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6 October 2005

The Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Thoko Didiza, is on a three-day Project Consolidate Imbizo in the Amajuba and Umkhanyakude district municipalities that comprise Vryheid, Utrecht and Jozini local municipalities in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

On 9 October 2005, the Minister will launch the Mechanisation and the Micro-agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa projects at Jozini in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The former‘s main objective is to ensure that resource-poor farmers cultivate the land and therefore become food secure while the latter is a financial scheme meant to provide funding to small and medium-scale farmers, thereby leaving the Land Bank with the task of concentrating on funding the commercial farming sector.

Project Consolidate is a Government initiative that is aimed at improving the delivery of services by providing hands-on support to 136 municipalities. National ministers have been deployed in various municipalities in order to assist in the process of finding solutions to service-delivery challenges facing various municipalities.

At Jozini, Minister Didiza will visit projects to determine progress and the impact thereof on communities. She will also interact directly with members of these communities to obtain their views and recommendations.

Enquiries:
Steve Galane
Tel: (012) 319 7312
Cell: 083 635 7346

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
6 October 2005