The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) will on 10 -11 March 2017, hold a consultative workshop on the implementation of the One Household One Hectare Programme at the Birchwood Conference Centre, Boksburg.
The workshop which is part of the Department's response to the need for a rapid redistribution of land and radical socio economic transformation of rural areas, will discuss implementation plans to fast track the rollout of the programme.
The meeting will include District and Local Municipalities from all nine provinces and senior officials of the Department. The Department began implementing the One Household One Hectare programme in 2015 and to date over 150 sites have been identified.
Discussions at the workshop will include the following:
· The roll-out to communities
· Progress to date on the program and its sub programs
· Land Use Rights Certificates which are issued to beneficiaries (what it means and how it aides beneficiaries)
· Various support Models for beneficiaries
The programme aims to significantly reduce poverty and food insecurity, increase the pool of smallholder farmers, producers and agro-manufacturers. It targets state-owned and traditional communal land for redistribution.
In terms of the programme, beneficiaries produce crops for both subsistence and the market with the support of the Department. Surplus land that remains after all households have been allocated one hectare portions of land, is used for grazing, water and energy needs as well as public infrastructure and enterprise development.
The One Household One Hectare rollout is to be aligned with the Agri-Parks development programme. This will provide beneficiary households with a solid outlet for marketing their produce. Initially, each one of the Agri-parks in all 44 districts will have 5 x One Household One Hectare Sites. It is envisaged that a minimum of 50 Households will participate in each Site, this will therefore touch the livelihoods of over 10 500 rural households.
