The Department of Agriculture recently celebrated its first Black Economic Empowerment Showcase in KwaZulu Natal to share its successes within the process.

Mr Swart, Assistant Director General, Trade and Business Development of the National Department of Agriculture said it was a process for sharing and learning and for people to give suggestions, in order to celebrate further empowerment within the sector.
 

Assistant Director General, (Trade and Business Development) of the Department Agriculture, Mr Swart (left) and Prof G Ndabandaba (centre left), KZN MEC of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs at the BEE Showcase.

Mr Dan Kekana, of the Financial Services and Cooperative Development, gave a brief overview of the funding options available in the agricultural sector. Both in the private and public sector, the Department of Agriculture is aware of the dire constraints faced by farmers which include the lack of access to funds. Here private sector funds exist in the forms of loans whilst public sector funds in the form of grants, both having stringent conditions for the farmer to adhere to. Information is not always readily available, but options of accessing it are via the Department of Agriculture, provincial agricultural departments, commercial banks and municipalities. Other departments who can also be contacted are Mafisa and Land Bank. Kekana said there should be more public awareness campaigns on the options and products of funding that are available to the market and this should be tailored to the market needs. Savings should be direly encouraged where credit and savings should be balanced, with sustainable financial services. There is a need to coordinate funding approaches for better effectiveness and efficiency in serving end users. Loans are approved up to a maximum of R100 000 for any agri related activities, repaid in over a 12 month period.

Applications can be done via the Agri extension offices, Development Financial Institutes, and the Land Bank. Requirements for the loans are a monthly income of R20 000 but incomes of R300 000 per annum will not be accepted as this is mainly focused on the second economy.

Mr Dan Kekana can be contacted on dank@nda.agric.za
Tel: (012) 319 7917
Cell: 082 319 0578
Email: mafisa@landbank.co.za
Telephone: (012) 321 3918

HIV/AIDS AN INTEGRAL PART OF ADULT EDUCATION

It is virtually impossible to implement any kind of adult education programme without including some sort of HIV/Aids component, particularly in an agricultural environment. That is according to Bronwyn Palmer, training manager for Neos Estate and Colors Lowveld. She says it is no longer sufficient just to teach one’s employees how to read and write, one also has to effectively educate them about HIV/Aids and, wherever possible, offer them support in terms of counselling, medical assistance, etc.

Palmer says an estimated 20 per cent of South Africa’s economically active population is living with HIV/Aids. The agricultural sector provides for about 11 per cent of South Africa’s formal employment and 27 per cent of informal employment, so the impact of HIV/Aids on this sector is inescapable. She also points out the futility of implementing training programmes when the learners frequently die before they can sit their examinations!

She says, "Given the particular challenges posed by the HIV/Aids pandemic, Neos Estates and Colors Lowveld are placing strong emphasis on assisting those affected and infected with the disease. In keeping with the premise that one of our most valuable assets is our people and that ultimately the company’s performance depends on the optimal use of its employee’s abilities and skills."

One year ago, Colors Lowveld and Neos Estate implemented the computer-assisted approach to ABET. Several of its employees have already moved on to Learnerships and this is testimony to the efficacy of implementing HIV/Aids education, and traditional training programmes, Palmer says, "The learnerships and the literacy programmes are running jointly. At Neos Estates we have 14 people doing the Junior Farm Management learnership and at the Colors Lowveld Packhouse we have 20 people on the Fruit Packing and Processing learnerships. All of our workers are expected to attend the Literacy Programme as it is conducted in working time. In total, we have 116 people undergoing training at Colors Lowveld and 66 people at Neos Estates."

"There are many interesting stories about personal achievement – we have one man at Neos Estates who is 72 years old. He is a Swazi citizen and doesn’t have a South African identity book, but has worked his whole life on Neos. Because of this he is unable to draw a South African pension so we keep him on as the petrol attendant. He learnt to write his name late last year and signed for his pay for the first time in his life – he is so proud and his work is so neat!" adds Palmer.
She gives other examples of people who have benefited from being given access to training. For instance, the Media Works training facilitator at Colors Lowveld, Julia Mabunda, joined the company as a carton/punnet wrapper, progressed to head of quality control, where her capabilities resulted in her being moved across to the adult literacy training programme. She has just completed 2 advanced HIV/AIDS counselling courses recognised by the SA Medical and Dental Association. Julia is in a league of her own – she is certainly taking every opportunity that she is given.

