer/s.
My view is that when we give people access to land, we should also consider giving some of that land to agriculture graduates who want to farm, but have no access to land.
We do have an internship programme in the department, but we want to restructure this programme so that it can function in a more transparent way so that more people can have access to the programme and so that all graduates know how to apply for the programme.
We issue about 70 bursaries each year for students who wish to study agriculture. We realise however that we also need to make this programme more widely accessible so that more people will know how to apply for these bursaries.
We are also negotiating with commercial farmers to help us in providing internship opportunities for agriculture students. I know that some farmers already help students who are still studying by employing them on their farmers during holidays so that they can gain practical experience.
