Minister Nkwinti to discuss plans for agriparks in S Africa

29th January 2016 By: Megan van Wyngaardt - Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

Minister Nkwinti to discuss plans for agriparks in S Africa

Photo by: Duane Daws

To further revitalise the agricultural and agroprocessing value chain, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti will, this weekend, host a workshop with 1 000 AgriParks advisory committee members from 44 districts.

This formed part of the of government’s nine-point plan to ignite economic growth, which comprised simultaneous actions in key strategic areas, at a scale large enough to constitute a “big push”.

The Minister would also discuss his department’s land reform and rural development programme.

The 15-year AgriParks initiative, for which a R2-billion budget had been allocated for 2015/16, sought to create jobs, generate revenue and empower women and the youth through the establishment of farming activities in rural areas.

One per cent of the budget would go into capacity building, particularly that of municipalities.
 
As a network comprising agroproduction, processing, logistics, marketing, training and extension service, AgriParks would enable a market-driven combination and integration of various agricultural activities and rural transformation services.