President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit Redlands Dairy Farm

President Cyril Ramaphosa is due at Redlands Dairy Farm in Stutterheim on Thursday, October 8. The farm is located in Amahlathi Local Municipality, within the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape. The visit is intended to allow the government to review the operations of an agricultural enterprise that has received support from Land Bank.

Redlands is described as a black-owned and youth-owned commercial farming business. Its financing came through the Blended Finance Scheme, which Land Bank runs in partnership with the Department of Agriculture. The presidential programme includes discussions on the farm’s activities and an assessment of its contribution to participation in commercial agriculture, employment and development in rural areas.

Land Bank administers several funding mechanisms with the agriculture department. Alongside the Blended Finance Scheme, these include the Agri-BEE Fund and the Agro-Energy Fund. In the previous financial year, the bank provided more than R1.7bn in financing to commercial and emerging farmers. About R700m of that amount was channelled through the Blended Finance Scheme.

The media programme begins with a farm visit on October 7 at 11am. Media representatives are scheduled to meet the farm owner and senior Land Bank officials. Ramaphosa’s visit is set for 11am the following day, followed by an official programme and presidential address at 12.30pm at Mzwandile Fanti Community Hall in Stutterheim.

Attendance during the presidential farm visit will be limited because of foot-and-mouth-disease protocols. Media organisations seeking to cover the event must apply for accreditation using the form specified by the Presidency. Applications are to be submitted to the Presidency’s listed officials, with media enquiries handled by Vincent Magwenya, the president’s spokesperson.