The trainer at Neos Estate, Dumisani Shabungu, joined Colors Lowveld as a building assistant and moved across to Neos Estate as the literacy trainer.

Palmer explains the high illiteracy rate amongst the employees at Neo Estates and Colors Lowveld: "We are based in an area where Swaziland and Mozambique are closer to us than Nelspruit. Most of the agricultural work force comes from these two countries. In both countries women are not considered worthy of obtaining any education. They are, however, desperate to learn, their eagerness is amazing to watch! They are eager, neat and so motivated."

She concludes by saying that Neos Estate and Colors Lowveld Packhouse have a vested interest in the future of agriculture in the Onderberg area and this extends to ensuring that the working and educational environment of all employees is improved.

Neos Estate and Colors Lowveld wish to make a meaningful difference to their agricultural workforce who seek to empower themselves, therefore contributing towards a better and more prosperous South Africa.

ETQA Roadshows
 

Alize Groenewald of Deloitte & Touche SETA Services (DTSS) assisting with the MIS Training held in Cape Town

ETQA workshops were held nationally to inform Data Capturers and Skills Development Facilitators of the new offline Management Information Systems (MIS). An offline system was introduced to enable users to capture all required information. For instructions to the use of the SMS Offline System click here. For further details, contact either Cynthia Nkabinde cynthia@agriseta.co.za or Alize Groenewald of Deloitte agroenewald@dtss.co.za.

SDF Training
 

AgriSETA completed Skills Development Facilitator (SDF) Training in the Western Cape and Gauteng which provided SDF’s within the agricultural field with the basic knowledge and skills to facilitate the processes of planning, implementation and quality control of skills development within their respective companies. This registered Skills Programme addressed the following Unit Standards: 9946 – Develop a Workplace Skills Plan 9947 – Implement a Workplace Skills Plan 9948 – Design a Quality Assurance System 9949 – Compile a report on the Workplace Skills Plan Altogether 40 learners completed the 4 day sessions and are currently busy with the completion of the mandatory portfolio of evidence as part of the final evaluation.

It is envisaged that in future AgriSETA would have to communicate more frequently with stakeholders by means of SDF Forums in order to keep SDF’s abreast of new developments relating to Learnerships, Skills Programmes, Critical and Scarce Skills provision and the processes with regards to the accreditation of training providers and their related quality control responsibilities.

Amendments to Learnership Tax Allowances

Learnerships were developed to offer both education and work-based training aligned with a South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) registered qualification. In order to promote the learnership targets in the NSDS, the learnership tax allowance was introduced in 2002 as an enabling mechanism. The tax incentive provides financial benefits to employers regarding the cost of training. The learnership tax allowance had a sunset clause that would expire on the 30 September 2006. The tax incentive has enabled employers to recruit additional learners that were previously unemployed. Since the introduction of the learnership tax incentive, the number of learners have increased drastically, exceeding 100 000. Therefore the learnership allowance will play a critical role in the achievement of the NSDS II targets.

For further information on the Learnership Tax Allowance click here.

 

PLEASE NOTE:

FINAL SUBMISSION DATE FOR ANNUAL TRAINING REPORTS (ATR’S) 05/06 AND WORKPLACE SKILLS PLANS (WSP’S) 06/07 IS FRIDAY 30TH JUNE 2006 AN ONLINE FORMAT IS AVAILABLE Accessible on the AgriSETA website under the Mandatory Grants menu Contact either: Theuns Henning theuns@agriseta.co.za or Amandie Gerber amandie@agriseta.co.za

Contact the AgriSETA:

Tel: (012) 325 1655
Fax: (012) 3251677/24
Email: info@agriseta.co.za