1. Yes the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has committed R325 million annually for the next three years and has signed an agreement with Land Bank for 10 years, bringing the commitment of DALRDD to not less than R3,25 billion over the 10 year period.
The funds will be used to blend with the loan that Land Bank will issue to black smallholder and medium scale commercial producers at 60% grant for smallholder producers but not exceeding R15 million per transaction and 50% grant for medium scale commercial producers but not exceeding R30 million per transaction.
The Blended Fund facility will be used by the parties to provide loan and grant funding to black producers or majority black owned enterprises for:
2. The following are the requirements to qualify for Blended Finance Scheme:
3. This is a national scheme accessible to all provinces equally. The scheme is demand driven and will support applicants from all provinces. The steering committee will evaluate the spread of support and address any poor take-up from any province by engaging the bank officials in that province as well as the relevant department of agriculture.
4. No. A statement was made at the launch on 24 October 2022, which was broadcasted in local newspapers and the SABC news.