Minister announces 1bn rand boost for South Africa’s agri sector at premier food expo

29/06/2017 – News / Agriculture / South Africa / Africa’s Big 7 / Agro-Processing Support Scheme

Minister of Trade and

Industry, Rob Davies

Trade & Industry Minister Rob Davies revealed full details of the new dti Agro-processing Support Scheme at a special presentation at Africa’s Big 7 earlier this week.

Dr Davies announced full details of the new one billion rand Agro-processing Support Scheme (APSS) – launched by the Department of Trade & Industry (dti) – at Africa’s premier food and beverage event in Johannesburg on Tuesday (27th June).

The scheme offers individual grants of up to 20 million rand to support small farmers, create jobs, increase rural development and help boost exports.

“I am confident that the agro-processing incentive will make a positive difference by creating jobs and supporting smallholder farmers, amongst others,” said Dr Davies, who described the target producers as an important labour-intensive sector, prioritised in the Industrial Policy Action Plan.

Dr Davies’ APSS announcement targets food and beverage value addition and processing (including black-owned winemakers), feed production, fertiliser production, fibre production and furniture. The announcement forms part of the dti’s transition away from generalised incentives towards sector-specific programmes, the Minister said.