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Crafting and Implementing successful Mentorship programmes: Perspectives on Sustainable land reform in South African Agriculture

Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Agricultural Economics, Education and Extension, Botswana College of Agriculture, Gaborone, Botswana

Res. J. Agriculture & Forestry Sci., Volume 4, Issue (2), Pages 17-23, February,8 (2016)

Abstract

Land reform is one of the landmark policy initiatives implemented on the auspices of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) by the new African National Congress (ANC)-led government in South Africa (SA), following the April 1994 democratic elections. Land reform was therefore, envisioned as a policy instrument to enable previously disadvantaged individuals to own land and engage in commercial agricultural production. Inadvertently, a new generation of emerging black farmers who benefit from the state’s land redistribution program find themselves without sufficient post-settlement and institutional support. The government has therefore, formalized mentorship as part of post-settlement support services in order to equip the emerging farmers with the necessary technical, business and resource management skills required to engage in sustainable commercial agriculture. This paper discusses the need for mentorship in the South African agriculture, citing some of the mentorship programs that the SA government has to date, supported in agriculture. It then highlights some of the lessons that could be learnt from previous mentorship programs in SA agriculture, proposes a model on how to develop and implement mentorship programs and ends with a summary.

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